Tim Rhode - A Simple Framework For Creating Change

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[00:02:21] We are live. Tim, Rody, welcome to the future of fitness.

[00:02:23] Thank you very much Eric. It's great to be here.

[00:02:26] Yeah, it's great to have you and first and foremost I want to say thank you to Doug Bobst.

[00:02:32] He is the host of the adversity advantage podcast, great podcast. He connected us originally

[00:02:36] and I'm excited to get into your head. There's so much knowledge and experience that you

[00:02:43] have. I mean, 20, 25 plus years experience within the fitness and health club industry

[00:02:48] so that's something. Now I think you're leveraging, you'll tell the audience better than

[00:02:53] I can. You're leveraging experience to help leaders business leaders specifically,

[00:02:59] create change and more importantly progress is what we all want. But generally to get

[00:03:07] progress in our endeavors, we need change and change isn't always easy and a lot of times

[00:03:14] as you are telling me prior to recording here it's like people kind of shoot from the hip

[00:03:18] when it comes to creating change within their organizations within their teams, but you

[00:03:21] actually built out of framework which is wonderful because that saves people a lot of time and

[00:03:27] energy and heartache when trying to run these companies and their businesses. So I'm going

[00:03:32] to kind of shut up for now. But maybe you can give us a little bit of your background,

[00:03:36] Sam, and how we'll talk about your book and all that stuff and then we'll go from there.

[00:03:40] Sure. Well, first of all, it's a pleasure to be here. I've been in the fitness industry since

[00:03:45] like more like 1979, 80 and I was working in and around tennis and racquetball clubs and

[00:03:56] learn the business. We became members of versa and 1984 I was actually a vendor and wasn't

[00:04:03] the original equipment manufacturer for the industry when I wound up ticking over a struggling

[00:04:08] health club in suburban DC in 1986 I think. And then that turned around really well and really

[00:04:19] quickly I wound up doing work and presentations and speaking engagements in the fitness industry

[00:04:25] ran the regional trade association for fitness and then was eventually a member of the

[00:04:31] earth board of directors or had to pleasure to work with some of the industry leaders from around

[00:04:35] the world and chair the strategic planning committee for a while. And then in the mid to late 90s,

[00:04:43] I started my own consulting firm and eventually with my wife and I who's also from the industry

[00:04:47] launched our own health club and it was designed to either avoid or revise a lot of the struggles

[00:04:57] and challenges that fitness operators we had been consulting were facing were clubs that we

[00:05:02] had managed for others right so we launched the Mac the Maryland athletic club and wellness center

[00:05:07] back in 1996 and it became an industry leader in just a few years. We eventually grew that to three

[00:05:14] to three sites in the Baltimore market, Baltimore Maryland market and and ran them for 20 years and

[00:05:21] exited in late 2015 and I returned to consulting since then we had an opportunity to exit to a

[00:05:30] couple of different buyers and decided to get back to just a little bit more freedom with our

[00:05:37] lifestyle where our kids were going and everything. So since then I've been working as a business

[00:05:42] consultant not just with fitness businesses but across other industries using this approach to

[00:05:48] transformation or change because all progress requires change and as I looked at what I wrestled

[00:05:56] with or done successfully or struggled with over the years I realized that there was a way to

[00:06:03] simplify change and to get the fear and the challenge and the uncertainty out of it.

[00:06:08] So that eventually evolved into the changing lanes approach which is what I've been using lately

[00:06:14] you know last two to three years with my clients. I have an online coaching program and I just

[00:06:18] published the book with the same title right on well you've you've got a lot under your belt.

[00:06:25] That's for sure and you know I want to get into change so progress requires change it sounds kind

[00:06:31] of obvious right but maybe and I always like to do this through storytelling like you know as a

[00:06:37] business executive that you've been in so many that you work with like what is some of the most common

[00:06:44] forms of change that you see across business organizations that need to happen right that maybe

[00:06:50] are difficult for you know leaders to engage in. Yeah that's a great question so you know probably the

[00:06:58] one that's the most common is changing your mindset, changing the way you look at change and you know

[00:07:06] not to beat that concept to death but most people resist or are reluctant to change like change

[00:07:13] comes with it some sort of apprehension at the very least like oh great here we go again or

[00:07:19] maybe it's not to you some leaders are enthusiastic about change but the people around them you know run

[00:07:24] for cover or they wonder how it's going to affect them and they don't assume it's going to be in a good

[00:07:30] way you know customers resist change every time I hear my phone is going through an upgrade I go like

[00:07:35] oh great like I don't go forward to it because I know something's going to stop working so on the whole

[00:07:40] we're largely conditioned to be apprehensive and maybe even resist change and that doesn't have

[00:07:48] to be the case. The reason that I call the program changing lanes for businesses it's very simple

[00:07:53] and easy to remember right two is something that people already know how to do like if you can drive

[00:07:59] you've changed lanes and and if you haven't been left on the side of the road in the wreck you figured

[00:08:03] out how to do it successfully right and and three is nobody changes lanes to do worse right when's

[00:08:10] the last time you change lanes to do worse you usually you invariably you change to do better you

[00:08:16] either want to go faster get out of traffic or you want to get over to your exit or something like

[00:08:19] that so it's just you know the secret sauce behind this approach is that subliminally it's

