Thriving In Change

Thriving in change and increasing complexity is a challenge for us at work, at home, and even on vacation. Technology offers us more and more gadgets touted to make our lives easier but when we purchase them we find they don’t speak each other’s language or connect to our networks - have you tried to get service for your iphone in Vermont? Medical discoveries offer us more and more choices that lead to confusion over what’s best for us personally– if you’re told you have a heart condition, do you want a fast heart stent procedure or more complicated open heart surgery? And medically – will this drug be recalled? Children seem to grow up faster with more access to more ways to learn and more opportunities to get in over their heads – uh, the Internet.

Let’s face it, there’s no way to escape the blessings and hazards of change; but how to thrive in it? What we’re doing now doesn’t seem to be working as we get more frustrated, overworked and overwhelmed just trying to keep up. So let’s take a moment to look at this question from a new perspective.

As a culture we have tried many strategies aimed at doing things differently as we keep experimenting with how to adjust to change. We run graphs and take polls, we test and create reports, we buy new stuff to help us better organize our old stuff. The tactics we have used are: Do better, do more, do less. Yet with all our strategizing and tactics, as a nation, we find ourselves taking more sleeping pills and anti-depressants and drowning in the sea of change.

What if instead of business as usual, we change our perspective from doing – focusing on tactics and strategies to get results which then impact our attitudes, behaviors and sense of well being, to being - focusing on what matters most to us and having that drive the results? Shifting the focus from doing as the driver that impacts us to who we are and what we value in the change creating the results …changes everything.

Here is an example:
G has just taken on a new partner in his business. Although G thought this was a great idea (and maybe it is), it has had the unintended consequence of ushering in massive change. G was comfortable being a one man show in his business and now he has to adjust to the wants and needs of his partner. What’s more, with the addition of that partner, G’s business is growing and both of them have to adjust to bringing on new staff, new reporting procedures, and the need for new office space and capacity.

If G lets the doing become his focus, he will become frustrated, overwrought, and is headed for burn out. He won’t be able to keep up with the situations, people, and pace of change that has started to impact him. But when G remembers why he brought on the new partner and what they can accomplish together, instead of feeling frustrated and burnt out G feels energized! Now G is impacting the changes instead of the other way around. For instance, when it comes time to look for new office space, now G focuses on what is possible in the new space vs. the hassle, the unknown, and the risk. From this place, where G feels energized, he’s much better equipped to handle the logistics, the unknown and the risk. He is more energized as he remembers the value and meaning behind making the move to the new office space. With this in mind, G is empowered to make different decisions about the new office space because he is acting from the place of possibility vs. having to keep up with, or be the victim of the change. The fact that G has staked out a way of being in the change changes everything. Now G is the center of the change vs. the changing office space running G.*

Imagine what your life will be like when what matters most is central to the changes you encounter. Do you need to find out what you most value? Do you need to learn how to act from a new perspective? Do you need support in creating a new habit around change? How about crafting your environments to support and inspire you through change? If any of these options sound worth exploring, coaching on thriving in change may be an option you can’t afford to put off until things change!nn*For more on this, see the Circle of Stress and the Circle of Wellness available as a free download from the introduction to Walk on Water: How to Make Change Easier at www.walkonwaterthebook.com

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