That’s a great question. At some point in your life, you have witnessed in yourself and perhaps others, attempts at making changes to their life which simply didn’t “take”. The range of changes is everything from losing weight to ending a bad relationship or smoking.

Whatever the example, we have all had an opportunity to experience what seemed like good attempts but for some reason, the good attempt failed. It can leave one to wonder if, at some point, we become too solidified in various behaviors to really change.

Let me set this stage by first saying: yes, we can and do make real changes all the time. I need to add that there is a bit of a process to it, but it’s not rocket science so it’s all available for us to do.

I usually end with a Pearl of Wisdom but on this topic this needs to be said upfront. If you are considering changing someone else: don’t. You only have control over yourself. You will only frustrate yourself and tick off the other person if you make them the focus of YOUR desire to change THEM. You need to work on acceptance, but that’s another article.

The process for change starts first with positioning yourself to find the need and desire to make a change. It’s like what you hear about addictions, you first must recognize you have a problem before you can start doing anything about it. Along with the recognition of the issue itself, you need to spend time truly analyzing how it impacts your life. You or someone needs to ask the tough questions like: How does this get in the way of accomplishing things you want to do? What would your life be like if this issue didn’t exist? How DOES this impact your life? It’s not enough to say “I’m over weight and I know I shouldn’t be”. You need to know at your core why it really is an issue. For this process step to be useful in spurring you on to action, you may need to research the issue by reading or talking to people. This is not a waste of time. Too often people will take a run at changing an issue, before they feel any real need to make the change. When it doesn’t work, they walk away wondering why or maybe rationalizing that “I knew it wouldn’t work”. Once you truly have internalized the need to make a change, it will help drive you forward to the next steps.

The next step is to understand the options for making the change. For a smoker it may be a selection of things like nicotine gum, hypnotherapy, or medications. You need to spend some time educating yourself on the entire range of possibilities to select from. Not all solutions are useful for all people, so it’s helpful to understand what’s available and how it might work. Then, narrow down the choices to the ones that you think will work for you.

Let me pause here to a make a comment. People that are facing behavioral issues like procrastination or anxiety follow the same process as anyone making any kind of change. I have noticed that people often time feel more resigned to these aspects in them, thinking that because it is something internal, they can’t be helped. Let me tell you, it’s all internal. It all requires work but the payoff can be worth the effort.

Once you have determined the options that you think will work best for you, it’s time to prepare for the change. Preparation is the act of modifying your environment, accumulating the required resources and creating your action plan. In this step, you may find it useful to counsel with key people in your life about the work you plan to undertake and what role you would like them to play. You can not underestimate the issues that arise with key people in your life, when you undertake a change. Mostly, they will resist anything that represents change for them, which includes you making a change. An example of how this might work is if you decide to stop drinking, your drinking friends will continue to offer you drink and may pressure you to resume. It works the same if you are dieting, they will offer you extra food or if the issue is trying to reduce drama, they will kindly lead you to chaos. Recognize that this is not an evil plot to undermine your change efforts. When one person in a “system” (system meaning family or group) changes, the system will continue to work to bring it back to its previous normal behavior. If you know that from the start, you can determine the best way to handle this. For some people, they have to avoid the people that may undermine their efforts. You may be able to simply make your request: “I’m going to be modifying my eating habits in order to make myself healthier. I need your support by not offering me goodies or bringing tempting things home. You are welcome to them, but if it could be outside of my view, I’d greatly appreciate the help.”

Other preparation steps may be obtaining assistance to help reinforce new behavior, provide support and give guidance. You may need to keep a daily journal of affirmations to help you modify your internal dialogue. Preparation is an important step, much like preparing to go on a trip. You don’t just launch out the door. You plan the route, get the car fueled, make reservations and do the research.

You now have motivation, reason and a plan. It’s time to take action. This is the action of change. Each day will be a challenge because you are going against the grain of something that has come natural to you. It is said it takes 21 days of repeated action to change a habit. You are changing a habit, so just know that for a while your new behavior will be something that doesn’t yet come naturally to you. During this time, if you backslide, just acknowledge what lead up it, make adjustments and continue on. The road will not be straight and smooth and if you know that coming into this step you will be better positioned to make it through this stage successfully. You can’t beat yourself up but you need to learn a lesson so you will be even better as you move forward.