[00:08:26] it's something people do to improve. That notion that all progress requires change is not a connection

[00:08:32] of people tend to make automatically they all want progress yet most people resist change with

[00:08:37] there's a breakdown there so if we can just make that connection and I'm just kind of explaining the

[00:08:43] philosophy behind the program then people look forward to change and they lean into progress and

[00:08:49] they accelerate they don't resist it you know for a host of reasons so but the biggest the biggest

[00:08:54] one that I see most often is in a mindset right which I just kind of gave you a backup and other

[00:08:59] other times it has to do with a process or communication is huge on the front end of it it's usually

[00:09:07] it's harsh to call it thoughtlessness but it's it's moving into the the the process or an approach

[00:09:14] or determination to change without thinking it all the way through. It doesn't have to take a lot of time

[00:09:18] that's what the program does it really shrinks us down to you know asking and answering a few

[00:09:24] questions it gets clarity certainly in the confidence that it takes to move forward

[00:09:29] and and then communicate to others which is like signaling when you're changing lanes right you letting

[00:09:33] others know that this is coming and here you come and right and then actually doing it so the

[00:09:38] four steps really approach those those four primary hurdles that people face when they're trying to

[00:09:44] make progress. Can we walk through those steps? I'd like to hear them maybe even like in an example of

[00:09:50] you know you don't have to name names but some organization or business leader you work with I've

[00:09:55] kind of like it in an anecdote. You bet well the first one is the first one for a reason and it's

[00:10:00] where it's where most change efforts run off the rails right from the start and it's funny because

[00:10:05] when I started doing this I almost overlooked it and it points us out in the book but the very first

[00:10:11] thing that happens when when you need to make progress is you need to decide to change the same

[00:10:16] thing happens when you're driving you need to decide to change most people take that for granted

[00:10:21] and and it's when it's when you fail to decide that you wind up getting stuck in traffic you waited too

[00:10:27] long you didn't see far enough ahead you didn't you know we've all been trapped in traffic going

[00:10:31] damn I wish I'd wish I'd seen this before change like sooner it wasn't distracted whatever the case

[00:10:35] might be or maybe you looked ahead and you you saw there was a need or an opportunity to change but

[00:10:40] you were reluctant because you weren't sure you could you didn't know so the first step is decide

[00:10:44] to change and there's a host of reasons why people fail to decide. I'm not talking about when

[00:10:51] somebody decides not to change right that's a decision but when you don't decide right you you

[00:10:57] fail to decide to change you fail to make that decision thoughtfully thoroughly appropriately that's

[00:11:03] when change either doesn't happen it doesn't even get started or it happens and immediately runs

[00:11:08] off the rails because it was made without proper perspective right so just a few questions

[00:11:14] that business leaders can ask and answer themselves to make a good call so this is this I

[00:11:19] I don't think there's been a single person through the coaching program that hasn't had a revelation

[00:11:24] when they're going through this process and it's precisely we you know what what we do in the

[00:11:29] absence of an a reliable approach to change we use our we use our experience we use our own instincts

[00:11:35] right which is good with Scottness to this point that's what we've got right that's what we wake up with

[00:11:40] but without without taking it's kind of like changing lanes without looking right so you you need to

[00:11:46] you need to see what's coming where there's an opportunity to accelerate to make progress or where

[00:11:52] there's a need to like holy cow if I don't do this now I'm going to miss this opportunity right

[00:11:57] and then going through the motion is going asking yourself these questions so that you can decide

[00:12:02] I'm making the change you might not know yet you probably don't know yet which way when how far

[00:12:08] how fast but this is damn it this is going to change right so that's the first step and most

[00:12:14] business owners don't or business leaders even it managers assistant managers even team leaders

[00:12:18] have been through the program have been like holy cow this this gives me so much clarity now I know

[00:12:24] that I need to change and I know that I'm going to change now the next step then is to look right you

[00:12:30] look for options and rest so you you you're driving in traffic this lane sucks it's not doing what I

[00:12:35] want or need I need to be over there right but I'm getting out of this lane so the next step is to

[00:12:39] look should I go left should I go right should I go now should I go later do I should I go fast

[00:12:44] or should I just as a time to slow down right so those are all similes or analogies to the questions

[00:12:49] that get put into a business context in the book or in the coaching program and you just

[00:12:54] so you you look around for I call it look for options and risks right and so what's the best way

[00:12:59] to go who needs to be involved with this should I get other people's input and then and then once you've

[00:13:05] got that you you know now yes I'm changing and I'm going to I'm gonna do it this way this fast with

[00:13:13] these people this is going to work you've got a high level of confidence you've got people on board

[00:13:18] you got support the third step is to signal so the third I'm sorry but yeah question so that's

[00:13:23] like essentially this phase two it is like the due diligence right you're doing the research you're

[00:13:28] looking uh you're kind of just gathering as much as you can because I find like changes kind of like

[00:13:34] making decisions and um the part of it is at least making decisions right and like I look at my wife

[00:13:40] and I weigh very different frameworks for making decisions like show all I will to beat it to death

[00:13:47] looking for different options and looking for things and over probably over do it right show like

[00:13:53] look at a couple things back nope that's it let's just do it you know move forward don't look back

[00:13:58] and go right and I'm like oh god but the universe a couple more things come more people want to talk

