Inside-Out Change

"An inner process stands in need of outward criteria" Ludwig Wittgenstein

A Change Coach works from the inside-out, even though the world seeks to put knowledge and solutions inside people. The Change Coach uses approaches designed to get knowledge and solutions out of people. We all have the capacity to see ourselves and our world differently. So, whilst the world seeks to shape human behaviour, the process of change has to start with the individual opening themselves up to new possibilities. .

In this section you will find:

Perspectives on Inside-Out Change
Inside-Out Change Tools
Core Capabilities
Case Studies
New Thinking
Useful Publications
Relevant Websites
Interesting Articles

Perspectives
on Inside-Out Change

From my experience, it is the inside-out aspects of the change process that hold out the most potential for real change. Unless the individual takes personal responsibility to do something different, then change will not happen. Change requires action - knowing is doing. As a result change only happens now - in the moment - yesterday has gone and tomorrow never comes. Interestingly, inside-out chnage is is the least used and least understood of the four change dimensions. It's usually someone or something else outside ourselves that needs to change - not us.

When the "why change" question is asked, the top-down arguments, outside-in demands and bottom-up pressures tend to dominate the debate. But they often fail to address the fundamental issue, namely that it is people who make change happen though the way they think and the choices they make. Change is not about taking charge or taking orders, it requires internal dialogue, the acceptance of personal responsibility in making a shift one's own thinking and actions. It's about taking responsibility for our own choices and actions..

You choose how you spend your time, what you pay attention to, the ideas you generate, the knowledge you create, the passion and energy you bring to what you do, not to mention the networks and relationships you develop. These are your real change assets. Leadership for change is inspiring others to take responsibility and commit to doing things differently.

"Management is getting people to do what needs to be done. Leadership is getting people to WANT to do what needs to be done. Managers push. Leaders pull. Managers command. Leaders communicate."
Warren Bennis

It's a hearts and minds issue
Inside-out change involves engaging people's hearts and minds, but it must shift their behaviour too. If you think about how natural change happens in your everyday life, it's either an exciting challenge or an unwelcome imposition. It all depends how you decide to see it. There is seldom just one right answer, so value the perspectives and insights that others can offer you.

Intuitive Solutions is a tool for inspired action. A great way to problem solve by engaging the whole person in a team. You gain your own insights and tap into the wisdom of others to find practical ways of shifting a situation so you can move ahead.

As the old sage said, "if you don't like what you see, change the way you look." A positive attitude it seems can make all the difference. If that's not possible because the change is being imposed, then just change your perspective and your behaviour. If you want to be thin, then behave like a thin person. It's your choice - you just have to want it badly enough to do something about it now.

The Sedona Method is a tool used to help you control your thoughts and feelings. Thoughts do not need to be denied, expressed or fought. They just need to be acknowledged and replaced with more positive thoughts. Recognise the underlying wants that gnerated the negative thoughts and take action to address them. Change your thinking and your reality changes just as quickly.

Treating you like a cog in a machine is unlikely to bring out the best in you. You are a complex adaptive system. You need the right conditions to grow and to generate positive energy, then you are more likely to use your intelligences and unique talents. It is the people, rather than the machines, that need to be continuously 're-tooled'.

"If people's emotions are pushed towards towards enthusiasm, performance can soar; if people are driven tward rancour and anxiety, they will be thrown off stride."
Daniel Goleman 'The New Leaders'

Real Change is actually about Choice
Change is a bit like motivation. You cannot motivate others any more than you can enage them in change. You can create the right conditions, but to be motivated, or behave differently is the individual's decision. Most of use want to assert our right to choose, whether it is in the interests of others or not. Feeling you are a victim is still a choice. Leadership for change is about enabling others to see that they have these choices and must take responsibility for them.

The natural reaction to most change is emotional and unconscious. Only on reflection are we able to rationalise it. Most day-to-day decision-making follows this cycle. The autopietic nature of our brains makes us initially defensive of anything we are not familiar with, causing us to resits and often fear any change.. Our upbringing will therefore have a powerful influence over our choices.

The role of a Change Coach is to help people become more conscious of the changes and choices they can make, and take more control over the direction of their lives. In the case of sudden or dramatic changes, which may be voluntary or imposed, the light must be shone on the positives and the gains expected.

"Real change involves experimenting with new behaviours, reframing your thinking, developing skills and mastering feelings. This can often be reinforced by forming new relationships or chnaging the dynamic of existing ones. These steps are generally difficult to sustain on your own. That's why personal coaches have become poular. They help you step back from the movie of your life to review and reset your thinking and actions." Jim Clemmer 'The Leadership Digest'

No change without learning
When it comes to change we don't seem to learn from experience. Most change programmes fail, yet we still continue to implement them in the faint hope that maybe this time it will be different.

