A RoAd MAp FoR NAvigAtiNg the tRANsFoRMAtioNAl JouRNey · 1 Change is the only constant in life and...

Embracing Change A RoAd MAp FoR NAvigAtiNg the tRANsFoRMAtioNAl JouRNey

EMBRACING CHANGE | 1

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find

themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

Eric Hoffer, philosopher


To survive – and thrive – you have to adapt to change, as well as learn what

and when not to change. When you have made a decision to be a leader,

you become an agent of change. But where is your road map? Where are

your tools? There are eight stages of change. The first is chaos; the eighth

is possibility. Once you lead yourself and others to embrace possibility,

transforming fear into confidence, you have done your job. When you have

mastered the art of embracing change, you will not only build a transformed

organization, you will build a transformed life.

1. Attachment to the familiar

2. Foreign Element/ Wake Up Call

3. Chaos

4. Reflection 5. Decision

6. Rebuilding

7. Trust

8. New Possibilities New Attachments

UN

CERT

AIN

TY

GROWTH


Stop for a moment and reflect on one change you are currently experiencing,

have experienced in the past year, or anticipate going through in the coming

months. If you are going through many changes right now, just pick one

to focus on. As we walk through the stages and strategies for navigating

the transformational journey, pit your identified experience up against the

principles and practices outlined here. Working through a specific, real case

study will keep the material relevant, meaningful, and engaging for you.

Stage 1 Attachment to the Familiar

It is human nature to attach ourselves to that to which we become

accustomed. We become attached to routines, habits, customs,

and practices. The human brain functions with higher efficiency

when it doesn’t have to continue to “relearn” tasks. While these

familiar patterns make life easier, they can eventually turn into

ruts or habits that eventually limit growth. As important as

routines are, in time they can turn into stagnation. An abundance

of certainty can lead to mediocrity.


Stage 2 Foreign Element or Wake Up Call

Our inner need to grow will override our attachment to the

familiar. Hence, if you get too attached to the familiar, you will

get a wake up call, an invitation to grow. These can come in the

form of a life-crisis, a relationship ending, a job layoff, a natural

disaster, an awareness of an addiction, a trauma, a death, an

illness, or simply an inner voice that says it’s time to make a

change. Note that not all of life’s crises are necessarily a call to

take you out of attachment to the familiar. Sometimes bad things

just happen to good people, and in the process create an

opportunity to grow beyond what is familiar to you. We call these

“foreign elements.”


Stage 3 Chaos

Chaos is about entering unfamiliar territory. Chaos brings with it

a variety of emotions: worry, fear, anger, frustration, uncertainty,

confusion, loss of control, sadness, loss, grief, suspicion,

apprehension, doubt, discomfort, betrayal, or excitement. You can

tell when you are entering chaos by your lack of familiarity with

the new reality. When you are in chaos there is a natural pull

back to the familiar. Within this desire for the familiar lies the

paradox of change: resisting change while hungering for growth.

Which will prevail?

Stage 4 Reflection

All change, whether randomly thrust upon you or deliberately

constructed for growth, eventually creates an opportunity to

transform your life. Reflection is a time of stepping back from the

chaos and reflecting upon the lessons to be learned. This stage

is about wrestling with the paradox, thinking carefully about

which parts of the past need to be let go of, and which parts of the

change need to be embraced; which parts of the past need to be

preserved, and which parts of the change need to be resisted.


Stage 5 Decision

The antidote to chaos is a decision. Examples of decisions are:

deciding to stop complaining and stop spending time with

complainers. Deciding to leave your job. Deciding to leave a

relationship. Deciding to change your attitude. Deciding to let go

of fear. Deciding to forgive. When preceded by thorough

reflection and research, decisions move you out of chaos and into

a new world.


Stage 6 Rebuilding

After the reorganization comes adjusting to a new boss, a new

structure, a new reality in your workplace. After the shock and

the grief of the flood comes the reconstruction process. After the

diagnosis comes piecing your life back together around the illness.

After the loss comes learning how to live with what used to be

with you. In the rebuilding emerges a newfound vision, renewed

strength, and courage. From the ashes arises a phoenix.

Stage 7 Trust

Facing and working through each of the stages of change

develops new resources, both within and around you. New

friendships and connections are formed. New skills are developed.

New awareness arises. New learning emerges. A new self

materializes. With new resources, skills and awareness, self-trust

and a subsequent newfound trust in others emerges. Upon this

trust a new life is born.


Stage 8 New Possibilities

At this point in the process there is good news and there is bad

news. The good news is that new possibilities arise. The bad

news is that with new possibilities come new attachments. With

new attachments comes a call to engage in another growth

opportunity, a new opening into yet a new transformational

journey. With the disaster comes opportunity. With the pain

comes possibility.


