Dr. E opens the video and announces this episode as the first in the 'ABCs of Change' series, setting up the topic and intent of future installments.
The speaker explains why change is necessary for personal and organizational growth and describes how resisting change leads to stagnation. They also prompt viewers to look for opportunities to mature, reflect, and address gaps.
The three core components of the framework—awareness, action, and accountability—are presented as the guiding A's of change and viewers are prompted to consider increasing awareness.
This chapter outlines practical ways to raise awareness, such as talking with departments, staff, customers, and leaders to understand needs and perspectives. It emphasizes that awareness reveals what is seen and unseen and is the starting point for change.
The speaker discusses translating awareness into concrete steps—implementing, integrating, and shifting practices—and stresses that action must follow understanding for improvement to occur.
The final section focuses on creating measures, processes, and standards to ensure promises are kept and considers consequences when accountability is missing. The speaker then restates the A's and closes the episode.
Hello, Dr. E here. Hope you are doing well. This is the first in a series that I am titling ABCs of Change. Change is so important because without change, there can be no growth. There can be no development. And without growth and development, chances are we've reached a stagnant point, both as individuals and as organizations. And so if you aren't embracing change, you aren't engaging the opportunities that really present themselves in order for you to mature as an individual, to grow as an organization, and maybe even possibly create spaces and places where individuals can really interrogate and reflect on some of those gaps that they might have, some of those gaps that they might see in terms of what you do as an organization, and ultimately some of the gaps that might align with how you're going to get to the next steps within your organization, particularly as it relates to diversity, equity and inclusion.
And so as I talk about change, remember to think about on an ongoing basis, what are those opportunities that you can take advantage of that present themselves and how can you go about doing that? And so the A's of change simply for me are awareness, action and accountability. How are you creating those moments where your level of awareness is increasing, whether it's on a micro level or even a macro level. Are you talking to your departments? Are you talking to your folks? Are you engaging your customers or your leaders to find out what their needs are, what they're seeing from their positionalities and their vantage points?
Your awareness is key because it's the starting point into what you see and what you don't see. If you aren't really interrogating or you aren't really asking those questions that allow your level of awareness to expand, chances are you're going to miss those opportunities both internally and externally to create change. And then obviously, how are you acting on what you are becoming aware of. How are you beginning to implement, integrate, and all of those kinds of things that relate to shifting and doing and creating change based on what you found, based on what you've learned, based on what you have developed both visibly, both internally as well as externally.
If you aren't taking action, if deeds aren't following your creeds, If you aren't putting steps to what you've understood in terms of words, you are not actually going to become better as an organization, better as an individual. and obviously achieving better results. And then finally, accountability. If you aren't making sure you are doing what you said you were going to do, if you aren't creating steps, measures, practices, processes to hold yourself to the standard of becoming aware, the standard of acting, and then what standard are you going to have and create to make sure you're doing some of those things that you've already articulated?
And what does it mean when you don't? What does it mean when you miss the How are you then going to retroactively think about where and how that has some negative impacts and implications for you, your team, your organization, and then what are you doing in response? And so the A's of change, awareness, action, accountability. I'll see you next time and we'll move on to the next.
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