When something has to change

Mar
2015

posted by Gillian on Change, Change habits, Childcare

When something has to change spring is a good time to review and take stock of the quality of our self leadership and how we manage change at home or at work. Change, whether through choice or not can be a turbulent time. Every day we are faced with many choices, choose one path to go in one direction or choose another path to go in a completely different direction. It is the quality of the choices that we make in responding to change that decide our direction. Some of us fear change and others thrive on making changes.

Achieving change successfully involves a number of factors, including, the degree of success in dealing with individual, team or strategic level change. Important aspects that help to make change possible are; the activities and initiatives you choose to focus on, he quality of the people you have chosen to surround yourself with, the opportunities you have chosen to seize and the kind of thoughts you have chosen to allow in your mind. Change is like walking down a footpath. If you have chosen the right path and have the self-discipline to do so, you will reach where you want to go. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to be”.

We embrace huge changes many times in our lives. People have babies, get married, move house, adapt to new technologies and new jobs. Other changes like giving up smoking or losing weight can be difficult even though we may want to make the change. There are some things that we can’t change, for example, our genes and our human urges, but almost everything else can be changed if we really want to. Changing ourselves is not easy, it takes a lot of hard work and a really good motive.

In order for things to change somebody somewhere has to start to act differently. Maybe it’s you or your team. For change to happen three things need to happen at the same time. You have to influence the environment together with hearts and minds. This is best summed up in a book by Chip and Dan Heath ‘Switch, How to Change When Change is Hard’. They say think of it as a huge elephant and a small rider. The rider is our rational self and the elephant is our emotional self. Each of us has an emotional side and a rational side. If we direct the rider (our rational self) motivate the elephant (our emotional side) and shape the path (our vision) we can change the situation, when the situation changes our behaviour changes. This is the case for organisations and the individuals in them. Success is about behaviour. If we behave in a way that is congruent with the goals we want to achieve it can change everything.

References

Chip & Dan Heath – Switch How To Change Things When Change is Hard