Change Can Be Hard—You Decide
Lisa Blanchet
Strategic Organizational Change Management | Change Leadership Training | Certified Leadership and Team Coach | Speaker | Facilitator
How we react to change in 2024 has more to do with our history than it does with the individuals experiencing change today. You don’t have to go back too far to realize that the rate of change has exponentially increased over the last few decades.
In our grandparent's generation, it was the norm to have a job for life. Wherever you started your career, it was the same place you would retire from. It isn’t that change didn’t happen, but it happened over time.?
Two decades ago, change, particularly in the workplace, started to show up now and again. When a single change was introduced, you could feel the peaks and valleys. In 2024, there are no more valleys, only a series of peaks, some higher than others.?
Change is part of our daily lives, personally and professionally. Today, change can occur at any moment.?
Many people will say that change is hard. And it can be, but it can also be rewarding, possible and doable. To normalize change and how you feel about it, you need to build your navigating change skills, start with these three:
1. Understanding That Change Is A Process
Whether it's personal or professional, change doesn't just happen. It's a process, starting with self-awareness of the need to make an individual change or awareness of a change happening around you. After awareness, you move into understanding. At this point, you begin to hear about the change and why it is essential for the team or organization.?
Then, the real work begins; it is time to get involved and get curious about what the change means to you. It can be easier to let change happen to me and then play the victim when I don’t like the outcome. But you are the one who knows what you do day-to-day. You are the one who knows what you will personally need to do to adapt to the change. You have a responsibility to yourself to get involved.?
Getting involved can get messy, it can bring you up close and personal with the emotional side of change. It could be fear, excitement, or a general uneasiness; whatever it is, it might feel uncomfortable, but it is a normal response to change.
2. Change Is Personal, And It’s A Choice?
Regardless of what the change is and whether it is something you chose or something you participate in at work or as a family member, the outcome of any change is the need to say, act, and do things in a new way. This means changing your habits, behaviours, and ways of working, and nothing is more personal.?
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“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t you’re right”? - Henry Ford
With each step in the change journey, you have a choice to make. One of the choices you have is to decide what to believe.? You can choose to believe that the change will be hard, and choose to do nothing, or you can choose to believe that the change is difficult but doable and be open to exploring what is possible. Selecting an open mindset when you experience change is critical to how you will experience the change journey. You choose your mindset. ?
3. Each Person’s Change Journey Is Unique
Not everyone will experience change in the same way or at the same pace. Many factors will impact an individual’s change journey:
As a leader, parent, or partner, it is essential to acknowledge that your journey and change experience may not be the same for those around you. Be curious and empathetic. Create space for conversation and emotions. Change is a journey. While you may not experience the exact change twice, it is the process of change where you need to build your capabilities and confidence.
If you are a Leader and/or organization that is looking for help creating space for change in your company, book a complimentary discovery call to connect with Coach Lisa Blanchet and see how she can help your organisation implement change.