Managing change with Purpose !!

“Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have a title until much later” — Tiny Buddha

In this uncertain world even the change do not ensure whether it will land safely or will be a fatal crash. Entire world is going through change and the surely there is huge impact on people around. Every Organization needs to adapt the change around to sustain which directly or indirectly impacts the people in the Organization. Mostly due to short term benefits the first and easy choice is Layoff . We have tendencies to resist change always as that is how we have been programmed to avoid trying something new. We feel the outcomes is not known so everyone tends to follow the set path which is already followed by somebody approving the process and outcomes. But today the probability of similar outcome following the same process has gone down drastically. So how does the Individual and Organization become change proof so that any change for them comes with Excitement , Curiosity and opportunity than Fear, Anxiety and Anger?

As one?study?by Gartner mentions, just 34 percent of all change initiatives by businesses end in clear success, and a further 16 percent yield mixed results which means 50% of the change is failed. While there are multiple types of?Organization changes?which are defined but be it any of them, one thing which is common among all the failures is the Connection of each individual with the change. This means that every individual knows somewhere that change in inevitable as we see change every minute around but even after knowing that most of the people have Shock and denial as a very first reaction as per the?Change curve. It can be surely improved and people can move through the transition faster if below 3 steps will be taken care in a better way.

1. Understanding the Purpose of Change?– Change is the principle of Nature and it is the only constant. Every moment something is changing within us or around us and it is inevitable so the best way to handle is to accept and appreciate it. Every change happening around also has some Purpose which may or may not be in somebody’s favor but surely every change has positive and negative impact on many different people. Understanding bigger Purpose of any change will help us to pass through the negative emotion faster which comes just after the change as per?Change curve. This would be easier to accept when one learns more and more about themselves and Organization Purpose and the impact they are creating. I cant think of better example for this than the ARMY who goes through change everyday and can sacrifice everything just for the sake of their nations and people safety which is their bigger purpose much bigger than themselves.

2. Communication with Purpose?– This is another very important step in terms of change management where most of the Organization communicates without realizing the impact it will create on people. Most of the time impact is bigger as the change comes to people as a surprise as there is huge communication gap between Leadership team and people. If we the entire Organization right from to bottom keeps the Purpose in centre for every decision they make and most importantly keeps collaborating for every change frequently involving each and every Team member then it will have different impact altogether. The change may affect their emotion when it comes but the surprise and shock can be minimized surely. When a soldier is chosen for a war and communicated then ofcourse there is fear somewhere but more than that there is individual passion and a bigger purpose for which they can do everything. They live their Values each moment, everyday and Purpose is always there in mind so any change which is serving purpose does not impact them at all.

3. Aligned and Involved in change with Purpose?– Accepting and Understanding of the bigger Purpose will be easier only when there is alignment of individual Purpose and Organization or group one is associated with. There is a huge mismatch today in terms of choice people make or they need to make and it is mostly driven with either position or compensation. Organization mostly focus and prioritize on skill based hiring which is again short term approach. The culture has to be such that every choice and decision is made keeping Purpose at its core. It will enhance the way organization makes the choices of candidate and influence individual to understand their passion and move towards bigger purpose. If we are aligned then change will not be surprising but change will be anticipated much in advance and people can embrace it.

We all know that change is everywhere and each moment and are beyond our control so the only option we have is to learn more deeply about what is happening around and what we can do to upgrade as per the change happening. Intrinsic learning about self and following Passion definitely expands the Horizon to adapt to any change happening around. For Organization it is definitely required to align the Team with Purpose so that there is intrinsic connection and which surely help team managing the change in a better way. In?Harvard’s Dark Horse Project?it is mentioned that “Dark horses” are the people who blaze their own trails, who harness their individuality to fuel their pursuit of purpose and prosperity despite of any challenge or change.