[00:14:02] to you right so uh is that is that part of that step two is like understanding also how you make a

[00:14:08] decision um or yeah give me some insights on that yeah absolutely so the fact that you've decided

[00:14:15] to change doesn't mean that you know how or when or that you've got the confidence to pull it off

[00:14:21] so you need to look a little further but you know the fitness business this would be the equivalent

[00:14:25] of deciding that that it's time to get in better shape and and so you're going to do it you kind

[00:14:30] of make the new years resolution like I'm not going to stay like this next year I'm not going to

[00:14:34] be in this kind of shape you don't know if you're going to join the gym if you're going to do it on

[00:14:37] your own or whatever or if in a business context you know that you it's time for you to add a sales

[00:14:43] team or it's time for you to to get going with your digital marketing or your media or it's time

[00:14:49] for you to replace your your controller or your fitness director or whatever the case but you

[00:14:54] you've made that decision you don't know exactly how yet so now it's time to look figure out your best

[00:14:58] options and what are the risks like if I you know you do I fire this person and then find somebody

[00:15:04] do I wait to find somebody and then fire this person what's going to happen you know so there's

[00:15:08] there's a host of other questions it is due diligence the way that you put it is is really good

[00:15:13] that's exactly what happens in that in that phase I worked with it um I used to code code

[00:15:19] and struck with a guy who was just terrific I love the sessions we did together he used to telegrade

[00:15:23] storage so at one point in time he he was living in the Pacific Northwest not too far from you and he

[00:15:30] he and his wife were going to move to the east coast they were moving out here to us um

[00:15:37] Virginia and they they you know they there were so many things that had to happen

[00:15:42] but he didn't know like when they they just decided to move but he didn't know when he didn't know

[00:15:48] what they were gonna move into and he didn't even know where in Virginia they were gonna move in

[00:15:52] once they picked Charlotte's field the way he tells the story is that yeah like a lot of people

[00:15:57] want to go from A to not A and until you know where's B that's what we call the presentation it's called

[00:16:03] finding B or where is B right so until you know where B is all you can do is go from A to not A well

[00:16:10] that describes the fitness industry like the fitness customers perfectly right and we were working

[00:16:15] with fitness trainers personal trainers the two of us were working with 150 personal trainers in

[00:16:19] five different states and and we were trying to help them build their businesses to get from A to B

[00:16:26] and most of them knew they wanted to go from A to not A they were making five thousand bucks a month

[00:16:31] and they wanted to make ten thousand bucks a month or they didn't know what B was they didn't know

[00:16:34] how they were gonna get there right so so finding B was our shorthand for let's figure out where

[00:16:41] you want to go then the way he finishes the story is once he knew they were going from you know

[00:16:45] Seattle Washington to our Spokane I think it was to Charlotte School Virginia he could go rent

[00:16:52] the truck he could pick out the route they could decide whether they were pulling a trailer

[00:16:55] where they're gonna drive with themselves where they're gonna take the northern route the central

[00:16:59] route the southern route right and all of a sudden like I can still see the guys map because all of

[00:17:03] a sudden there was a way to get from where he was to where he wanted to be and so uh so that's

[00:17:09] really key for for for people in this step two is to figure out where's B and and now we can put a

[00:17:17] plan together to get there right on okay so we have decided to change look for options and risks

[00:17:24] right and then next next is what signal just like driving just like changing lanes I'm getting out

[00:17:29] of this lane all right I'm going that way now I put on my signal and you put it on with the right

[00:17:35] timing and you put and you make sure the right people know it right at least you shouldn't signal

[00:17:39] so you were asking earlier like where does this run off the rails okay so we've all seen the idiots

[00:17:45] that change lanes without signaling yeah they're likely to cause a wreck and I'm sure that

[00:17:50] that none of the people on this call have ever changed lanes without signaling

[00:17:53] but yeah yeah I was driving with my friend the other day and we were coming back for my trip and

[00:18:02] I didn't signal let's go around semi and he's like oh did you not get the blinker package on your truck

[00:18:10] I guess I am that guy yeah we are all guilty but here here's a point that I make with step three

[00:18:15] is signal and and it's that at the root of every problem is poor communication everyone I don't care

[00:18:22] whether it's a dispute with your wife a problem with a customer uh something with a vendor uh you name

[00:18:28] it could be the leak in your faucet there's a at some point there's poor communication is at the

[00:18:33] heart of every single problem so I make a big deal out of this and say look let's signal and I try

[00:18:38] to make it easy so you know everybody wants if you ask everybody well how many of you are poor

[00:18:44] communicators you you probably wouldn't get a hand and yet we all know that we dropped the ball

[00:18:48] into solid time we communicate and completely uh we don't we miss people we're late we're early

[00:18:55] you know there's all that we work we confuse people and this is not this is not like a college course

[00:19:01] in communication it's two or three it's a checklist of who should you contact like who who's

[00:19:08] helpful you need and who's helpful help that's two different questions those are two of the top

[00:19:12] questions right so who do you need to communicate with when and how right and so how there's

[00:19:19] people don't realize there's like this face-to-face communication there's direct which might not be

[00:19:23] in person but it might be like you and I are talking on a zoom call right now it could be a phone

