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From Employee to Entrepreneur and now the CEO of The Change Creators

Do you feel there is something lacking in your life and career right now?

Do you have the feeling that there is more inside you but you can’t figure out how to access it and what your next step should be?

Are you too focused on what others think rather than what you really want to achieve?

4 years ago I would have answered ‘yes’ to all the above. 

Now I’m writing this article as the CEO of my own company – The Change Creators. 

If you had said to me back then that I would be running my own company, supported by a team of four and working with some of the most exciting brands in the world to create change, I would have laughed – awkwardly. 

So for me to be writing this and celebrating the evolution of my company in becoming The Change Creators with you now is a huge milestone in both my life and career.

4 years ago, I didn’t believe this journey was possible. Outwardly I was at the highest level of success in my career, the pinnacle of what I had worked for over the last 20 years. However, inwardly I was at rock bottom with no confidence and a sense of losing who I was.  

Looking at yourself in the mirror and feeling like a fraud, a failure and having no clue as to what you are going to do next is something I do not wish on anyone.

All I knew was that I was starting to feel the need for a change. I had a restlessness inside me, a feeling that I wasn’t living fully or authentically and that I had to explore it. I didn’t think for a minute that it would be what it turned out to be.

A new door opened

I had experienced some coaching in my last corporate position and loved it. It made me realise that in my operations role, you can only make changes if you understand why humans do what they do. So I made the decision to ignite my passion for learning and focus on human behaviour by pursuing my coaching training. I felt this would be a good way for me to learn about myself and then use it in my next corporate role to help elevate how change works.

Upon starting the training I fell in love with everything I was learning and began having a vision of building a business that was focused on creating change for others so they can be their true selves. So they never have to feel they need to be what they think they ‘should’ be or suppress their character to fit in. Just as I had once felt.

I wanted leaders to feel fearless and safe to bring out the best version of themselves and activate their full potential.

To do this I knew I had to back myself first. I had to work on my own self-belief and start to address that feeling inside that I could do and be more. 

This feeling still drives the business now. I want to show all the leaders I help that if I can do it, anyone else can.

31st May 2018 

On this day I opened the doors to Joanna Howes Ltd, coach, consult and trainer.

I was nervous, excited and also had no idea what was going to happen.

As an introvert, picking up the phone and reaching out to my contacts was a cocktail of butterflies and trepidation (now I’m a big fan of cocktails, however, this one? Not so much!). 

The realisation of having to wear all the different hats, becoming a marketer, accountant, sales person and course designer in a very short amount of time was a challenge.

But, using my training, I learnt that small steps lead to huge leaps both for myself and for the companies I’ve been honoured to help. The breakthroughs and transformation we have witnessed over the last 4 years have been incredible and very moving.  

Becoming The Change Creators 

My priority has always been people and have focused on helping create change in individuals, teams and businesses to help them grow and achieve their vision and goals easier and faster than ever before.  

To achieve this and keep our clients evolving, it’s important that both myself and my business evolved too. Being ‘Joanna Howes Ltd’ was great but with both my team and clients growing, I felt the time was right to grow further. 

It’s not a buy-out, merger or takeover. The core is still me.

Becoming The Change Creators is allowing us to expand our offering, grow our team and become the go-to brand to help you activate your full potential and be fulfilled in your life and work. 

One day or Day one?

I will be forever grateful that I took that leap and decided to back myself and create my change for good. Mine turned out to be building my own company. For you it may be securing a promotion or living more authentically in your work and life. 

My main message to you is that if you feel something strong enough, don’t ignore it. Go out and explore it!

I did 4 years ago and it’s got me to where I am today which I still have to pinch myself about. 

If you have ever felt the same then maybe today could be your day of change? 

How would you feel if you became the leader and business you know you can be?

So don’t keep thinking ‘one day…’ – Make today your ‘day one’. 

I’d love to hear from any of you who this resonates with. I’ve been there and can fully relate. Drop me an email here – I’d love to know your story, what you’d like to achieve and help you fulfil it.

This is a very exciting time for us all. Thank you for being part of our journey and we hope you continue to do so.

Stay posted for new product launches and surprise gifts that we will be sharing to celebrate our growth. 