Most people who set out to change their body shape, or come-off drugs or beat alcoholism, tend to fail. They live a life of constant contemplation about what could be. We can always start tomorrow. Of course, tommorrow never comes. If we learn anything about change it is that it must happen NOW if it is to happen at all. Only doing is the route to learning and knowing.

"A true master is not one with the most students, but one who creates the most learning leaders. A true leader is not the one with the most followers, but the one that creates the most learners."
Neale Donald Walsch

Think differently and do different things
If change is to be real and it's effects understood, people have to think and do things differently. This will happen more easily if the change is perceived to be predictable, controllable and builds on things we are familiar with.

Just understanding how you create your own reality, control your thinking and make your own choices, opens up new possibilities in all aspects of your life and work..

"Seeing and acting differently holds the key to individual and organisational transformation. This requires enhanced conversations, through which shared meanings and aspirations are created."  
Ifryn Price 'Shifting the Pattern'

Balancing logical and emotional change
Bereavement is probably one of the most dramatic changes that people have to cope with. It provides an insight into the stages of transition that people go through. A similar cycle of behaviour can be observed in other change events. It's about the mind coming to terms with a new way of thinking and doing things.

When you are familiar with the seven emotional states linked to change, you are more likely to appreciate that having a logical sequence of change activities is only half the story. The emotional strands are just as important and must be coped with if not managed. Indeed, both the logical and the emotional must not get out of step with each other or the benefits of planned change will not be realised. This often happens in organisations because the logical strand tends to be valued more highly than the emotional.

"Change takes place slowly inside each of us, and by the choices we think through in quiet, wakeful moments.... It is the transformation of the culture of the room we're in that holds the possibility of transforming the culture of the rest of the organisation. It is change from the inside-out."
Peter Block 'The Empowered Manager'

People are our best asset
A new world of work is emerging. One where you are viewed as an asset, simply because only you can make the changes that are needed. To be valued you must be able to lead real change, and be able to work collaboratively in teams and project groups. As a valued asset, it will be your contribution that's measured, but to make that contribution in a continuously shifting environment you must be skilled in changing your own mindset and helping others do the same.

The increasing demand for real change means that it is not just about your ability to plan change, but how quickly you can make it happen. Traditional forms of training will not deliver the accelerated learning that's needed. Just-in-time, on-demand learning that's exciting and relevant to your current and future work needs must take priority.

Inside-Out Change is evident when you see and feel the passion, excitement and inspiration to innovate and develop new ideas. There is a yearning for new knowledge, a commitment to learning and a willingness to question assumptions and thinking patterns.

This is why change processes have to engage hearts and souls.
Everyone needs to be challenged to show the value of their contribution to achieving results. That's why work feels more rewarding if it is to have an impact on the things that are important to you. Work should be seen as a tool that can satisfy the needs of fellow citizens and improve their quality of life - the core of public service.

This type of change can be encouraged through Leadership Training and Management Development Programmes, Coaching and Mentoring Schemes, Secondments, Sabbaticals, Informal Learning Opportunities, Meditation, Personal Study, Workforce Development Initiatives, Cultural Change and Team Learning Projects.

"We are not machines, programmed to deliver in a rational and predetermined manner. We have hopes and fears, we laugh and cry, we have soul, and we engage in our dreams. To engage at the emotional ;level can profoundly influence the relationships between the individual and the organisation."
Lynda Gratton 'Living Strategy' 2000

Core Capabilities
for inside-out change

EMOTIONAL HEALTH
to assess the level of trust, openness, commitment and health of you and your team (we introduce you to range of self-assessment tools for emotional intelligence and wisdom at work).

SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE
to see your life as a journey of transformation, what you are longing for and what is stopping ypou achieving it. (we introduce you to ways in which you can make a quantum leap in changing your relationships, clarifying your purpose in life, dealing with crisis and uncertainty).

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT to clarify the relationship between you and the organisation (we offer guidance on competencies and skills needed to thrive in rapidly changing work environment).

TRUST BUILDING to understand how to treat other people with respect, dignity and fairness. This may mean treating people differently to get the best out of them (we provide a variety of approaches to support all aspects of your development as a person).

THOUGHT CONTROL to understand your own state of mind by realising that thoughts are created by you and can therefore be changed on a moment by moment basis (we provide a number of tools to help you access your intuition, control your feelings and live in the present moment).

