3 Steps To Becoming A Disruptive Leader In Your Organization

“Disruption” describes a process whereby a smaller company with fewer resources is able to successfully challenge established incumbent businesses. - Harvard Business Review article

Right off the bat, you may read the above excerpt from a December 2015 HBR article and say to yourself "I am not a business, I am an employee - why should this matter to me?"

So before we get into the steps to becoming a disruptive leader in your organization, I think that it is important to recognize one important fact . . . there is no such thing as an employee.

Yes, you are employed by your company, and yes, you receive a regular paycheck. But organizations are no longer looking for employees. They are looking for individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for thinking beyond the familiar. In essence, they want people who possess an intrapreneurial spirit, and a burning desire to drive greater success.

In this regard, you are like a small company, and your employer is in reality your customer or client.

Once you come to terms with this realization, a whole new world of thought and energy will open up to you.

1. Believe That Disruption Can Start At Any Level

The very nature of being a disruptive force means that you do not have to have an executive position within your company to be an agent of innovative change.

In fact, in many instances, it is those on the front lines of every day business who usually gain a first hand understanding of what customers are looking for in the way of products or services. In other words, you are plugged in, so use it to your advantage.

What are your customers saying? Are there areas for potential improvement, or service requirements that have yet to be filled?

Are there changes within your organization that can be made to improve customer satisfaction?

2. Make The Time To Take Action

Do you remember the old saying about regret?

In the end, the only regrets we have are about the chances we didn't take!

Think about that for a moment.

The question you have to ask yourself is what is holding you back?

What keeps you from responding to a need?

Is it a lack of confidence? A fear of failure? 

These are certainly potential obstacles. However, what I have found over the years is that procrastination and distraction are often times your greatest enemy. 

You are busy, and pressed for time. There is a greater demand today to do more with less resources. How can you possibly add another task or pursue a new idea? Sure you believe you have a better way to serve a client's need, or improve an internal process that will create new efficiencies. One day you will get to that. But right now, you can only see what is immediately in front of you.

This is why it is important for you to make the time to take action.

Recognizing an opportunity to make a difference is not enough. You have to reach out and grab it. You have to make it yours, and in so doing you will mobilize your dreams and realize your full potential.

3. Don't Quit

So you have recognized a need, and have stepped up to make it happen, but not everyone shares your vision or enthusiasm.

The resistance you are encountering takes many forms. Sometimes it is apathy. Other times it is a full frontal critiquing as to why your idea won't work or, isn't working.

What do you do?

First of all, realize that in pursuing a better way you are always going to encounter resistance. Getting over the "we have always done it this way" mindset is likely going to be the first line of defence you will encounter.

As a result, and regardless of what others may say, you have to remember that you are not after consensus. While you will always want to gain champions for your ideas, as well as leverage the insights from a cherished mentor, at the end of the day, it is up to you.

How far are you willing to go to make a positive difference?

What's more, if you were to quit, could you live with yourself if someone else, somewhere down the road, made your idea work?

Winston Churchill once said "Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."

Do you believe in what you are doing?

Does what you are doing make sense?

If you can honestly answer yes to these two questions, then don't quit!

Make Your Magic happen . . . today!

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