Michael Diettrich-Chastain, How to Create and Adapt to Change More Effectively – InnovaBuzz 357
Michael Diettrich-Chastain, Arc Integrated
In this episode, I’m really excited to have as my guest, Michael Diettrich-Chastain, the CEO of Arc Integrated, an organizational consulting and professional coaching practice.
Michael is a best-selling author, leadership coach, facilitator, and speaker. He and his team are passionate about helping organizations, leaders, and teams achieve and maintain peak performance. Through a focus on employee engagement, change management, communication, and emotional intelligence, Michael ensures that the leaders and teams he serves improve culture, impact, and profit. His writing has been featured on Time, Money, Entrepreneur, and The Washington Post. His new book, CHANGES – The Busy Professional’s Guide to Reducing Stress, Accomplishing Goals and Mastering Adaptability was released in 2019.
In our discussion, Michael talked to me about:
- The predictors of our ability to create change
- Finding the balance between learning new things and implementation
- Why it’s important to continually improve our ability to adapt
Laura Pennington-Briggs in episode 252 introduced us to Michael.
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Listen to the Podcast
Psychological safety is one of the aspects that creates thriving human systems. @ArcIntegratedHQ on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet
Show Notes from this episode with Michael Diettrich-Chastain of Arc Integrated
Key points and takeaways from this episode include:
- As human beings, we create and maintain change in a variety of ways.
- We either create change or respond to change.
- Our experiences, values, and belief systems influence how we create and manage change. It really helps to evaluate these key aspects of our lived experiences to determine if they are helping us or hurting us in making a change.
- Curiosity is paramount to evaluate what is influencing us. Curiosity should span across all aspects of our experiences, our relationships, belief systems, physical health, and frame of mind.
- Psychological safety is one of the aspects that create thriving human systems.
- Unless you take the lessons you have learned to your life, it’s not going to take you very far.
- Walk the talk. Doing what you are saying is necessary to build healthy teams, culture, and organisation.
- Identify what success looks like for you as well as the barriers or inhibitors of success.
- Lived experiences help you identify the hurdles you have and think through what it is that you truly want.
- Emotional intelligence is one of the most essential predictors of success.
- Start before you’re ready. There are always things to work out and it’s really important to take risks. Have courage.
- Psychological safety is the largest predictor of success.
- One of the ways to create psychological safety is by building connections with other people.
- We create trust by offering trust. We can offer trust by being vulnerable and exposing our own humanity.
- Being vulnerable is not leaning into our weakness. Being vulnerable can be as simple as not knowing the answer right now and accepting that someone else knows something better than you do. Being vulnerable is sharing what you learned and having the ability to have difficult conversations with other people.
- People can sense unspoken intentions. The level of our intention creates a resonance that people pick up on.
- Leaning into your ability to adapt and manage change is the most important skill of being a leader. You can always count on it because you can always count on continued change.
- Understand what your business ecosystem needs. Crowdsource wisdom around your business ecosystem and leverage the diversity that’s available to you.
- Change is occurring at a rapid and increasing rate. Organisations and industries need to adapt at a more rapid pace or else they will fail.
- Mindset is a predictor of adaptability or failure. Organisations that adapt quickly have a mindset of abundance and curiosity. They think quickly and are forward-facing.
- You can influence others regardless of your level of authority by adopting a coaching mentality and increasing your ability to be a skillful coach.
Organisations that adapt quickly have a mindset of abundance and curiosity. They think quickly and are forward-facing. @ArcIntegratedHQ on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet
The Buzz – Our Innovation Round
Here are Michael’s answers to the questions of our innovation round. Listen to the conversation to get the full scoop.
- #1 thing to be more innovative – Ask better questions and be mindful of that. Our words create worlds. The questions we ask and the words that we use often influence the direction that is created. Spend more time evaluating the language that you use and the questions you are asking.
- Best thing for new ideas – Create an empty space. Cultivating that empty space leads to a lot of idea generation, innovation, and creativity.
- Favourite tool for innovation – People and the environment.
- Keep project/client on track – Always ask – what did you love and what would you love to see more of?
- Differentiate – Lean into the intersection of what you are passionate about and your strength. At the heart of that intersection is what makes you unique. Compete by difference not by betterness.
To Be a Leader
Get better at managing change. Get better at recognising that you can both be a creator of change and you can effectively respond to change. Evaluate all the important aspects of your lived experiences, your thoughts, your behaviours, your heart, your mindset, and the environment.
Reach Out
You can reach out and thank Michael through their website.
Suggested Guest
Michael suggested we have a conversation with Chad Littlefield author of Ask Powerful Questions. So Chad, keep an eye on your inbox for an invitation from us to the InnovaBuzz podcast, courtesy of Michael Diettrich-Chastain.
Links
Get access to the CHANGES framework and start creating sustainable change in your work and life.
Books
- CHANGES: The Busy Professional’s Guide to Reducing Stress, Accomplishing Goals and Mastering Adaptability
- The Mindful Coach: Seven Roles for Helping People Grow by Douglas K. Silsbee
- The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier
- Ask Powerful Questions: Create Conversations That Matter by Will Wise and Chad Littlefield
- The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance by Josh Waitzkin
Cool Things About Michael
- He studied eastern martial arts for more than a decade.
- He’s a Licensed Professional Counselor in North Carolina
- He’s an XChange Certified Guide.
Lean into the intersection of what you are passionate about and your strength. At the heart of that intersection is what makes you unique. @ArcIntegratedHQ on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet