CHANGE IS CERTAIN, HOW YOU DEAL WITH IT DEFINES YOU

Change is inevitable. It is hard. Maintaining the status quo is safe. It is easy. Even when it is doing more harm to us than good.

I am not a risk-taker by nature; I don’t want to go down the road less traveled; I feel secure with the same. Yet I find myself again choosing to move toward big changes in my life.

Change can be purposeful (e.g. hiring more staff to support expansion) or drop on you with little notice (e.g. pivoting to remote work due to COVID-19). Regardless of the circumstances they shape us and reveal our character.

I recently made a big career change. I gave up a very comfortable situation and a great team, and threw myself into something new. I’m nervous; the imposter within is rearing its head, yet, for the first time in my life, I’m ok with it. Change is good, I tell myself each day. In the short term it will seem difficulty, but the lasting rewards are well worth it.

This new journey has prompted me to look even more closely at change. At work, change is ever-present, knocking on our doors at all hours. Some choose to face it head on, others see only danger, while some believe if you look away long enough it will just go away on it’s own.?So what is different for me this time? I realize I have a different toolkit for change, which entails looking through the lens of various stakeholder.

YOU

If the captain is not there to steer the ship with uncertainty looming, they probably should have stayed on shore. You cannot implement change or deal with the unexpected if leadership is missing. Your team will look to you. Your partners will want assurances, plans. It has been my experience that the number one reason change doesn’t take hold or creates a fissure too big to repair is that the leader is nowhere to be found. Calmness is needed in these times, and as the leader we need to be the calm, we need to master our own battles with doubt, regret, and worry. Calm your self, roll up your sleeve, be on the front lines, get your hands dirty.

Next strategize, you cannot maneuver the ship without a plan, it is like navigating without a GPS. Do not do this in a silo; consult with others. No change, regardless of its potential impact, should be hinged on a one-person derived blueprint. The plan does not need to be a hundred pages long, it can be a framework, but you cannot head into change without a game plan.

TEAM

Supporting the team during change is vital, it should be your next stop once you have centred yourself and set out a stratagem. I have noticed that most planned changes are implemented without ever consulting the team. Your team is there for a reason. You gathered these people precisely for their experience, expertise and skills. By engaging your team early on, you are more likely to succeed in rough waters.

Ultimately your team cannot be left on their own. We talk about change management freely, praising its structure, spending hours on end going through the steps, trying to download it to our team as a way to help. However, at the core are people, they are the ones being impacted. Empowering them, hearing their concerns and ideas, going on the journey with them, and being nimble during the process are all needed foundational principles.

PARTNERS

You have set yourself straight, devised a plan, included and supported your team, now look to your partners.?We rarely operate in bubbles, even though it feels like we do at times. Connect with a couple colleagues that you trust, and get their input on what’s coming down the pipeline. We often face the same challenges when changes are brought to our doorsteps. Time and time again we forget that working collaboratively and inclusively among our various stakeholders starts with open and frequent communication. We do not have the ability to read each others minds nor can we predict the future (thought wouldn’t it be cool if we could? Maybe not), so let’s not assume our partners will know our long term goals or immediate tactics in the overall strategy.?

“When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.” – Chinese proverb

When you are confronted with change many will tell you it will result in failure. Some mentors and colleagues will tell you to stay the course. Your loved ones will support you regardless. Change is not bad, even if it is out of our hands at times. It’s how we meet change that will decide the outcome. And remember, you should never meet it alone.

I look forward to engaging with you and hope to continue sharing my lived experiences.