[00:19:27] call but you're doing them the honor of talking to them one-on-one and then the when is really key

[00:19:32] how many times you know people resist change because they weren't they weren't contacted first or you

[00:19:37] didn't ask for their input right that's a big part of it right so one of the biggest ways one of

[00:19:41] the things we cover sort of through all the steps is how to overcome resistance to change because

[00:19:47] it's everywhere right resistance reluctance you know foot dragging right so one of the most

[00:19:52] important things to realize this is human nature is that people will support what they help to

[00:19:57] create yeah really keep if you get people involved with the creation which can start all the way back

[00:20:02] in step one and certainly in step two and you can't miss with step three with the communication

[00:20:07] so so people support what they help to create unfortunately the opposite is also true so if

[00:20:12] they don't have a hand in creating it there are going to be more skeptical more reluctant more

[00:20:16] resistant more they're going to hide they're gonna do with you know maybe maybe it's not malicious

[00:20:22] but they're probably not going to be helping so with communicating properly and timely and in the

[00:20:28] in an honor of in the right manner you can really grease the skids for your change to work again

[00:20:33] this is all so simple it's just like just like changing lanes in your car the whole program is

[00:20:38] designed to simplify things what whether you use the program or the approach or not just I think

[00:20:42] just listening to this people would get it and the idea is use your signal to make sure that

[00:20:48] you can change lanes safely and in the time frame that you want so that's step three is it's all

[00:20:52] about communication who how and and when yeah you know it comes to my because this is recent

[00:21:01] experience mine over the past three four months so I work with Shane Farmer and Dark Horse Rowing

[00:21:06] and it's been long overdue that we've created a new product which is a new app you know for our

[00:21:14] clients and consumers to engage in the content and the programming and the overall experience of

[00:21:20] Dark Horse Rowing and it's been a six month process we just launched over you know Black Friday

[00:21:25] hugely successful super excited right to see all that work come in and launched but everyone on

[00:21:31] the team had input into the product right and he hasn't had a new product in three or four years

[00:21:37] so it was like from the program design to the layout to the color schemes everybody on the team

[00:21:42] had input and the motivation the excitement around this product is something that I've been working

[00:21:49] with them for three years I haven't seen it before like everyone's fired up right everyone's

[00:21:54] cheering and it's just such a cool experience in that you know I don't think to your point I

[00:21:58] don't think it would have landed that way if it was like boom here's the product guys we're

[00:22:03] launching next week right but having that process there was really interesting so I that's a

[00:22:08] really powerful point that I think is very commonly overlooked. It's a perfect case perfect example

[00:22:14] and I agree that there's no question in my mind that it would not have gone as well if you hadn't

[00:22:20] had everybody involved and it's just so easy to do if you go all the way back to that that my first

[00:22:25] experience run on a club in the fitness industry there was no money this place had been bleeding

[00:22:29] money bleeding half a million dollars a year and there was no money for reinvestment I you know

[00:22:34] I came in there with my back to the wall very few resources and it was like you're either going

[00:22:38] to low belong and and run the same till the oxygen is gone or you're going to find a way to turn it

[00:22:44] around well the answer to me was simple there was no other option and by getting people on board by

[00:22:50] helping them realize that this mattered and this is what we're going to do to make this better nobody

[00:22:56] wanted to fail nobody on that team wanted to struggle right so it's like okay well here's

[00:23:00] what we can do and and by getting them involved or even asking them what do you think we can do let's

[00:23:05] put some of your ideas into place I offered to share and get behind their careers if you stick with

[00:23:10] me like I want to hang onto my keepers if you stick with me for two years and help me get this

[00:23:14] thing straight help us get this thing straight I'll help you with whatever it all sees you want to

[00:23:19] do I mean those are all just examples and by everybody carrying more understanding and having

[00:23:25] input on what they wanted what how things could be and what they could do to make a difference

[00:23:30] that was the that was the spark that was the genesis and in less than a year the place was

[00:23:35] breaking even and then in less than another year it was making a half a million dollars a year

[00:23:39] a million dollar turnaround with no additional investment and just the intention and communication

[00:23:46] getting people on board same facility same member same market everything else so that I think

[00:23:51] you know a credit communication with that and getting people involved because people support

[00:23:56] what they help to create they want to people want to be part of something successful

[00:24:01] I love it and okay so one decide to change to look for options and risks three put it on the

[00:24:10] blinkers right communicate the changes happening yeah and then we're on four now right yep fourth

[00:24:15] final fourth is it actually make the change and believe it or not that's that's the other biggest

[00:24:22] reason why change in business struggles or fails is because the implementation is partial half-hearted

[00:24:30] for for any host of reasons it either doesn't you have ever seen those people run down the road

[00:24:35] with their turn signal on and they never change yeah and they and they leave you wondering like when

[00:24:40] is this happening I had a client six or seven years ago who signaled a big renovation to the

[00:24:45] customers and that this club was going to get an overhaul on a face list and up a good and

[00:24:50] and like six days before they were supposed to go with it they lost their financing and he

[00:24:57] he didn't come clean with the customers he didn't you know he took a gallon shot he looked try to

[00:25:01] replace did everything you think you would do but he never came back and said oops you know we've

[00:25:06] hit a speed bump it's it one year two years almost three years that's when I was called in like