Once you have reached your goal you are not done with the change work. You now enter into a maintenance phase. This is an important step because it reinforces the work you have done to make a change. Based on the work you have done in the various stages, you can use that information for your maintenance. If you now know what triggers your old behavior, you either avoid circumstances that the trigger will occur or you create a self management plan to help you respond appropriately. If you removed tempting foods while losing weight, don’t bring them back home now that you hit your goal.

People can and do change every day in many spectacular ways. Change is a process with preparation and planning at its core. It’s possible for you to make the changes in your life you want to make. It takes effort but the payoff is well worth it.

Are your managers nodding approval in public but sabotaging the initiative in private? Are your employees shell-shocked and just giving up? Do you have no money left over for post-implementation support?

Whatever change your organization is trying to implement, knowing about and working through the necessary steps will go a long way to making your change initiative a success.

I have distilled these crucial steps into a process model for change. The model is called the CHANGE Approach, with each letter signifying a step in the process. I have summarized below the key features of each step leading to a successful change transition.

Create tension
With this first step, articulate why change needs to happen and why it needs to happen within the planned timeframe. Many change programs start with a big bang, but then peter out ending in a whimper. Other programs struggle to develop the initial momentum. Think about the immediate force that will get your people moving in the right direction. This could be impending legislative changes, new entrants to the market, high levels of customer dissatisfaction, etcetera. Think also about the impacts of not changing, such as loss of market share or fines from regulators. To prepare your company for the impending objections, collect as much data as you can to back your assertions.

Harness support
Next, get on board the key decision makers, resource holders and those with the potential to subvert your change process. Start by identifying the key stakeholder groups; the people with something to lose or gain from your change proposal. Include in your analysis the end receivers of the new products or services, such as suppliers, customers and end users of software. Also include internal decision makers and program implementers, such as information technology staff. Then construct a communication plan that tailors the communication content and style to each stakeholder group’s preferences. Be sure to keep the lines of communication with each group open throughout the entire process.

Articulate goals
This step involves defining your organization’s desired outcomes in specific and measurable terms. Doing this removes any ambiguity about your purpose and draws a clear picture of where you want your organization to be at the end of the program. Avoid wishy washy goals, such as “Improve product quality”. Instead, involve your stakeholders in fleshing out meaningful and verifiable outcomes, such as “Reduce customer complaints by 50% by year end”. Break the goals down into manageable chunks and set a baseline for comparison. Most importantly, set up a measurement regime to help keep track of progress.

Nominate roles
With goals clarified and agreed, now assign responsibility for their attainment to specific individuals in your organization. Make sure you articulate task and outcome responsibilities for people in each of the change role categories. The categories you need to consider are the change drivers (such as program sponsor and steering committee), change implementers (such as project managers), change enablers (such as supervisors) and change recipients (such as operators). Ensure that everyone involved has the needed skills to fulfill their responsibilities and implement training where skill gaps have been identified.

Grow capability
To ensure success, build your organization’s systems and people capabilities needed for thoroughly bedding in the change. Ensuring people capability means everyone having the required skills and knowledge to implement the change and then behaving as per the new way of working. Draw up a formal training plan following a proper needs analysis and ensure that the training is practical and focused on behaviors. Make sure that people are well supported back on the job. On the systems side, ensure that supporting systems are up to the mark. These systems may include information, human resource and financial systems. Plan for the necessary systems procurements, implementations and upgrades as part of the initial change program plan.

Entrench changes
This final step is about institutionalizing the change to make it “the way we do things around here”. To prevent backsliding to the old ways, align your organization’s systems and culture to the new required behaviors. Encouraging the new way of working may mean building in performance feedback and reward systems, celebrating some “quick wins”, creating a new look environment, ensuring managers “walk the talk” and updating recruitment and selection criteria.

