In my last post, I shared the story of taking a leap of faith and buying a lake property in Maine, sight unseen. This week, the story continues. I had made the decision. Now with snow and ice melted, I arrived at the property with a mix of excitement and trepidation.
The view, as I’d seen in the photos, was indeed spectacular—a sweeping panorama of the lake, the distinctive rock formation, the distant mountains. But the reality of the cabin itself was… daunting.
Let’s just say it was “rustic,” a kind way of describing a 50-year-old structure overflowing with stuff. Old furniture, boxes, cobwebs, and a general sense of accumulated clutter filled every room. And outside, the “spectacular view” was fighting a losing battle against overgrown brush, saplings, and years of accumulated debris.
My initial reaction? I felt completely overwhelmed. My mind immediately jumped to the big things: permits, contractors, sourcing materials, design plans… the sheer scale of the renovation needed. I felt paralyzed, unsure where to even begin. It felt a lot like the emotional state of leaders I’d assisted on the cusp of launching a major organizational transformation—daunting, complex, and full of unknowns.
Then, I remembered a core principle of the Ideas-to-Action Process: Start Where the Energy Is. Focus on what you can do right now, with the resources you already have, to make immediate, visible progress.
For me, that meant clearing the clutter. And, fortunately, I wasn’t alone. I had four brothers to help.
We spent that Memorial Day weekend hauling out old furniture, clearing brush, cutting down saplings, and generally cleaning up the property. It was hard work, but with each load taken to the dump, with each branch cut and stacked, the view—the reason I’d bought the place—became clearer and clearer.
And something else happened, too. As we worked, we started uncovering little treasures: some vintage rocking chairs, tucked away in a corner; some handmade quilts, carefully folded in a dusty trunk. These were reminders of the cabin’s history, of the memories embedded in its walls. They were also reminders that even in the midst of chaos and disrepair, there is often hidden value waiting to be discovered.
The Leadership Lesson: Big Changes Start Small, Then Scale Up
This experience reinforced a powerful leadership lesson, one that I’ve seen play out time and again in organizations of all sizes. When faced with a major transformation—whether it’s a company-wide restructuring, a new technology implementation, or a cultural shift—it’s tempting to get bogged down in the complexity, the long-term planning, and the “big picture” thinking.
But just like I was initially overwhelmed by all the clean-up at the lake house, leaders can become paralyzed by the sheer scale of the task. They get lost in strategic plans, consultant reports, and endless meetings, while overlooking the most valuable resource they have: their people.
“Starting Where the Energy Is” is the crucial first step. It’s about:
- Recognizing that your frontline employees—like those truck drivers who redesigned their fuel yard, or the SBA employees who streamlined the loan process after Hurricane Katrina—possess a wealth of knowledge, experience, and passion. They know where the problems are, and they often have ideas for how to solve them.
- Focusing on “quick wins”: Identifying the immediate, achievable improvements that can be made using existing resources and expertise.
- Empowering your team to take action: Giving your employees the authority and support to implement those solutions.
But starting where the energy is, is not enough. To achieve truly transformative results, you need to build on those initial quick wins. You need to effectively empower action—creating systems and processes that allow your team to continue to innovate, to collaborate, and to drive change on a larger scale.
It is what we call employee-powered innovation—clear-eyed, top-down direction meeting close to the action, frontline ideas.
Just as clearing the clutter at the lake house revealed the view and gave me the clarity to plan the larger renovation, starting with your employees’ ideas creates the momentum and the foundation for a successful, sustainable transformation.
Ideas to Action provides a framework to get you started and realize your employee-powered innovation potential.
Ready to move beyond “overwhelm” and use employee-powered innovation to scale big changes?
Learn more about Ideas to Action and preorder your copy today!