[00:25:13] damage control well it's like come hurricane went through here three years ago like so let's

[00:25:17] can you clean this up right and I think it took him another two years before he finally he finally

[00:25:23] you know owned up with it but to build the morale of the team and to get them to you know

[00:25:29] communicate that they needed this change just didn't happen it eventually did right but

[00:25:34] the slow implementation or the failure to implement is a big part of it so so the last step

[00:25:41] of changing lanes is there's three pieces to it first is to plan the start so you've you've

[00:25:46] thought it through you made a good decision you've looked for options and risks you've communicated

[00:25:50] all the people at hand let's plan the start how do we get this thing off to a flying start right it's

[00:25:55] kind of the same as when you're changing lanes you turn the wheel and step on the gas right so

[00:26:00] so now you're you're veering into the next lane and you're accelerating or deceler whatever you

[00:26:04] need to do right so you've started but the second piece of that is to actually plan to finish and

[00:26:11] this is this is something that's almost never done I mean I could almost say it's never done like

[00:26:16] most people don't plan to finish their change they plan to they if you're lucky they plan to start

[00:26:21] but a part of this process is planning to finish what are the milestones we're going to hit what are

[00:26:25] the when is this going to be done and how are we going to track our progress again not extensive you

[00:26:31] can go through this in a few hours if once you know the process but you plan to finish and again

[00:26:35] you got the people on the team that are helping plan to finish right the very last piece of step 4

[00:26:41] is you actually imagine the future so if this is something you want to have accomplished by the

[00:26:45] middle and next year or the end and next year you would there's a little exercise I say it's 612 months

[00:26:50] from now describe what life is like with your change in place it's a tactic called projection

[00:26:55] and once they project themselves into the future whether it's the person who's going to be leading

[00:26:59] the change or the people who need to be on board to help the change and they go through that exercise

[00:27:04] it's a tangible experience you imagine how much better life will be when this doesn't suck or

[00:27:11] when this is working great or when the customers are coming through the door and it provides that

[00:27:15] additional motivation to finish the change kind of equivalent of changing lanes pulling into the

[00:27:19] new lane and actually keeping up the speed that you should I don't know if this only happens to me

[00:27:24] or maybe it happens to you too but you ever had somebody change lanes in front of you and not

[00:27:27] going any faster than they were going before yeah it's infuriating yeah yeah that doesn't just happen

[00:27:33] in Baltimore right that happens elsewhere so so that like drives me crazy it's almost part of the

[00:27:39] genesis of this product so when you when you do this with your business if you start a change

[00:27:45] finish it like if you're supposed to be going faster go faster one of the big failures here is

[00:27:51] is you know owners or business leaders the person leading the change runs into some resistance or

[00:27:57] that you know they're they find a challenge they come across a challenge they didn't anticipate

[00:28:01] probably because they didn't ask the right questions in step two or they didn't communicate well

[00:28:05] on step three now they got these challenges and the whole thing just stalls another issue is the

[00:28:10] shiny object syndrome where they they started that one okay that's going now let's start this one

[00:28:14] and now let's start this one and we wind up getting seven things started and nothing finished right

[00:28:19] I run into that a lot as I'm working with businesses and business leaders and it's not like you can't

[00:28:24] do more than one thing at a time but let's make sure we finish each lane change you know the only

[00:28:29] thing worse than changing lanes and not speeding up is changing lanes twice and still not speeding up

[00:28:33] now you really got a line to ticked off people behind it and that's the equivalent of your team

[00:28:37] if you've ever been riding with someone who did that you're you know you're sitting in the

[00:28:41] you're riding shotgun and they just change lanes and they're going slow and you can see the people

[00:28:44] like you start shrinking down on your seat because you don't want the other people to see right

[00:28:48] like would you please go right so so that's that step four is to actually make the change awesome

[00:28:57] you know some follow-up questions like when you describe this analogy or as in a metaphor

[00:29:02] analogy I always get those mixed up but of changing lanes right it makes it sound like the

[00:29:07] changes rather subtle right so is in your mind is change better suited in small doses or can it be

[00:29:16] overly substantial right like how big of a dose of change to leaders want to provide to their

[00:29:22] teams and to themselves right as an organization yeah that's a great question and and the answer is

[00:29:28] is as much and as fast as you need right it's the same when you're driving there's times when

[00:29:34] it's only you and one or two of their cars on the road and you can see the guy in front of you is

[00:29:38] going slower than you want there's nobody alongside of being you just kind of ease over into the other

[00:29:41] lane and you cruise right past them you you were going at a higher speed and you just go away around

[00:29:45] them right there's other times where you're driving in fairly thick traffic and the people in front of

[00:29:50] you start slamming on the brakes you've got to take the base of action right you got to turn right now

[00:29:54] or other times where you're pulling onto a highway and there's a whole bunch of slow lanes in front

[00:29:58] you want to be over in the fast lane you're changing two three four lanes in a whack and you're

[00:30:02] stomping on it because either you're in a hurry or if you don't get over there now you're going to

[00:30:05] miss your opportunity it's the same thing in business so the amount of change that you're doing

[00:30:10] and the pace at which you're changing is appropriate to whatever you need to make when COVID hit

[00:30:15] the companies needed to take evasive action now they didn't know which way to go which way to turn