Look after your people, and they will look after your business 

Today’s article will explore the final part (part 4) of the successful model for change – People. Below is a reminder of the model I use when helping aid change in organisations and the foundation for this series of articles. 

Read previous articles here:

Part 1 – Environment

Part 2 – Structure

Part 3 – Implementation

You may be wondering why it is only at part 4 that we start to plan the ‘people strategy’ for the company.

Isn’t it always people first?

Yes, it is.

In order to put people first, you need to do the groundwork to align thinking, identify what needs to change and present clear actions on how these changes will be made. Your teams will only be open to adopt the changes if there is a clear strategy that they can get on board with. 

Usually the first steps aren’t considered and your teams are thrust into change that hasn’t been carefully thought about and therefore are resistant to it.  

By completing the parts 1-3, you are setting your team up for success and making sure their time is valued.

When I work with teams, the repeated requests I hear time and time again are, they just want a clear plan so they can understand what the expectations are from them. 

The CAM model helps organisations put clear steps and communication in place. You can provide your company the certainty they seek, that there is a vision, goals, alignment, strategies, clarity, structure and a roadmap for change.

What does the People section involve:

Depending on how small or large your change project is will determine how much time needs to be spent focused on the list below.  Some change projects may not require training and mentoring, just clear communication and leadership and some will require all 8 listed below.

1. Communication
2. Leadership
3. Mentoring 
4. Coaching
5. Training
6. Purposeful conversations
7. Capabilities
8. Support

Here’s a bit more detail on the ones that tend to always be required;

Communication

Communication is a two way process.

You need to be able to clearly communicate the Environmental and Structural thinking to your company and you need to be able to actively listen to their feedback.

You will find that some of the feedback you receive will build and make your ideas better.

Other feedback will be from people who are resistant to change. Therefore it is so important to have spent the time in Environment and Structure to present clear reasons as to why these change initiatives need to be adopted for the benefit of the business and employees. 

Within the communication stage you also want to try and identify your ‘early adopters’. These are the people who are most open to change and will be the people the rest of the company will feel good about following – more so than following the leadership team.

Leadership

It is vital that you all support each other on the leadership team.

There should be no ‘corridor conversations’ or any suggestions to the wider team that you are not all on board. If there are any disagreements, this will have been identified at Environment stage and worked through, so you now approach the rest of the company as an aligned team. 

It is so important to know that your teams will not embrace change unless they can see the leadership team are united and they see you as a leadership team adopting the change first.

This can take up to 3 months if you have low trust in your organisation and have tried ‘change projects’ before that haven’t lasted.

As a leadership team it is critical that you take responsibility for keeping momentum and holding each other accountable to keep the change active and not be disheartened that you do not see immediate adoption from your teams. 

Support

Naturally, people tend to resist change. However, they welcome change if it doesn’t directly affect them. 

Your role is to provide psychological safety so your teams feel they can share how they feel without being judged or for fear they will lose their job or be seen differently.

You need to ensure you have thought of all the questions your teams may have and be aligned in your responses.  

Every single person on your team will respond differently to the change and you need to be patient and see it from their perspective.

Be available for 1-2-1’s and team talks to provide reassurance, clarity and to be fully present to your team so they feel heard by you.

This level of consistent support is the difference between the companies that can make change work and the ones that don’t, which also results in losing good people. 

Support each other as a leadership team and then be there for your teams.

Final thoughts

The CAM model provides a new framework to change, but a framework that is proven to succeed. I have personally used this within many organisations – large and small – and the results have been transformational. 

The CAM model will also:

1. Save you time and money
2. Help you build high-performing teams
3. Help you build aligned, motivated teams
4. Ensure you stay relevant as a business
5. Ensure you meet the needs of your clients and employees 

And… if you are worried about time, let me explain that you will spend the same amount of time reinforcing change over and over again, as you will if you adopt the CAM model and work through each part. 

You will just have very different outcomes.

So make the choice today. Become the leader who actions effective change to benefit your work and your people and lead a successful company that people will want to work with and trust.

Good luck & go forth. 

If you would like know more about how I can bring this model to life within your organisation, please email me on hello@joannahowes.com

I have created a very simple pdf guide that takes you through this exact process and a case study to show the power of the thinking and it is currently available for FREE from my website. Grab your copy here.