The above process steps have been found by experience to accompany successful change initiatives. Leaving out one or more of these critical steps is a sure road to failure. On the other hand, paying attention to all of these steps is no guarantee of success. Much depends on the skill of the change leaders, the innate capacity of the organization for change and the intrinsic merit of the change idea itself. Also, the change steps as I have described them here are not meant to be followed in an exact linear fashion. Change in organizations is messy. So, you will sometimes find yourself backtracking to previous steps before you can move forward again. I wish you well on your change journey as you apply the CHANGE Approach process to your organization’s change initiative.

© Leslie Allan. All rights reserved.

Or the implementation of the performance bonus system designed to lift the take-home pay of low paid process workers has not convinced them to adopt the new system. You thought that you had hit people’s hot buttons and can’t understand their reluctance to support your change efforts. You now need to develop a deeper understanding of the motivators that drive the people in your organization.

Let’s consider more closely the performance bonus example mentioned above. In this case, process workers were promised a 5% increase in their pay if they increased the number of assemblies they produced by 30% over a one-month period. Bonuses were to be calculated and distributed based on each individual’s output for the month. The increase in productivity was only possible if the process worker learned and used the new computer controlled production machine.

What are some of the reasons that the process workers would ignore this incentive scheme? Perhaps the 5% bonus was of value to them, but they considered it insufficient in making a discernable change to their lifestyle. So, we could say that the outcome was not of sufficient worth to them for them to change their behavior.

Secondly, the bonus may have been considered sufficiently worthy; however, the process workers believed that it was unlikely that they would receive the bonus on good performance. The workers had been promised incentives in the past, but management had always reneged, coming up with excuses that the company’s poor performance the previous year did not free up money for distribution. In this instance, the workers believed there existed only a tenuous link between their good performance and the promised outcome.

Thirdly, the workers may have valued the reward and believed that they would receive it if they performed, but did not consider that they could achieve the 30% improvement in performance. The workers saw themselves as unable to learn the new technology – none of them had ever used computers before and were afraid at the prospect – and from past experience they knew that the company was unwilling to devote the resources needed to train them properly. In this case, we could say that the workers believed that even if they did expend the effort to learn the new system, they would not be able to achieve the performance gains required.

To summarize, we could say that for someone to change their behavior, they would need to believe that:

a) the reward is of sufficient value, and
b) it is probable that if they performed that they would receive the reward (outcome), and
c) if they expended the effort that they would perform to the standard required.

The interconnections between these three factors – value, performance and effort – largely determine whether a person will strive for a particular change outcome. This way of looking at human motivation is known by psychologists as Expectancy Theory and provides a powerful method for uncovering and diagnosing difficulties within your change program.

Expectancy Theory provides the structure for the questions you need to ask when people are not behaving as you expect. Starting from the left hand side of the equation and working forward, pose yourself these questions:

Is the outcome (reward) of value to them?

Some rewards are intrinsic in that they do not rely on people outside of the person concerned. These rewards include the satisfaction that comes from doing a good job and solving a challenging problem. Extrinsic rewards depend on others giving them and include bonuses, promotions, company car, certificates and praise. The more your change program satisfies intrinsic needs, the less reliant it will be for success on contingent organizational reward systems.

If it is of value, is it of sufficient worth to change their behavior?

For monetary benefits, research has shown that the benefit must exceed a minimum threshold before it becomes a motivator. Other things to consider are the distance in time between the performance and the awarding of the incentive. As the distance in time increases, the perceived link between the reward and the desired behavior diminishes.

Does the person expect to enjoy the outcome if they perform as required?

Issues to consider here are the reliability of organizational systems and the levels of trust between layers of management and between frontline workers and management.

Does the person expect to perform to the standard required if they expend the effort?

Possible impediments to performance include both personal roadblocks and organizational roadblocks. Consider each when diagnosing behavior issues. Personal impediments include low self-esteem, poor skill level and low tolerance to frustration. Organizational impediments include no or ineffective performance feedback, variable processes, poorly defined goals, inadequate resources and lack of support from peers and managers.

The important point here is that the level of a person’s drive to change their behavior is not determined by the objectively calculated probabilities that the effort will lead to performance and that the performance will lead to the reward, but the person’s belief about these probabilities. Remember the old adage, “Perception is nine tenths of the law”.