[00:30:21] it was you know nobody had a real answer to that so a lot of the people in peer groups and stuff

[00:30:25] were helping each other you know with sharing best practices or idea brainstorming things like that

[00:30:31] but you know the companies needed to take evasive action sometimes in a matter of hours I've had

[00:30:37] clients that have made change in a matter of hours and others that could execute I've got one

[00:30:42] right now that's waiting until the first quarter because they've got a busy season going on in their

[00:30:46] retail industry right now they've got this thing all teed up they're going to launch a whole new brand

[00:30:50] but the whole thing is just sitting there with the motor purring ready to go in January so I don't

[00:30:55] know if that answered your question but the the amount of change that you need to make varies based on

[00:31:01] your situation and your sense of urgency and and that's again is where these four steps are

[00:31:05] even more important if you hesitate to make to take evasive action your business could be could be

[00:31:12] stuck sitting still in a traffic jam when it could have broken free sooner right if you take crazy

[00:31:19] evasive action too quickly and you and you do it right in front of you know an in opportune moment

[00:31:25] like you do it in front of a state police car or a motorcycle gang or something like that you could

[00:31:29] wind up in trouble so that we have fun in the program and in the book with the analogies because

[00:31:34] there's just so many examples there's so many real live examples that people put a smile on their

[00:31:40] face because they they've been through them they live through them yeah yeah and I think the answer to

[00:31:45] the the question that I asked like is is really it's so it's so much context that needs to be put

[00:31:50] around it right like you know how big of a change can you handle it's just you're right it's just

[00:31:55] it's based on the situation it's nuanced and there's a lot of things you have taken into account

[00:31:59] that happens a lot if I can I there's one thing I should I should have added that is that a lot of

[00:32:04] times this unlocks the resistance what you're talking about right now so one of the reasons people

[00:32:10] resist change is that they're uncertain about either how to do it or what the outcome is going to be

[00:32:16] or they're not confident that they can succeed and I see this a lot and when we get to largely in step

[00:32:23] two where they're looking for options and risks and they realize that one of one of the questions in

[00:32:28] step two is how much change will it take to make progress right and and just to do better than you

[00:32:34] do in now sometimes that's all a company needs is they need to do better than they're doing now

[00:32:39] and then keep doing better for a period of time and they'll hit their goals other times they need to

[00:32:44] make bigger more progress but if they the you first have to just start doing better and then you can

[00:32:50] make another change later and another change after that it's kind of the equivalent of taking one

[00:32:54] lane at a time and gradually working away over to the fast lane right so I can think of one business

[00:32:59] leader in particular he was the engineering director for a national you know multi-million dollar

[00:33:04] company eight figure company and he needed to overhaul his whole department and he was stuck he was

[00:33:11] like what's the word he's like immobilized and he he couldn't get this change going because he

[00:33:18] couldn't see how he could get this major transformation done he was paralyzed as the word I was

[00:33:23] broken around for and once he realized that he could take these changes one at a time he could

[00:33:28] get over to here and then size step the situation from there and then make and it sounds intuitive

[00:33:33] but this is a senior business leader scout was in his late 50s been in the industry for decades

[00:33:38] and just and was just totally couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger and make the change because

[00:33:44] he couldn't see how he could get all the way over there so he just stayed where he was and once he

[00:33:48] realized that he he's now has he's actually achieved the goal uh and passed the reins on to his

[00:33:54] successor in less time than he originally planned to make change because he just did it and what you

[00:33:59] were just talking about he took it a phase at a time yeah yeah excellent you know I remember to

[00:34:05] when we first connected to you and mentioned um maybe we kind of touched on it but there was

[00:34:10] you had identified three fundamental types of change right we can give us shed some light on

[00:34:18] on what those what those are yeah this is worth understanding is it helps put context on again

[00:34:24] change is is like a like a cloudy day or some you know some like people roll it all together and

[00:34:29] there's really it's it's useful to know there's rebasic types of change there's the change that's

[00:34:34] put upon us right the change that happens so like a pandemic right economic swings government

[00:34:40] regulations a new competitor moves in these changes happen to us we have nothing to say about them

[00:34:46] this we've you know this has happened deal with it right and and then there's there's like if you

[00:34:53] run a snow plowing company and it doesn't snow or if you run a snow plowing company and all of

[00:34:57] sudden there's a blizzard you know like three blizzards in one month right those are all changes

[00:35:02] that we have to deal with right then then there's the second type of change is the changes that we

[00:35:08] initiate we decide to go from being a personal trainer to opening our own studio or we decide from

[00:35:15] having our fitness center to opening another one or turning it into a chain or a franchise right

[00:35:20] we decide that that we're going to do something and so now that change is self-imposed and we have

[00:35:26] to we we have to figure it out we have to make we want to buy our real estate or sell our real estate

[00:35:32] whatever the case may we want to move from Spokane to Virginia right those are changes that we initiate

[00:35:37] the third type of change is certainly in between those two it's the it's change that we have to deal

[00:35:43] with or that we have an opportunity to deal with because it's something that we did or didn't do right

[00:35:48] so we we didn't train our people well and so now we have to we have to do something to boy our

[00:35:54] sales right or we we we hired this person without looking close enough at him and now they're