"The process of spiritual growth is an effortful and difficult one. This is because it is conducted against a natural resistance, against a natural inclination to keep things the way they were, to cling to the old maps and old ways of doing things, to take the easy path."
M Scott Peck 'The Road Lress Travelled'

Inside-Out Change
Tools & Techniques

To overcome inner obstacles use MINDSSHIFT

To access your imagination use VISUALISATION

To live in the moment use PRESENCING

To clarify your goals use COACHING

To communicate with clarity use CLEAR

To find simple solutions use FOCUS

To realise your potential use GROW

"We should be careful not to make the intellect our god. It has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality. It cannot lead, it can only serve."
Albert Einstein

New Thinking
around inside-out change

The inside-out approach to change is reflected in the complexity concepts of perspective,

Short summaries of each concept are outlined below.

Perspectives
These multiple truths, mental models, paradigms or world views show us that more than one thing can be true at once. We all see reality differently.

Creativity
An alteration in the way people see things that it changes their thinking and improves their behaviour or performance.

Possibility Space
When change is constant, creativity and adaptation are vitally important because they help to shift the pattern thinking or doing things way from the status quo. This is essential for survival in a changing environment. Exploring what stimulates people's imagination and thinking skills requires a search and design strategy because it create new possibilities. Learning in teams can stimulate this capacity as the people interact to find new solutions to old problems.

Autopoiesis
The phenomenon known as autopoiesis explains how entities like organisations, create and recreate themselves. Organisations are self-referential social systems, that's why they need to be fed information about their performance. This way they get a sense of identity from how they are doing compared with others. This trend can be found in Corporate Performance Assessments, Best Value Inspections and auditing processes.

Inside-Out Change
Case Studies

Jerry Sternin in Vietnam
Special Needs Transport Service

... more articles to be added shortly

Inside-Out Change
Publications

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Published Hodder & Stoughton 2001
This book is a classic text on how to live your life from the inside-out by focusing on the moment.

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. Published Ted Smart 1998
Emotional intelligenve matters twice as much as cognitive abilities such as IQ or technical expertise, and even more among real chnage leaders.

The Stimulus Factor by David Freemantle. Published Prentice Hall 2001
Energise your people and energise yourself. A new dimension in motivation. Fascinating insights into what actually motivates people and how to stimulate it.

Synchronicity by Joseph Jaworski. Published Berrett-Koehler 1996
The inner path of leadership. It's about the release of human possibilities and breaking free of self-imposed limits.

Crossing the Unknown Sea by David Whyte. Published Penguin 2001
The book explores a way to both be true to your inner self and live your everyday life. We can be damaged by working in ways that fail to engage with our true selves. Work is a powerful force in shaping our identity.

The Tao at Work by Stanley Herman Published Jossey-Bass 1994
Leading and following in the workplace. Mind expanding, easy reading on relationships with the real world.

Activation by Edmund J Freedberg. Published Harper 1997
Converting your potential into optimal performance. How to turn your abilities, talents and knowledge into the kind of performance that brings personal and corporate success.

Inside-Out Change
Websites

Sagacity - Wisdom at Work
This site contains some excellent articles by Judith Sedgeman on change from the inside-out.
http://www.sagacity.co.nz/publications.htm

Sydney Banks
This website is full of invaluable insights for understanding mind, consciousness and thought - the three dimensions of spirituality that enable you to change from the inside-out
http://www.sydneybanks.org

Life Strategy
This article raises 6 questions that set you on the journey of looking at life from the inside-out
http://www.energyinmotion.org/article-9.html

Wisdom for Life
This website is a rich source of articles written by Elsie Spittle on making changes from the inside-out
http://www.3phd.net/previous_wisdom_for_life_columns.htm

Centre for Applied Emotional Intelligence
Provides innovative training solutions for human performance problems in organisations based on Emotional Intelligence theory, skills and attitudes.
http://www.emotionalintelligence.co.uk

Brain Gym
Brain Gym® is an educational, movement based programme which uses simple movements to integrate the whole brain, senses and body, preparing the person with the physical skills they need to learn effectively. It can be used to improve a wide range of learning, attention and behaviour skills. Educational Kinesiology and Brain Gym® are the result of many years of research into learning and brain function by an educationalist, Dr Paul Dennison PhD, from the United States. It is now used in over 45 countries and is recognised as a safe, effective and innovative educational and self-development tool.
http://www.braingym.org.uk

Inside-Out Change
Articles

Wisdom for Life and Work by Elsie Spittle

Change from the Inside-Out by Judith Sedgeman (pdf file)

Blazing OurOwn Improvement Path by Jim Clemmer

In the Realm of the Spirit by R Moon (pdf file)

...... more articles to be added shortly.