“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw
You may have heard the term “trust the process”; this term is often said when we are embarking into an unknown endeavor and offers the concept to somewhat blindly trusting that others before you have built a series of learning steps based on their in-depth experience with the subject matter, and that if you follow along bravely and boldly, you will get dramatically accelerated results. This blind trust allows you to stop derailing your results which can happen when overthinking and analyzing occur. Others who have already walked this path before us understand profound learning moments, distractions, and even tricky mind traps, so trusting the process will maximize our learning experience.
But just as we are asked to trust the process of experts in their fields, our many internal processes almost ask us to do the same – to have blind faith in what has internally been developed over the course of our lifetime. Like blindly “trusting the process” of outside experts, we can often see our inner voice as that outside expert and follow it blindly, rarely questioning if the series of steps and actions we habitually take are leading us in the direction of our hopes and dreams. Instead of “trusting the process,” perhaps what we should be doing is “questioning our process.”
Trust the Process vs. Becoming Process Focused: A Shift in Perspective
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy
Process is defined as “a series of actions or steps in order to achieve a particular end” (Oxford online). So often in life and through trial and error, we have arrived at many hundreds, if not thousands, of processes to achieve the many ends we desire. From significant relationships, friendships, health, finances, and careers (to name a few big ones), we have actions and steps to achieve positive and negative results in all areas of our lives.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously stated that “Change is the only constant in life” which leads us to believe that in all areas of our lives, we are in constant flux, with nothing ever static. We get older, technology keeps advancing, the world keeps changing, and the rules of life and business that applied 10, 20, or 30 years ago (maybe even yesterday) may no longer be relevant or are even forgotten.
For example, younger people want different things from their careers, like a feeling of purpose, flexibility, work-life balance, and a rich company culture. Although these are all great ideas, past generations often looked more for stability and the ability to move up through hard work and loyalty. For companies to survive, they’ve needed to adapt their management processes to meet ever-changing workforce needs. Many have moved from an authoritarian management style that was often fear-based (do as I say or lose your job) to a more collaborative management style (we’re all in this together).
The Importance of Being Process Focused in Business: Adapting to a New Generation
Einstein effectively defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I often reflect on this definition when I am not hitting it out of the park in a particular area of my life. When that nagging voice and corresponding feeling hits (you know what I’m talking about), I know it’s time to start examining my process—the series of actions or steps—that had me arrive at that particular less-than-stellar result.
“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change” – Stephen Hawking
Here’s where it gets VERY tricky. If it were as easy as tweaking a process to get a new and on-target result, thus fulfilling all hopes and dreams, we’d all be there by now. But something bigger often gets in our way of changing or even accessing our internal processes.
Let’s look at a couple of examples.
I have been in the business world for over 35 years, and I would say that I have a strong identity around being a “businessperson” and I take a certain amount of pride in what I have achieved during this time. During my career, I have been called upon to execute sales presentations for large multi-national clients. I have developed a tried-and-true process of how I would prepare for such a presentation to stack the odds in my favor in achieving positive results based on my extensive experience. I can say with absolute confidence that I have a built-in “process” for a successful meeting that I have developed over many years.
So, what happens when a meeting does not go as planned?
One particular meeting I went into I was sure it would be a slam dunk, with the buyers falling all over themselves to shower me with orders and I would leave like a hero for the company I represent. But instead, I was met with an icy reception and no movement in my direction at all, just a bold-faced failure to meeting the needs of the buyers that resulted in bringing home no bacon for myself or the company I represent.
What happened? To take a deeper look, let's look at my old process of a sales presentation and how it was received.
My sales process is based on the buyers I have been calling on for many years, even decades in some cases. Those original buyers were hired as subject matter experts, they knew the products they bought backwards and forwards, they were brought in for their expertise in a particular field.
My process in preparing to meet them was to make sure I could match (and even slightly exceed) their knowledge of the products I was going to present.
The second big part of calling on these buyers was building a level of trust and familiarity. We called it “relationship selling”, with the idea that if they liked you, they would buy from you. A presentation would look like old friends getting together, catching up on life, kids, sports teams etc.
The third part is that these meetings would look very collaborative, as two subject matter experts come together, I would often bring concepts and prototypes to get feedback from another expert in the field and often from this feedback, both build products and further deepen relationships (you get the picture).
But things have changed.
There is a new generation of buyers, and they have dramatically different skill sets and priorities. Not only that, the companies they work for have also changed their approach to how they hire, train and the behaviors they encourage.
The new generation of buyers are no longer subject matter experts, but often business and accounting grads. They know very little about the physical properties of the products they buy, much understand earns and turns much better.
On the point of trust and familiarity, the buyers are moved from department to department frequently as a company policy to both keep their POV fresh and at the same time to limit their ability to form personal bonds with vendors.
Relationships are strongly discouraged.
On my third part, collaboration…without a base knowledge of the products, it is difficult if not impossible to have any levels of collaboration between supplier and client.
As I am sure you can see if I go into a new generation meeting with the needs of the older buyers in mind, I stand the chance of falling flat on my face. As I did a few times until I adapted my process.
Let’s call it old school vs. new school.
The new buyers’ needs are as follows:
A minimum amount of technical information
Information about the marketplace, competition etc.