[00:36:02] running antagonistic to our culture um sometimes it like one uh one of our when we launched our own

[00:36:09] facility back in 96 um we had a grand design for a big wellness center we couldn't assemble all of

[00:36:15] the financial resources we needed to do the whole thing so we started with just a

[00:36:19] a full blown multi-purpose fitness center and then a year in we were beating all of our targets so

[00:36:25] we raised the money and we opened an aquatic facility so through the design and the development

[00:36:30] and the marketing and aquatic facility our business more than doubled in less than a year it just

[00:36:35] took off like crazy right so the water was a huge thing that was something we decided to do we decided

[00:36:41] to add the aquatic facility and all of a sudden we didn't have enough fitness area and and we had

[00:36:46] an ad staff and we had a you know now i was dealing with all these changes all you know things were going

[00:36:51] so fast we were hanging on to a tiger by the very tip of its tail we had a plan in next renovation

[00:36:56] and grow we wound up growing two more times before we were done so those are examples of changes

[00:37:01] that you do that you have to deal with because of something that you did or didn't do you either

[00:37:06] did something really well and you got more than you bargained for or you didn't do it well enough

[00:37:11] and now you're struggling so those are the three basic types of change yeah excellent um kind

[00:37:16] of a last question on change because it's such a it's a fascinating topic i mean you're there's

[00:37:20] not a single person on this planet and definitely nobody who's listening who doesn't experience change

[00:37:26] right it's just part of the human experience um sometimes i find that maybe uh i enjoy change too much

[00:37:34] right then maybe i'm doing too much of that so is there a case where um you can have too much change

[00:37:41] within an organization or a business or an individual or is the change it needs to be happened

[00:37:46] is like stop making so much change well you kind of you kind of answer the question there so the

[00:37:53] i think that the if there's a boundary on how much change it would be when

[00:38:00] when your progress stalls or struggles you don't you don't actually um enjoy or capitalize on

[00:38:08] the the virtues of what you intended to change in the first place so if you

[00:38:13] if you if you change to make things better but you take on too much change that you don't finish

[00:38:20] the things you started or that you're causing you know consternation or stress for everybody else

[00:38:25] around you you're having fun launching all these things and everybody else is running around with

[00:38:29] their hair on fire trying to keep up with the changes you've got or their life gets more stressful

[00:38:32] then somewhere in there there's a line that's been crossed somebody stepped out of bounds or is

[00:38:37] still out of bounds and running so i think that it that yes there can be too much change of one of

[00:38:43] the very first consoling assignments i ever had with a client in sydney australia i was delighted to go

[00:38:48] over there i was honored and it was really cool when i got there what i found was that the guy that hired

[00:38:52] me was the challenge because he just was changing things left right and center and the team was

[00:38:56] calling on me to reel him in a little bit and so you know using human nature and stuff and letting

[00:39:02] them see that that that happened it happened pretty quickly but um but that was a perfect example

[00:39:08] of where the guy was just you wake up every morning the total entrepreneur was always coming up with

[00:39:13] new ideas and new things couldn't see a single reason not to charge ahead with another guy

[00:39:17] working 20 years later did the same thing and every time they came up with a new idea his rationalization

[00:39:22] to his team was well it's just this one little thing what's the problem and he never looked at the

[00:39:26] fact that they were already handling 47 other little things that he had given them in the last 38 days

[00:39:32] right so so yeah there's a you know whether you call it a blind spot or or maybe just uh

[00:39:39] you know like sometimes business leaders eyes are bigger than their stomachs or bigger than

[00:39:43] their team can digest you know that this is where the looking for options one of the risk

[00:39:48] is that your your people are suffering from um so where to look at task overload they've got so much

[00:39:55] on their plate that they're they feel responsible for finishing on your behalf from the last stuff

[00:40:01] that you started that they can't do justice to the new stuff you want so sometimes in there we teach

[00:40:06] them how to negotiate with their their leader they come back and say okay well what is it that you're

[00:40:11] okay with not doing or for the leader to have a little better filter or maybe ask questions and

[00:40:17] communicate with you know do we have the bandwidth for this right now they happen a lot during COVID

[00:40:22] by the way the bandwidth thing was a huge issue during COVID oh yeah it's uh I see that a lot

[00:40:29] I mean I see it reflected in myself uh you know when I do that I don't manage any huge teams but um

[00:40:35] you know moving too fast trying to many things and in your mind you feel like it all makes sense

[00:40:42] right and then but to your team or to the people you work with it just seems bananas you know

[00:40:49] it's just you no one can keep up right and um it's I actually see that more commonly than

[00:40:54] than anything now I think about it but it's it's really interesting and there's you know I love

[00:41:00] you've taken so many years of experience to him and bowl down into a simple framework because when

[00:41:05] you can explain something in a simple way right that's kind of when you've mastered it right

[00:41:11] because like that that's that's the point like uh and that happens in coaching in any form it's

[00:41:16] like once you can sit down explain to someone in a very simple way with a very simple story um

[00:41:21] you know a concept or an idea that's pretty complex and common then I feel like you've really

[00:41:26] nailed something in that opportunity that's why you you know sat down actually wrote a book um so maybe

[00:41:31] tell tell us about the book and um you know how how you're going about are you doing like a

[00:41:36] speaking tour with it or yeah yeah give us some insights on what you're doing with that.

