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From Change to Growth: A new look at coping with change
Bob Ryan, About Purpose, Inc. ©2005
Isn’t she cute? This was my daughter at about three years old. What a precious age. Cute, cuddly, a little sponge, no back talk. Easy to pick up and carry to wherever we wanted her. Ah, those were the good old days. I would have liked for her to stay the same forever. But, you know, the good old days sometimes weren’t. There were the heartbreaks when we’d see her learn things the hard way. There were the scares when she was learning all sorts of new physical things. And we were tied down in ways we had never been before we were parents. And then, of course, there was the realization that our job wasn’t to be entertained by this pretty little girl. This whole parenting thing wasn’t about us. We had a larger purpose.
And that’s the real issue, isn’t it? What are we doing here? I submit that, whatever our title, if we are in a leadership position, our job is to grow people. Change is very difficult for most humans to accept, much less embrace. I suggest a practical way for us to help our employees and coworkers to deal more easily with change is by making a subtle shift in our thinking from change to growth.
I work with CEOs who get Organizational Change. They understand visioning and scanning the strategic horizon. They understand building an infrastructure that is nimble and responsive. That part of my job is easy. The part I find much harder is the personal coaching it takes to help them grow within the space they have built. I find it much harder to tear down the personal barriers they have erected to staying vibrant and alive in chaos. I find it much harder to build up the individual skills needed to thrive in a changing environment. I find it much harder to help them identify a personal vision of their own future and to keep them passionate about pursuing it.
My objective for this article is to have you finish reading with a fire in your belly; with your passion hanging out. I want for you to feel excited about what is going on in your field, in your company, in your fellow staff members, in your clients. I want you to leave here excited about taking personal responsibility and confident that you have the knowledge, skills and attitudes to effect a genuine difference.
Begin with a change in attitude. Stop thinking about change and begin focusing on growth. Challenge your own thoughts and attitudes in the following areas:
Abstract to Concrete: When we think about, strategize around and plan change, we are working in the abstract. And that needs to be done. There’s great material written on change theory. But when we shift to a growth mode, it becomes concrete. It’s a real-time issue with real people in a concrete situation. We become engaged and involved.
Process to Outcome: When we study change, we are focused on the process. When we shift to a growth mode we are focused on the outcome. While we thoroughly enjoyed her young childhood, we were really interested in developing our daughter into a strong, mature adult.
System to Individual: My coaching clients experience a tremendous “aha” when they finally grasp that what they do in the system is about them, and the names and faces of their employees and families. They begin to welcome and anticipate change as an opportunity to nurture and develop people. One management team really became alive when they began talking about growing and developing individual employees, nurturing customer loyalty and educating shareholders as opposed to focusing on the business entity within its industry.
Political to Professional: Change initiatives tend to be driven from the outside, more often than not. They don’t have to be, it just tends to be true. Most change is pushed, not pulled. But when we focus on growth, we engage the best of our professional knowledge, skills and attitudes. When change starts from the inside it is because the professionals who really care about the people, the product and the service are striving for growth and excellence.
Doing to Being: This is an extension of the political to professional shift. Change calls to mind taking action and making plans. And that’s not a bad thing. But when we shift to a growth mode, we examine who we really are, not merely what we do. It brings on an introspection that is vital if we are to ever move from being reactive to being proactive. It keeps our focus on who we want to BE, not on what we’re doing to get there.
Intellect to Passion: Finally, when we think about change, we do just that – we think. Similar to the abstract to concrete idea above, we move from merely using our intellect for solving problems to engaging our passion. We reach down inside us and reawaken our first love.
So, how do we move from change to growth? How do we engage our passion for excellence and growth? Use this exercise in your next staff meeting.
Let Go and Latch On
- Name those things you really value, those things you like in your field, in your company, in your fellow staff, in your profession. Write them down on paper. Make them real and specific.
- Next, write the results on a flipchart. Okay, now. Here’s where the shift comes. Challenge yourself to let go of those things in lieu something even better. For example, If you identified one of the company’s strengths as being fun to work for, what would be even better? Would it be a place where people would be lining up to get jobs because it went way beyond fun to personal growth and challenge? Don’t settle for good when great can be attained.
- Flipchart the results. Finally, identify 2-3 of those things that you will “latch onto” and get really passionate about growing into reality. Task people with finding a way to build those into growth plans on both an individual and corporate basis.
Look again at that cute picture at the beginning of the article. Would you really want your child to freeze at age three – no matter how cute? No. The alternative is far more fulfilling. Invest your skills and talents into growing a mature adult, who in turn will invest herself into growing and developing those in her care. Recall why you’re really here and reawaken your passion for growing people.