We have considered how a person’s expectancies influence their behavior. If only life – and organizational change – were quite that simple. A further factor that can influence people’s behavior is highlighted by another way of looking at motivation, called Equity Theory. To illustrate, again using our example above, imagine for a moment that the process workers were fully expectant; they believed that if they made the effort to learn the new system it would result in the required 30% improvement in productivity. They further expected that they would receive their 5% bonus if the productivity target was reached. They also considered that the bonus amount was worth their while. In spite of all of these positives, they continued to refuse to learn and use the new system.

Imagine further that this issue came to a head when the management team received a proposal from the workers’ representative saying that they would learn and use the new system only if the performance incentives offered matched the 10% bonus offered to workers in other companies. The principle being illustrated here is that people make judgments about the equity of distributed rewards. If a person considers that the ratio of their work inputs to work outcomes is different from other similar people, they will adjust their beliefs or behavior to bring the perceived imbalance back into line. A person’s work inputs include such things as skills, experience, enthusiasm and length of tenure. Examples of work outcomes include remuneration, bonuses, interesting and challenging work, company benefits and friendly work colleagues.

The workers in our example sought to restore the imbalance through improving outcomes by demanding an increased bonus amount. In the face of perceived inequity, however, the recipients in your change program may choose from a number of strategies. They may reduce their work inputs through, for example, reducing their work effort or leaving the workplace early. Or they may attempt to change the behavior of the comparison group, for example, by applying pressure on hardworking co-workers to reduce their effort. The most radical response is for the change recipient to withdraw from the comparison through extended leave absences or by leaving the organization altogether.

Equity considerations are especially important in managing change programs as organizational change, without exception, involves redistributions of power, resources and rewards, and even people’s livelihoods. Change also entails new expectations for people’s work inputs and a reevaluation of the worth of worker contributions, both previous and new.

As with applying Expectancy Theory, what determines the change recipient’s behavior is not what you consider to be the relevant work inputs and outcomes and how you calculate their ratio, but how the change recipient perceives these. The subjective nature of the calculations highlights again the crucial importance of genuine two-way communication with change recipients in order to arrive at a common understanding of change motivators and demotivators.

Also, when considering behavior change issues, it’s not a case of applying expectancy considerations or equity principles. The two ways of looking at resistance to change work in tandem. Where expected outcomes are extrinsic (dependent on others for their supply and distribution), perceptions of equity act as a modifier to the level of motivation dictated by considerations of expectancy alone. As we saw in our example above, the underlying motivation to achieve the 5% bonus payment was swamped by the perceived inequity of distribution. Once the perceived inequity is removed, the process workers will act to achieve the reward. Consider now how you can use these two ways of looking at resistance to illuminate why key people are not lending the support to your program as you anticipated.

© Leslie Allan. All rights reserved.

The above is an edited extract from Leslie Allan’s book, Managing Change in the Workplace: A Practical Guide.

What Do Statistics Show?

HR Magazine says that, according to a report by IBM entitled The Future of Banking, this is not the case. The report indicated that, even though the industry expected radical (emphasis mine) change, managing it was quite a different story.

15% said they were very successful at managing change.

32% said they were successful.

33% said they had some success.

15% said they had little to no success.

Research by the Corporate Strategy Board of Arlington, VA, agrees that change is not handled well by organizations, citing a 50% failure rate.

The banking industry is far from being alone in the churn of change. The hospitality industry has also endured its share of change because travel is one of the first perks given up in hard times.

“Going green” has become a mantra for business and citizens, but even it has experienced change in the form of lower prices in areas of recyclables.

Given the changes of the past year in the economy, politics and environment, organizations would do well to understand how to better decide, communicate and implement needed changes.

Why Do Change Efforts Fail?

Flexibility

Many organizations are inflexible. They want to implement change with the finesse of a bulldozer. Driving change without the ability or desire to make needed adjustments tolls the death knell for any change initiative.

Flexibility is particularly important for the small business owner. One thing in your favor is dexterity. Small businesses don’t have the cumbersome layers of management, multiple locations, or ensuring compliance with governmental regulations.