[00:41:41] Well no speaking tour yet but I'm happy to start Montana if there's an opportunity out there

[00:41:45] but the book actually just came out a couple weeks ago I don't want to date the podcast but it

[00:41:49] launched on November 14th in 2023 and um it it opened as a best seller in four different

[00:41:55] categories on Amazon and uh so far it's got nothing but five star reviews so that it's it's hitting

[00:42:01] in you know it's hitting business leaders I think at all levels it's um it's written as a parable

[00:42:06] so it's a story of a business leader who's struggling with underperformance and is trying to figure out

[00:42:12] where to start you know like like it's like being in slow traffic and where what you know what should

[00:42:16] I do right from here and and he's frustrated he's got all the same frustrations but he runs into a

[00:42:22] mentor who uh reveals this simple approach to to change and it's just like driving so he

[00:42:29] challenges him to look you know examine his driving and they you know over four days and four lunches

[00:42:34] he learns the four steps and binds up leading his team and to higher levels of engagement higher level

[00:42:41] of new research of productivity and eventually their task with helping the whole company with that

[00:42:46] so that's the basis of the story and you know you talk about simplifying things that's

[00:42:51] that's how I've spent most of my career is trying to find take things that are overcomplicated and

[00:42:56] make them simple so that they're easy to implement easy for people to embrace and I've really

[00:43:01] enjoyed uh doing that with this book my next steps with the book are to um get on more podcasts and

[00:43:07] try to spread the word this way um make it available to people to read and and hopefully apply

[00:43:13] in their own you know in their own scenario what regardless of what industry they're in or what

[00:43:18] level of leadership they're at what if there's something that they want to accomplish if there's

[00:43:23] something that they want to improve they want to make progress it's a very simple way that they

[00:43:28] can use for the rest of their career to get from where they are to where they want to be and then

[00:43:34] for people who want more um there's uh I have a coaching program uh there are some people that

[00:43:39] you know want to work with me they maybe have something very specific that you know has a lot of

[00:43:44] consequences or whatever and it's a it's a four-week program and so it doesn't take a ton of time

[00:43:50] and I help them actually work on the thing that they want to improve so so right now that's it I do

[00:43:56] I do think I'll be starting some speaking things probably with some local and regional groups here

[00:44:01] and then take it from there I'm I joined a group of authors that are like working on getting

[00:44:07] speaking going so that's you know hopefully something on my path here in 2024. Oh fantastic and

[00:44:12] I love that you wrote it in a parable I mean some of my all-time favorite most red books are

[00:44:18] you know like the go-giver who moved my cheese like these ones that are you know they take really

[00:44:22] powerful messages and they wrap them into a story that's easily digestible and not long right

[00:44:28] it's just it's like boom to the point you can get it done in the day and and uh you never forget

[00:44:33] I think I gifted each one of those books at least 30 40 times each so um great job and Tim if

[00:44:39] people want to get a hold of you if they want to learn more online where would you like them to go

[00:44:45] you bet well the website is changing lanes approach dot com and from there you can check the tab

[00:44:53] and look at the coaching program or there's it's changing lanes approach dot com I think slash book

[00:44:58] to see about the book are the books available on amazon you just go to amazon and type in changing

[00:45:04] lanes for business that's the title of the book changing lanes for business uh you'll see there's

[00:45:09] there's a couple of sponsored books that come up first but last I checked it was showing up third on

[00:45:13] the list and uh you can get it in kindle paperback or hardcover i'll be doing an audible version

[00:45:20] of it probably before the end of the first quarter i was talking with the publisher this morning

[00:45:24] about that but right now it's available in in three formats and and in there are links that they

[00:45:29] can use to there's actually uh we talked a little bit about overcoming resistance to change which

[00:45:34] is something that's pervasive right if you're doing a change there's resistance to either avoid or

[00:45:40] overcome and in the book there's an offer for any reader to get my um it's called a business

[00:45:47] leader's guide to overcoming resistance to change a little bit of a long title but it's it's actually

[00:45:53] a process it's a it's a PDF that you get and there's it shows five different ways that all work to

[00:45:59] overcome resistance to change any one of those can help expedite your progress if you do two or

[00:46:05] three of them it you know hang on because you're gonna you're gonna be eliminating resistance and

[00:46:10] friction like crazy so that's uh you know one of the benefits of being in the book awesome well

[00:46:15] we'll put all that in the show notes and uh yeah this has been really interesting i really enjoyed it

[00:46:19] i um you know i can see how this has already played out so many times in my own business but

[00:46:25] how i can improve and uh you know it changes life so um Tim thank you spending for you know

[00:46:31] spending some time with me on your Friday morning and uh it's it's been a it's been a great pleasure

[00:46:36] my pleasure i'd be happy too to just offer a zoom link that you can put in the show notes if anybody

[00:46:42] wants to book a call to just get more information or this time year people are looking for something they

[00:46:47] want to get for their leadership team or something if they want to batch books or something or even talk

[00:46:51] about a coaching program for their business i'd be happy to do that so they can book directly with me

[00:46:55] fantastic ladies and gentlemen Tim Roddy thank you all

[00:46:59] hey wait don't leave yet this was your host Eric Mao's own and i hope you enjoyed this episode of

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