INFORMATION + INSPIRATION + APPLICATION = TRANSFORMATION

INFORMATION + INSPIRATION + APPLICATION = TRANSFORMATION

Information. We can get this from a great lecture, a good book, video, webinar, or the blog post someone passed on to us. We can get this from a retreat, feedback session, or workshop. We can get this from a conversation in a hallway, at Starbucks, or at a conference. Information or knowledge is a basic building block to success, but isn’t as powerful by itself as you may have previously thought.

Inspiration. Think for a second about how you feel when you are inspired. It is an exciting feeling, isn’t it? If information is the realm of thoughts, inspiration is all about our feelings. As leaders, we must find ways to be inspired and to inspire those around us. We can and must do that if we want to create new and better behaviors and results. But a great kickoff speech only lasts so long, and only goes so far, and we all know it. This inspiration has to be consistent and created from within. Most inspiration to change comes from inspired dissatisfaction.

Application. Here’s the hard part. You can’t just read or go to a workshop and get all fired up. You have to put those things into action. Well, you don’t have to, unless you want a new result.

Transformation. That is what we want – the changed state of things. We might not call it transformation, but we want it. We want to improve. We want better results. We want more confidence and less stress. We want to make a difference. And this is what we want for those we coach and lead, too. We want good performers to be great. We want struggling performers to succeed. And we know that those things require more than a good training class or some (brilliant) feedback from us.

Chad Schapiro