A change endeavor, — a new developmental program, reporting procedure, accounting process or customer service initiative — will not fit every department, every procedure, or even each individual customer or employee.

Solution: CEOs should be certain that current procedures and process are understood. Oftentimes the top executive is the one person who lacks the understanding of workflow, tasks and initiatives. Smaller businesses may need to be careful about ignoring needed changes and bring in another set of eyes in order to obtain a clearer vision. Stay current and keep involved, but avoid micromanagement in the process.

Communication

Leaders often fail to communicate their vision to the executive team. While leaders may give the overall picture or the result of the change they wish to see, direction on how to achieve that vision may be sorely lacking.

Solution: If the reasons for change have been investigated with input from the executive staff, the change will not only make sense, but it will have their support and an understanding of the best implementation procedures.

Smaller business leaders should ensure they have open communication with trustworthy expert sources for guidance in addressing needed changes.

Is Insider Information Best?

“From a certain point of view, our real enemy, the true troublemaker, is inside.”

~~Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama had a perspective for individuals here, but looking ONLY inside our organizations for answers is not always the best way. Don’t neglect looking inside, as this is where the birth of buy-in occurs. However, just as with people, organizations often can’t see the forest for the trees. Our perspectives have become tainted and mired in minutia, personality conflicts and territorial rifts.

Solution: Be willing to look outside your organization for answers, ideas and solutions. Take what you learn from both inside and outside and marry the best parts of each for effective change.

The Big Picture

The big picture perspective is essential but it’s not the only viewpoint to be considered. We must look at the effects of change on employees. Individual executives, managers and employees are the vehicles for conveying, implementing, adjusting and maintaining change. Therefore, implementing change successfully must begin with each team member.

Solution:

You may think considering the change on a causal level may be a tall order or even nigh to impossible, but it’s an essential foundation for the success of your change initiatives. We know that, as a rule, every person reacts to, and handles, change differently. How can you, as the CEO, executive member, manager or employee understand all people’s reaction to change? It can be accomplished easily and efficiently by understanding every person’s behavioral style. Within the DISC assessment is information on the respondent’s reaction to change. These assessments can be administered at hire and/or at evaluation time. This gives the CEO inside information on handling the executive team. Executive members will understand how to handle each of their managerial reports. Managers will be able to better inform and motivate employees toward the change. Employees will be able to work better as a team with this increased understanding of team members.

A small business leader needs to understand his/her strengths and know what expertise needs to be brought in or outsourced to maximize changes.

Summary:

All businesses face change from time to time. Knowing the elements required to initiate, implement, and maintain change for the size company you operate will play a large role in making change effective.

Step 1 – The Change Think Tank – Planning

Think & Reflect. The first step in implementing change is to stop and think before taking action. Sometimes the natural reaction for a business owner is to jump straight in and make immediate radical changes.

This rarely works. It’s best to block some time to plan the change either by locking yourself away at work for a few hours or actually driving to a neutral venue (park, cafe etc) away from your business premises. You need an unbroken focus to plan for change without interruption.

Map out your Initial Changes. Document a first draft of your changes. This should just be a summary and doesn’t need to look pretty. Make sure you jot down the steps required and likely timing. Note any major gaps or barriers that need to be considered in implementing the plan. Draft an initial time line you believe is achievable and a working deadline for implementation.

Seek input from Stakeholders & Advisors. Now you’ve drafted your plan alone, it’s time to discuss this with other stakeholders and advisors. Seek input from your stakeholders which include business partners, management, key employees and customers/suppliers (if applicable). Ask for feedback from your trusted advisors where appropriate. Ask them to be open and frank. Listen intently and don’t get defensive. Adopt a collaborative approach to planning for change.

Collective Intelligence. Now that you have the collective intelligence of your stakeholders and advisors, it’s time to revisit your initial plan for change. Edit and amend this based on the feedback to maximize the chance of you implementing your changes efficiently and effectively without compromising business operations.

Finalize Changes. You now should have documented your final changes and clearly understand the steps to be taken and timeline for implementation. Speak again with key parties involved in implementing the changes to confirm exactly “what, when and how” things will be changing and the role of each party. Ask everyone to confirm their clear understanding.

