How Jordana Cole Thinks About The Volume Of Change

Most leaders know change is coming faster. Jordana Cole says the real problem is different, and she shares what to do about it.

Jordana Cole is the President of Ignited, where she helps people and teams change behaviors in ways that stick. In this conversation, she and Kenny talk about why the problem is the volume of change, not the speed. They cover why leaders keep opening new changes without closing the old ones, why your team hears a decision for the first time while you have lived with it for weeks, and what to say about what is not changing. She closes with two small steps you can take in the next 24 hours, one for frontline leaders and one for senior leaders.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome To The Show

01:56 What's On Every Leader's Mind

03:27 It's The Volume Of Change, Not The Speed

07:17 Why Change Piles Up

11:04 When Change Comes From Outside Your Control

14:26 Has Change Ever Been Predictable?

20:12 Aristotle's Golden Mean

24:15 How Change Lands On Leaders

29:10 Your Team Is Hearing It For The First Time

32:37 How The Decision Was Made

36:35 Say What's Not Changing

38:06 Help Write The Plan, Won't Fight The Plan

41:23 Stop Calling It A Change Initiative

43:20 A Baby Step For The Next 24 Hours

46:49 Where To Find Jordana

What You'll Learn

• Why the problem is the volume of change, not the speed. Jordana says artificial intelligence (AI) is landing on top of layoffs, shifting roles, new tools, and what is going on at home, all at once

• Why we are not closing change out. We start a change and don't end it, then add another on top. Jordana says it leaves us with hoarders' houses in our brains

• Why your team reacts slowly. You have been weighing the decision for a while, and they are hearing it for the first time. She says to create a pause and talk about the choice at a human level

• What to say when you share a hard change: how the decision was made, and what is not changing. Then bring people in where you can, because you design changes with them, not for them

• Why to stop calling it a change initiative. Jordana says to tell it as one story, an evolution toward the same mission, not a stack of separate books on a shelf

• Two steps for the next 24 hours. Frontline leaders: ask up how the decision was made, and give your team space to say how they feel. Senior leaders: pick one thing from the past six months, close the loop out loud, and connect the dots

About Jordana Cole

Jordana Cole is an igniter of individual and team potential. As a multi-certified coach, facilitator, and consultant, Jordana has worked with thousands globally through her organization, Ignited, to translate research and real-world strategy into accessible, actionable, energizing packages that anyone can implement. Combining her master’s degree in applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, expertise in leadership development, and more than a decade of global enterprise learning and development leadership spanning multiple industries from nonprofits to fortune 50s, Jordana is committed to creating impactful behavioral change that not only sticks, it spreads.

Jordana Cole Resources

Website: https://ignitedbyjordana.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordana-cole-mapp-pcc-a8445a8/

TEDx talk (more than 350,000 views to date): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsTTpx22imM

Listen on Other Platforms

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-leaders-think-with-kenny-lange/id1434737807

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2wKtzb6KaF1vNlG9TsZkzh

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b13c5d64-50db-4626-9685-c356116ec54b

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KennyLange/podcasts

Website: https://howleadersthink.kennylange.com/

Free 5-minute leadership diagnostic: https://kennylange.com/diagnostic

Change the way you think, you'll change the way you lead.