How can we help them save time
How can we help them make money
How can we help them look good to their company
Show that we will be easy to deal with
Data data and more data
My meeting preparation and execution would look more like this:
Send technical information in advance of the meeting
Have sales numbers available showing trends and opportunities
Keep it short and to the point
Demonstrate we are a source of quality products measured by online reviews
Show how we will minimize service issues
Focus on making them look good
Show that you are reliable
Be easy and responsive to deal with
In the example above, I would love to say that I instantly pivoted as I hit the wall with this new wave of buyers as the older ones retired, moved on or moved into upper management roles. Just the opposite, I gave serious consideration to retiring or bringing in younger salespeople to match the younger buyers. In my heart and mind, my sales process was set and could not be changed; I was an old dinosaur who firmly thought I was not capable of changing my ways.
Holding me back, in this case, was my identity as a successful businessperson with a successful presentation style that I had developed over the decades. These two psychological barriers created significant resistance to changing my sales process in this example. This resistance not only stopped me from changing, but it also triggered me into many negative thought spirals. I am too old, time for a new career, and these buyers/companies will fail. I also had some personal hard feelings towards some of these new buyers I had never felt towards to older ones.
As I am sure you can see this was a made-up story created by my identity as a successful business person. Once I moved past these, I was able to get creative and develop new processes for sales presentations that met the needs of the evolving marketplace and got right back on the track of success.
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
Becoming Process Focused for Better Results: Lessons from a Marathon Runner
Let’s look at something very different…running a marathon.
About 10 years ago I took up long-distance running with the hope of completing a full marathon. Like any big result in our lives, we need a process to get us there. In the case of running a very long distance, I decided the best way to being able to run a full marathon was to run a ton!
I am a very focused person, so I started with running three days per week, which quickly became four, five, and eventually six days, with only one day of rest. I tackled running with an intensity that I do most things in life, going all in. Loving the challenge, setting goals and hitting them. If some running is good, more must be better. I must admit I started getting fitter, faster and stronger as my times were coming down and my distances were steadily increasing. I was encouraged by the progress, so I set an ambitious goal to break the 4-hour time in my very first full marathon.
Things went very well…until they didn’t. I started having various and frequent leg malfunctions, cramps that would last days, and pains in my knees that would stop me in my tracks…but my process was to “shake it off” and run through the pain with the hope that it would just go away. That is until I ran the half marathon tune-up race I signed up for 6 weeks before my full marathon. At that race, all the slow-down signs I was ignoring came to a head and my right foot stress fractured at the halfway point of that race. The body's way of saying slow the frack down, dummy!
I did manage to limp my way to the finish line at the marathon that year. But due to the injury, the race was extremely difficult. I did not make my 4-hour goal and running the race felt like torture as I could not run at all to prepare out of fear of re-breaking my foot. I decided after that race, that my body was not built for running that long a distance. Others can do it, but I cannot (sound familiar?). I formed an identity that day. I am not a marathon runner.
I did keep running as I had learned to love it, but always shorter distances, never being tempted by the slightest thought of doing a full marathon again (my foot would ache thinking about it). That is until one day my daughter came to me wanting to run her first marathon and thought it would be special to do with her dad. The power of kids…I did not hesitate, I said yes!
This time, having experienced a process that did not work for training for a full marathon, I knew I had to come up with something different. I knew injuries were coming from the stress of overtraining, an imbalance in my legs that too much running was causing, and simply not listening to my body. So, I made the following changes in my process.
Only run 3 days a week…allow for recovery.
Cross-train on the off days with something different to help with a balance of strength, but continue to strengthen my legs and do cardio. I did bike and elliptical training and increased workload as the marathon gets closer but stuck strictly to 3 days running a week.
It was like magic; with the new process, I was able to train and even enjoy myself. I confidently completed the marathon with my daughter and created the experience of a lifetime. Feeling encouraged I went on to run six more marathons in the year after this race. For a total of 7 in one calendar year. On top of that, I broke the 4-hour barrier goal in one of the races, with all six races under 4:05. I did this all in 2019 at the age of 51 years old…not bad for an older fellow.
The secret to the success in both examples was my ability to change to a new process. To not get stuck in an outcome, or an identity, that would have me spiral into unproductive thought processes (at least not forever…It sometimes takes time).
Breaking the Curse of Small Success: Staying Process Focused for Continued Growth
Are you achieving a less-than-stellar result in some area of your life? Look at your process. What have you learned and what can you change to achieve a better result?
With all of this in mind there is still another tricky little trap we can often get stuck in; something I will call the curse of small success. Both examples illustrate this nicely. In both the sales meeting and running examples I had a level of success in the past (successful meetings, a completed marathon). These perceived successes lock in these processes as winning strategies and add to my identities as a successful businessperson and long-distance runner. Layering both the successes and an identity I like (even love) about myself with a splash of outside admiration for these achievements often locks them in for a lifetime. These curses of small success processes are often held near and dear to our hearts and extremely difficult to even look at as a flawed process, never mind having the courage to drop, alter or even change them. If it’s working, why change it right? But what if you could achieve more than you even imagined?
You have decades of new experiences, information and wisdom as a lens to look at your current processes through. The key is to always stay curious about our processes and be willing to adapt and change to meet the moment with maximum creativity and resourcefulness. The alternative is to stay stuck in past ways of being and thinking they may have worked at one time, but no longer serve you today.
Going back to our original definition of process as “a series of actions or steps in order to achieve a particular end”. I am sure we can all see that if we are not achieving the particular end we desire, we need to quickly get curious about the actions and steps and in some cases the mental blocks that got us there in the first place. Moving from past results-focused (what worked before will work again) to current process-focused…absolutely puts you into the driver’s seat of your life.
“Love change, fear staying the same” - Maxime Lagace
Dave Fyfe
Business Success Coach & Strategist
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