Diarise Implementation. Ensure all parties involved have diarised agreed actions for implementing the changes.

Step 2 - Making Changes – Implementation

Consistency. Just prior to implementing the changes, check in with key parties to ensure that you are “one voice” and that everyone is aware of both their roles/actions and those of others in the process. Without this, the success of implementing change is challenged even before it’s started.

Manage Expectations. Manage everyone’s expectations by being consistent and explaining the changes openly in meetings. Other than confidential information, avoid being secretive.

Forum is Important. The forum for meeting with people to explain change is more important than you probably think. Consider the appropriateness of group meetings, team meetings or one-to-one meetings before booking a meeting. Delivery is key and it’s all about everyone accepting and committing to the change.

Let People Speak. One of the most common complaints by people in managing change is that they didn’t get to speak about it. Make sure that adequate time (both during meetings and afterward) is available for individuals to ask questions or seek clarity. Remember that we want “everyone on board”. They may not agree with the changes you are making but they will probably at least respect you for the process adopted.

Be Flexible. If you receive critical information or feedback while you are implementing change, don’t dig in and be totally inflexible. Change is fluid and it often pays to yield and give up some ground when a “better way” is presented to you.

Step 3 – After The Change – Monitor & Measure

Monitor Change. Don’t be passive after implementing your changes. Proactively monitor the change implemented and review performance against how the situation was prior to the change.

Measure Change. Identify and seek from involved parties any quantitative and qualitative measures that you can use to measure the change.

Remember to Check In. This is a killer. Make sure you check in with everyone after change has been implemented. Everyone’s different and react differently to change. People’s views often change after change is implemented and you need to be aware of this. The last thing you need is a silent saboteur who has disconnected from supporting the change and is undoing all your good work. This is often passive behavior rather than vindictive and can be hard to identify. So talk to people and listen.

Report the News. There is nothing worse than making changes and then no-one ever hears the outcome. Don’t fall for the management by abdication trap of thinking “everyone knows what’s going on” They don’t! Report to everyone on the results and outcomes the change has delivered (both good and bad).

Periodic Reviews. Schedule periodic reviews with key people after implementing change to monitor and maximize benefits. Business conditions constantly change and this forum allows you to catch up on circumstances that have changed since implementation.

Darren Bourke, Business Influence, 2008. You are welcome to “reprint” this article online as long as it remains complete (including the “about the author” information at the end).

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Influence Without Authority

Maybe it was a new initiative at work or in your community, or a new idea for your family. It can be anything at all that you were excited about and anxious for the change or innovation to take place or for the new idea to be implemented.

It doesn’t matter if what you are thinking about is current, recent or “ancient history” or whether it`s work related or in your personal life.

Have you got a situation in your mind?

Great!

When you were living with that change and believed in the value of that change, what did you do?

My guess is that you:

Talked about the change in positive ways Engaged others in conversation about the change and its benefits Helped other people really understand the change – so they could see it and believe in it the way that you did Encouraged others in regards to the change Kept others excited about the change, especially when they were negative or frustrated Supported others in any way that you could

If you have ever done any of these things, you`ve been a change champion, and you can do it again.

When thinking about change, especially organizational change, there are a number of things we expect or have seen those “in charge” do, including:

Organizing the change efforts Supervising the activities Running things as effectively as possible Trying to keep the efforts on task and on time

These are important tasks and would be grouped into what I call change management. These are incredibly important activities that become more important the larger the change effort becomes (the more people involved, etc.). These are also the tasks that most people think about when in charge of a change.

Perhaps you also have seen people doing other things in regards to a change, things like:

Helping to steer the change, perhaps through ongoing communication Conveying some sense of importance and urgency relating to the change Moving people, through their action perhaps, in the direction of the change

These are examples of what I call change leadership activities. In my experience they are seen less frequently than the change management tasks, but they are at least as important.

Read back now over all three bullet lists and ask yourself, which of these lists will have the most impact on creating real, lasting change?

Your answer might well be “all of them”, and in many ways that is true – all of these tasks and activities will move a change forward. Having said that let me emphasize a very important point. It is the first list – the activities of a change champion – that will make the biggest difference, in part because they are so often missing completely.