Joanna Howes is an international award-winning high performance coach and bestselling author based in London. She’s been featured on NBC, FOX and MSP News Global. If you want to lose the limits that are holding you back, book in for a free introductory call right here. 

How to get off the hamster wheel

Today’s article will explore part 3 of the successful model for change – Implementation. Below is a reminder of the model I use when helping aid change in organisations and the foundation for this series of articles.

If this is the first article you have read in this series, I highly recommend going back to read part 1 and part 2. The reason being is that too many companies start here in implementation and this is the reason why change fails and is not sustained. 

How to know if you’re a business or leader who heads straight to implementation: 

1. You have been trying to find a solution to a fix a problem for years, yet year on year the same issues keep arising 
2. Your team are fed up of trying new ways of working as they do not believe the change will stick – so what’s the point of trying
3. You use language like ‘we need to get this done’, ‘we need to do this faster’, ‘just make it happen’.

This level of thinking is why so many businesses get caught up in the hamster wheel of ‘doing’ and why ‘doing’ doesn’t create lasting results. 

How does this affect businesses in the long term:

1. Money lost on projects that do not have a chance of succeeding
2. A lack of trust amongst the team and a belief that change isn’t possible
3. Loss of good employees
4. A culture of frustration, exhaustion and blame
5. Client dissatisfaction 

Valuing the time spent in Environmental (part 1) and Structural (part 2) thinking is what is going to set you up for success for all your change initiatives – large and small.

How implementation works effectively

So, you have created your vision, goals, standards, aligned on your beliefs as a team, you have your categories, benchmarks and a roadmap to success and now implementation is what actually makes these things happen.

Step one

Start by looking at what is happening now in your business and what new actions need to be introduced following the work you have completed in Environment and Structure.

The actions to begin focusing on are:

• Decision making
• Delegation
• Reporting
• Short term and long term thinking
• How you do things
• What you focus on 

For example:

If you have agreed your standards for decision making is to keep the leadership team informed so they can be united but current standards are that the leaders say one thing and do another…then this is an action that needs to change.

Step two

You need to identify what you ‘do’ as an organisation.

Here are some key questions to ask:

1. How do the team make decisions?
2. How well do they plan projects?
3. How well do they action a project?
4. Do they complete what they start?
5. Do they live the values they say they do?

Question 5 really starts to highlight the difference between what people say they do, versus what they actually do.

It’s your role as a leader to uncover these gaps and discover what is missing that is causing this behaviour. 

Step three

The final step is to identify the balance of short term and long term thinking within the team.

Are people thinking short term and doing work that is needed now and to solve the problems of today, or are they able to see the bigger picture that their actions ladder up to?

People tend to be stronger in one of these areas. It’s quite unusual to be strong in both and this is normally a learned behaviour that comes with experience.

Identifying your team’s strengths in both short and long term thinking will impact how they ‘do’ and the success you can achieve as a team and organisation.

Moving forward

I hope I’ve been able to demonstrate that jumping to implementation and ‘doing’ is risky business and the reason why so many companies fail to make even the simplest of changes work.  

It really does start with awareness and taking a step back to view the bigger picture. You have to understand what the first step looks like before you take the first step.

The time is now to stop being a leader that just has a team ‘doing’ lots of stuff. Don’t make being ‘busy’ a benchmark for productivity.  It is a false assumption that busy means progress.  

It’s time to get off the hamster wheel and be a leader who can elevate your teams thinking to set them up for success. You can be a leader of the future who creates high performers who innovate and drive sustainable business results. 

I have created a very simple pdf guide that takes you through this exact process and a case study to show the power of the thinking and it is currently available for FREE from my website. Grab your copy here.

If you would like know more about how I can bring this model to life within your organisation please email me on hello@joannahowes.com

Joanna Howes is an international award-winning high performance coach and bestselling author based in London. She’s been featured on NBC, FOX and MSP News Global. If you want to lose the limits that are holding you back, book in for a free introductory call right here.

The thinking of a great leader

In my first article of the ‘Making Change Work’ series I introduced the power of the Critical Alignment Model and shared the importance of starting in Environment thinking to build alignment for successful change.

