Creating a work culture of curiosity, discovery, and challenging the status quo, can have long lasting benefits on your business, your employees and the quality of your life.

However, the world around us constantly changes creating its own influence via disruption that in turn constantly challenges us to overcome certain roadblocks on our path to success. Here’s an example:

Imagine you are a London Taxi Driver. Over the years, you installed air conditioning in your car, a better sound system, GPS to better navigate, leather seats; you took courses in customer service, and feel ever so proud of your incremental changes.

You are UNBEATABLE! You outperform 95 percent of your competition. Now, you are thinking of a hybrid car, and you have three techniques planned to get customer feedback and customer contact information… you are cruising.

Then, you read in the Times that a new app, one you never heard of before, is being implemented in London NEXT WEEK. With this app, anybody with a car and a smart phone will be competing with you, stealing market share, working at a much cheaper rate, with less government interference, and immediate entry into your industry.

As depicted in this story, regardless of how much incremental change you implement, that does not protect you from being disrupted.

Even if you manage to reach a high level of success in your field, the real trick is staying curious and constantly learning how the world around you changes – because believe me someone out there is getting ready to make you obsolete.

So, how do you prepare your team (and yourself) to overcome disruptive situations? Furthermore, how can you inspire them to climb the path of success with you?

What has worked in my experience is a process called influence via disruption. Let me explain.

Influence via Disruption – Actionable Steps for Dealing With Change

Let us say that you have set a goal of losing weight.

For starters, you should know what your beginning weight is, what your goal is, and what your plan is to get there.

Your incremental changes will come from following the plan, and it will be measured by daily weigh-ins. Those incremental changes are the ones that will allow you to achieve the goal.

However, are there ways that you could disrupt the plan and accelerate it? Is there is a new proven diet, a better way to exercise that will help you achieve that goal faster?

But skip your weigh-ins, skip your exercises, indulge in that tempting dessert and your plan will fall apart.

Influence via Disruption – How to Bring Change About

The first step to bring change about is to do so incrementally. If in your personal and professional lives you are not open to revisions, and don’t have a PROCESS to explore new ideas, you will be left behind.

Remember, influence via disruption isn’t always a bad thing. Change is sometimes needed to make things run smoothly. Here are some questions to inspire you to focus on bringing change about.

• Are you being curious about what is happening around you? At your home? In your industry? Your job site? As discussed, that curiosity will not only allow you stay abreast of changes coming, but also hopefully set you up to becoming a disruptor.
• Are you asking pointed questions that will help you be on firmer ground with your significant other, your boss, your job? Disruptions can come from anywhere, from a competitor, a health issue, or an accident. You can’t prepare for all, or even anticipate most, but a good dose of curiosity may keep you ahead of the curve.
• Do you have all of your team on board, working as a team? Most companies have a book of standard operating procedures, a comprehensive manual that describes how to perform daily tasks to ensure quality.

But not many leaders have set on a round table with ALL of the departments to see if those standards make sense, and even find a way to improve them.

As an example, do you have a process in place that encourages any team member to remove a page from the SOP manual, copy it, put the original back, and then suggest changes to the old standard by writing all over the page and submitting it for consideration? You will never be a disruptor, if you are not willing to allow incremental change.

Influence via Disruption – Remember to Stay Vigilant

The biggest enemy to your business are the changes that creep up slowly, (like your un-watched weight) over time. And if you are not vigilant and update the procedures, the employees will see the manual as the “Same Old Process” and it will grow stale and ineffective.

Even if you are doing an OUTSTANDING job today, someone is out there planning to outperform you, or even worse, make you obsolete.

Ditch the static manual, encourage staff to challenge what you do, how you do it, and even why you do it.

We have learned from Dr. Demming (the father of the quality movement) and Tom Peters (In Search of Excellence) and from the Malcolm Baldrige Award, that quality is no longer an option…it is the price of entry into the competitive world.

A world that constantly imposes its influence via disruption.

Let’s Explore Change Together