The good news is you have been a change champion in the past. You can do it – and you can do it again. Open yourself up to the idea that when you share a bit more of yourself, when you say more about what you believe, when you allow your passion to show through in your actions; you can make a real difference in a change situation.

Doing those things makes you a change champion.

Doing those things will allow you to make a bigger difference.

Are you a change champion? You are when you do those things, regardless of your job title or position.

So now think of all the changes around you – especially the ones you are interested in and care about – and ask yourself – will I champion this change? And if so, when will I begin?

Potential Pointer: Change, especially organizational change, requires more than management or even leadership. Change will be most effective and lasting when people who believe in and are passionate about whatever the change is champion it and nurture its development. If you want more effective change, stop managing it and start championing it!

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Most of us have suffered from listening to poor public speakers. We’ve squirmed as they’ve gone on endlessly saying the same thing in a dozen boring ways. Most of us too have admired brilliant speakers and wished we too could captivate an audience. At the very least most of us would like to express our views in public without losing our courage not to mention our voices.

The thing most public speakers have in common is simply a fear of making fools of themselves. They may be college students who have to study rhetoric as part of their schooling. In adult life those who attend may be budding politicians, trade union activists or aspiring business people. There may also usually be a few shy singles and some married couples sharing a new experience in communications. However interesting the mix they don’t usually expect to start the class with breathing exercises.

Teachers will explain that these exercises will help pupils relax. The truth is that when you see others puffing and blowing you have to laugh. You simply can’t take yourself too seriously when you are bent double swinging your arms energetically. In the context of all this merriment it is usually a only a short matter of time before you all introduce yourselves and explain why you are taking public speaking classes.

You first challenge is that you have to get used to speaking aloud. So many teachers provide poems and tongue twisters, even bits from the Bible for you to try. You may be asked to bring in your favourite book and read it to the class. You will discover that they quietest person in the class probably loves gruesome tales of the supernatural while the strongest looking footballer loves lyrical poetry. Once you have got used to the sound of your own voice you progress to speaking about everything under the face of the sun.

One week you may rivet your class with your speech about spies. The next week you will find yourself giving your views on the political system or the World Cup. A good teacher will help you to expand your mind and broaden your interests. You may find yourself in the public library swotting up on a totally new subject and actually enjoying it as you visualise yourself impressing your classmates. It doesn’t take long before you are hooked on the challenge of captivating your audience. It won’t matter to you whether they are classmates, members of the local chamber of commerce or even the world synod of bishops.

That’s fine when you can prepare your speech days in advance. Speaking off the cuff is a totally different but part of public speaking is teaching you to think on your feet. So try to imagine what you would say about forks, Santa or the sky at night without any time to prepare. A simple one-minute off the cuff talk can seem like endless torture. Eventually though you master the idea of making a riveting start, interesting context and a thought-provoking conclusion, even if you don’t know the first thing about the subject. You are on your way to being a competent public speaker. Obviously though you will speak with more passion and zeal when you are inspired by the topic. So if you love sport you will find that your sports speeches will have that extra something and that’s good.

All through your life this skill it will be an asset to you. You may have to speak on graduation day, at the office party, when your best friend celebrates his birthday or even at your daughter’s wedding. Your audience may be schoolmates, the local historical society, a computer convention or simply the parish youth committee.

You learn to use a microphone so that it doesn’t catch the knocking of your knees. You will have learnt how to emphasise a point, how to use notes, how to chair a meeting. You master nervous habits such as hand twisting or foot tapping. Most importantly, you learn to write to be said aloud rather than read. You will find yourself listening critically to other speakers whether they are on radio or television or in a local club. You will start saying to yourself, “he never mentioned X” or “He should have said something about Y”. You become, In fact, the original armchair critic. Above all though you will learn that public speaking is great fun.

Public speaking is a very personal thing. It gives you confidence and it makes you more articulate. It teaches you how to put your ideas in sequence. It also helps you to make new friends. Many public speakers join groups such as Toastmasters and make it a lifelong hobby. Others are simply satisfied to be able to give their viewpoint at a local meeting. If you are really lucky you might even find yourself being paid to lecture on a pet subject!