We are now going to dig deeper into the importance of the second stage of thinking which is entitled ‘Structure’. Now, this isn’t organisational structure, for example org charts, it is a level of leadership thinking and most importantly a method of thinking in categories and measurement. 

Structure is a big dimension of thinking and truth be told, where the power lies to set you up for success.

This is the thinking of great leaders.  

Let’s start with some of the benefits to thinking in Structure:

You will be able to:

So what is Structure thinking?

Structure is the quantitative characteristics of the organisation. It is the content we can impact and influence.  

Structure includes (is not limited to):

• The divisions of the business
• The departments within the business
• The strategies
• The physical environment
• The equipment
• The systems
• The checklists and manuals
• The politics
• The best practices
• The KPI’s
• The benchmarks

Step one – Categories

Structure allows you to organise your thinking and goals into categories and priorities. 

Imagine categories as buckets of content for which plans need to be built.  The content will be the things you have to deal with, things that need to be addressed.  This isn’t starting the implementation, it’s prioritising the plan. 

Case study example: 

A company wanted to introduce project management roles into their company.  

At first the team had polar opposite beliefs on what they believed the role of project management was, and the perception of project management.  So we made time for the team to become aligned on the vision, goals, beliefs, standards etc.

We didn’t move into Structure until we had educated the team to be aligned on their beliefs.

We then agreed the categories within Structure:

1. The department set up
2. The roles
3. The new ways of working
4. Client communication
5. Commercial impact
6. Talent audit and hiring 

We assigned an owner from the leadership team for each category to drive ownership of the change.

Next, we ensured the categories were in priority sequence, so that we focused on the top three, and maximised effectiveness. 

Finally we ensured the team was aligned on the goals for each of the categories. For example, the goal for ‘the department set up’ was to establish the feeling of one team made up of both the account and project managers.

Step two – Creating Strategies

The next critical step is to design your strategies for each category to achieve the desired outcome. 

I witness too many companies setting their goals, and then regressing to the daily routine.  So the team just keeps working as they have always been with blind hope the goal will be met.

This happens because the goals do not have any strategies.  This step is often passed over.

I just don’t have time

If you are reading this and thinking – I just don’t have the time, we just need to get on with it, read on…

STOP now

Think about how much time and money you lose when your change initiative doesn’t work.  The pain to the culture of the business that re-enforces the belief that it’s ‘all words and no action’.

The upfront work that is required to make change happen is the demonstration of great leadership and leaders understanding their role.  Remove yourself from the weeds and elevate your thinking to Environment and Structure, and you will finally get off the hamster wheel and achieve sustainable success. 

Step three – Benchmarking.

When I question the majority of companies what their benchmarks of excellence are, I am often met with a prolonged silence.

If you do not have benchmarks, how do you know what you are aiming to achieve and if you have succeeded?

Action is not always sufficient, we need to question whether it was carried out in a way that achieved the desired outcome.

Benchmarks are best practice habits that help you succeed. They allow you to measure performance with facts, not with feelings or personal bias.

A simple example would be:

What is your benchmark for how your company phone is answered? 

1. Within how many rings
2. The greeting
3. Returning call time

Now you can track the progress, impact and consistency of hitting this benchmark of excellence for your company and your teams can manage their own productivity.

Some of the area’s you must have benchmarks for are:

• Sales 
• Customer service
• Talent
• Communication
• Ways of working
• Delivery
• Employee experience
• Innovation

I’m hoping this is helping you to see how important it is to spend time thinking in Environment and Structure before you just start DOING.  

Without this level of leadership thinking, you will see your change ideas weaken. You really do need this solid foundation to build change that is effective and lasts.

Join me next week for part 3, where we will explore how to make implementation productive and seamless.

I have created a very simple pdf guide that takes you through this exact process and a case study to show the power of the thinking and it is currently available for FREE from my website. Grab your copy here.

If you would like know more about how I can bring this model to life within your organisation please email me on hello@joannahowes.com

Joanna Howes is an international award-winning high performance coach and bestselling author based in London. She’s been featured on NBC, FOX and MSP News Global. If you want to lose the limits that are holding you back, book in for a free introductory call right here.