Acronym

Change is hard to implement because our brains operate on autopilot as an energy saving strategy - the more that is systematized, the less glucose is consumed by the brain and the more energy is available for truly creative endeavors or things that need focused attention.

So, you can implement something new if you only focus on one new thing at a time, tell someone you are doing it and ask them to help you stay on track to make it happen! A five minute morning check-in call with your partner a couple of times a week will do wonders to keep you focused and present to what you said you would do.

And focus on what the big outcome will be when you have accomplished this one new thing - make a picture or some other visual for yourself and put it up on your wall as a reminder.

Maybe instead of a tangible "to-do" takeaway, attending the conference will provide you with insight to make a future decision more skillfully or suggest a solution to your colleagues when they are looking for fresh ideas.

Maggie has it dead solid perfect. Great ideas, cool new tools, and inspiration for awesomeness can only translate into action through a genuine culture of innovation and desire for improvement. And, unfortunately, not everyone has that sort of environment.

From one of those content leaders who always does exactly what Maggie decries (and I ask learners in my sessions to think of three things!)...

We've all been in the kinds of situations Maggie's talking about...we come back from a great conference like #asae11, all fired up to try new ideas, and the reaction we get is "oh no, s/he's been seminared; s/he'll get over it." The sad thing, of course, is that we often do "get over it" and things continue status quo. This conference was all about disrupting the status quo; however the reality is, as Maggie says, that some people, for any number of reasons, can't or won't do so even as much as they might want to "fly their freak flag."

However...there is a valid learning reason for inviting learners to identify and write down - while they're still in a learning situation - anywhere from one to three things they'll do once back at work. Research in adult learning and in brain science indicates this type of reflection helps to transfer new information from short-term memory into long-term memory. In turn, that increases the chances the new information will be acted upon in some way once back in the "home" environment. Wait until you're on your way home, or back at the office, and you may not remember those good ideas even if you wanted to.

Maggie, I hear ya. I've been there. Yet I will continue to ask people who attend my sessions to reflect on how they'll use what they've learned in my sessions. I want to give them every possible opportunity act on what they've learned. Who knows? Maybe one little spark of an idea will be the one thing that will begin to change a culture.

So we shouldn't try to go back and do anything differently? I'm guessing that's not your intended takeaway here.

If someone is attending a major conference like the ASAE Annual Meeting, I'm going to choose to believe they have some empowerment zone already granted to them … either within their own functional area of responsibility or within the organization overall. Otherwise they've been sent on a pretty pricey field trip designed to produce nothing.

Not every idea someone wants to implement is going to take on the entire culture of the organization or require massive peer approval in order for it to be implemented. So when I end a workshop asking the very question we're not not supposed to ask, it's not about being inspiring. It's about helping people distill all the things they are considering doing into a few core items they believe they can really do something about.

There is a difference between cynicism and fatalism.

I am going to assume that it was not your intent to essentially eliminate the possibility of empowerment or progress from the day-to-day lives of the ASAE attendees.

So my question back to you Maggie is; What was the intention of your post?

Wow, surprised and excited to actually see comments on this post! Mark, you're totally right--of course it was not my intention to eliminate the possibility of empowerment or progress from the day-to-day lives of ASAE attendees. I guess my intent was to just to point out what to me is obvious--while many attendees either are solo practitioners or executives in the actual sense of the word--e.g. have budget and decision-making authority--many ASAE members are not actual executives--they are association staffers at a low or mid level. Like Scott said, while some are fortunate to work in innovative cultures, some are not. That's just a reality.

I think in the spirit of diversity and inclusiveness, we should consider those kinds of people's conference experience as well. It's all well and good to think that everyone has the capacity to be a game-changer--and I agree, they all do have that capacity--but I'm also a realist and, yes, a cynic to some degree. It's easy to be a consultant or someone with the authority to implement new ideas--what I was trying to point out that not everyone is in that situation, and for those people, conferences can be more frustrating and depressing than inspiring. I'm not saying anyone's hands are permanently tied--maybe the one thing they will decide to implement is seeking out a new position in an environment that allows them to be more empowered to implement new ideas.

I'm not sure why this has to be framed as being gamechanger or working in an innovative culture. Lots of folks pick up ideas to improve their functional area of responsibility that will be improvements (small and large) and are within their scope of decision-making.

Sure, not everyone can make wholesale changes in their organization for a variety of reasons, but we shouldn't stop challenging them to (1) implement what they learn wherever they can, or (2) engage colleagues in conversation about possibilities they now envision, but require the support or approval of others. The later can be as simple as saying, "Hey at Annual I heard a lot of people talking about XXX and it seems to me that has lots of possibilities for what we are tyrying to accomplish with ____. What do you think?"

Isn't this how we actually advance our organization's efforts?

I agree with Jeffrey above ... while being in an innovative environment or in a position of power can certainly make it easier to implement change, I think it's possible anywhere. Call me naive, but I think change can begin with an individual - and to steal a line from Covey, you've got to focus on your circle of influence. (And we all have a circle of influence - whether it's your own work, a co-worker, your team/department or your association.)

I've heard people complain about their ideas being overlooked or ignored. And my question to them would be, "We all have good ideas - what makes yours different?" Part of having a good idea is being able to "sell" it -- to flesh out the strategy, remove objections, gain buy-in, promote it within your organization, etc. And sometimes it's an issue of timing ... conferences are often about planting a seed of an idea that may not be used until weeks, months or even years down the road.

Maggie -- Great post! Inspired me to respond at the aLearning blog, "Empowering Subversive Implementation" (http://alearning.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/empowering-subversive-implementation/).

Why do we always have to be goody-two-shoes, operating within the confinements of our job descriptions? Why not take some risks?

Why assume we "can't" when there are ways to pull our leaders -- paid and volunteer alike -- into implementing the very things they think they don't want?

The change has to start with us.

I like to start a conference with a blank page. Then I make three columns:

No Brainer: the ideas and things I have the power to implement easily (or suggest to someone else to easily implement). Something as simple as "Send a thank you to X member."

Good Ideas: a project or strategy that sounds good, but might need some massaging to apply it to my own programs or align with our strategic initiatives -- likely something I (or another team member) could set in motion without additional funds or a new program proposal.

Wish List: The ideas that end up here complete the sentence, If money/resources were available and/or I could take a risk, wouldn't it be great if we could.... I know I can't implement them when I get back or maybe not event until the next fiscal year.

With my list, I don't need to have "one thing I'd implement when I get back." The one thing I need to do is share the wealth, brainstorm with others on the takeaways, prioritize them, and develop plans for the future.

In the end, your supervisor/board who approved $1000-$3000 to send you to this fabulous convention, is banking on you coming back with way more than one thing to implement.

Oh, my little grid -- a take away from an ASAE M&M conference in 2007. And, here I am one week after my first ASAE Annual, and an idea from my Wish List was already given a green light.

Don't forget the convention is more than an opportunity for ideas. There's your increased knowledge, your new network of contacts and resources, your organization's exposure to other organizations -- your value as employee. All that just might add up to being more empowered in the future.