Being able to speak well in public helps your self-esteem. You may find you are welcomed to parties, invited to functions and it might even help you to impress your boss. Certainly it will expose you to lots of new ideas you hadn’t considered before. You might, like one speaker, learn to think of income tax as today’s equivalent to the tithes once paid to the church to support the poor. Now that’s what’s called a persuasive speech!

Some people of course are naturals and can address any audience anywhere with enthusiasm and ease. Most of us though consider public speaking as a fate worse than death, until we learn to master it. The problem then is that by then it will be like the weekly crossword, you’ll just have to keep at it until you get it right.

There is absolutely no feeling like that of holding an audience in the palm of your hand. So go on grab their attention, entertain and inform them and send them away with your words ringing in their ears.

Whether you call it oratory, rhetoric or public speaking it will enhance your life and help you to make lots of new friends. Like learning to ride a bike it is a skill, once learned, that you never forget.

You may wobble a bit if you get out of practise but soon all the skills you have learnt will soon come back. Then you’ll be freewheeling all the way and your audience will be delighted to come along for the ride!

I have a newsreader (the thing that acts like a newspaper but with blog posts).  I regularly follow approximately thirty different real estate and mortgage related blogs.  If you follow my twitter posts, nearly half of them are about the content of these real estate blogs.

Over the past year, almost all the blog posts have been bad news.

- Pricing drops in nearly all geographic areas
- Substantial home builders filing for chapter 11
- Stories about massive foreclosures
- Tales of woe, misery and pain

My conversations with my colleagues and network contacts were dismal and depressing

About a month ago this started to change. Certainly there are still numerous examples and stories about the down economy, but I began to notice bog posts and news stories that I have not seen in quite a while.

Here are some of these posts just from last week:

Sales of Existing Homes Rise, Fueled by Tax Credit – Builders Online Blog

New-Home Sales Rise 4.7% in February – Builders Online Blog

Signs of Recovery – Homes Sales Insights Blog

Signs of Life in California Real Estate – CNN Money Blog

WHAT’S THIS?!? Phrases such as, “Rise”, “Recovery”, “Signs of Life” in blogs posts? Prior to this week, I had not seen blogs posting with these words.

Are there problems? Absolutely, most of the blogs are still talking about the problems, however there bits and slivers of positive things are starting to creep into blog posts.

And I have seen more of it in the past week than in the past year.

Do we have a still more to go?  Yup.

Do I think were at the bottom? Yup.

Related articles by Zemanta

• More Information That The Housing Market has Reached Bottom (movephilly.blogspot.com)
• Pending Home Rise 2.1 Percent in Feb. From Jan. (abcnews.go.com)
• Can These Positive Trends Continue? (hsh.com)
• Are the Home Buyer Tax Credits Working? (usnews.com)
• Real Estate News Continues to Improve (hsh.com)
• Lyon Homes says stimulus is working (lansner.freedomblogging.com)

But I am glad to have made the switch to Wordpress.  I bit off more than I could chew with my previous site.

I wanted to have tons of functionality, forums, plugins, components, automation.  You name it, I wanted it for my site.  So I settled on Joomla, the massive content management system that offers everything you could want in a site (including a HUGE learning curve).  Unfortunately, with all those bells and whistles you need LOTS of administrative focus and time to make it work.

Over the space of a year, I built several sites with Joomla.  And the work ballooned.  And the sites grew.  Don’t get me wrong, they were terrific sites, but I was wondering whether I needed to hire an IT staff to keep up with it.

So I bit the bullet and switched to Wordpress.  Does it have all the massive functionality of Joomla, not really.  Did I need all the massive functionality, no, not at all.  Actually Wordpress gives me all I need and then some.  Joomla gave me all I needed and WAY more.  I just need what Wordpress gives me.

That’s a life lesson I continuously need to follow – start with what you need, add from there.

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• Forum: How To Choose The Right Web Publishing Tool (teemingmedia.com)
• Wordpress.tv broadcasts tutorials and Wordcamp reports (thenextweb.com)