StRategIeS FOR NaVIgatINg

tHe WILDeRNeSS

There are eight stages of change that take you from status quo to a transformed

life, from disaster to opportunity, from chaos to confidence. Going through

these steps is like taking a journey through the wilderness. You may have heard

that “when one door closes, another one opens.” While this is true, what you

don’t often hear is that it’s hell in the corridor. Let’s explore now the specific

strategies in each stage that you can use to guide yourself and those you serve

through the wilderness of the transformational journey.

Note: to make these strategies the most relevant for you, go back and

use them with the identified change you are currently going through.


Part I. assessment.

All change starts with an honest assessment of where you are. Which of the

stages in the Change Management Diagram are you in?

are you:

1 In the comfort zone of the familiar and in need of change?

2 In the midst of a wake up call or responding to a foreign element that has

thrown you into uncertainty and grief?

3 Currently immersed in chaos, having entered the world of ambiguity,

unfamiliarity, and discomfort?

4 In the process of reflecting, seeking a new awareness of yourself and the

world around you?

5 In the process of making some important decisions?

6 Rebuilding, moving forward, renewing yourself?

7 Discovering new resources, new connections, new awareness, new levels

of trust?

8 Uncovering new possibilities and new attachments?


Part II. appropriate action

Depending on where you and your team are in the transformational process,

here are some strategies for navigating the journey.

Strategies For Dealing With “attachment to the Familiar”

Attachments to familiar patterns and habits need to be continued, but are

viewed as both a blessing and a curse. Becoming accustomed to the way things

are, whether we become attached to patterns in a relationship, income level,

job security, or the route we take to the office, can become both easy and can

block your growth. Take time on a regular basis to challenge “the way things

are done around here.” Take a regular inventory of your habits, your patterns,

your attachments to what is “secure” and familiar to you. Regularly ask yourself

which of these patterns are serving you and which are hindering you.

Take time on a regular basis to challenge“the way things are done around here.”


Strategies For Dealing With Foreign elements and Wake-Up Calls

There’s not much you can do about preparing for foreign elements. Foreign

elements hit you by surprise. What you can do is be prepared mentally by

knowing that all metaphoric or literal “whacks on the side of the head” are

opportunities – eventually – for new growth. If you keep that in mind you

will be able to face grief, suffering, loss, or crisis in your life with a degree of

perspective.

In terms of wake-up calls, it’s important to stay proactive so that you reduce

the tendency to be blindsided by unexpected calls to growth. It’s always better

to initiate your own wake up calls so you have a semblance of control over

your own growth.

If you are initiating change in an organization, always give people a rationale

for the change and a vision for where you are taking them. You may not have

pristine clarity for how you are going to get your team through the chaos, but

you better be able to inspire them with a compelling vision and clear basis

upon which you can justify making the change.


Strategies for Dealing With Chaos and Reflection

a) take time. Chaos presents an opportunity for connecting. While it

may not be your most productive time, it is a prime time for creativity.

It’s a time for community. Resist the tendency to hide and withdraw. Get

out of your office. Be personal; acknowledge feelings. The key is not just

walking around; it is opening up, paying attention, and being in touch.


b) take Stock. Be aware of indicators of when people have been in chaos

too long; when chaos becomes the “new familiar.” While feelings such

as grief, uncertainty, anger, fear, insecurity, loss of control, are all part

of normal chaos, you know you have stayed there too long when these

healthy emotions turn to resentment, cynicism, anxiety, low morale,

resignation, bitterness, incessant complaining, or indifference. When

you find yourself or others in chaos too long, when you get attached to

chaos, then a wake-up call in the form of a decision is required.

Four assumptions underlie our approach to change:

1 Change is the only constant in life and is necessary.

2 Not all change is good.

3 You won’t change if you don’t let go.

4 Change, whether it is thrust upon you or you choose it, is a

call to personal and organizational growth. In times of intense

change, don’t just look for opportunities; look for the human

capacity to live through the pain and come out a better,

stronger person and a better organization.


Given these assumptions, another aspect of taking stock is to assess very

carefully your responses to three fundamental questions:

1 What are you committed to preserve in the change?

2 What must you be willing to let go of?

3 What are you committed to learn? How can you respond to

this change to move us forward?

c) take accountability. The late business philosopher Jim Rohn used

to say, “You can’t hire someone else to do your push-ups for you.” You

must do them yourself if you are to get any value out of them. No one

but you can ultimately take you through the wilderness of change. Take

accountability for getting yourself through the chaos without blame, a

sense of unearned entitlement, or complaints. Take accountability to

learn from the experience. Take accountability to eventually “build a

bridge and get over it.” You’ll inspire others, at least other accountable

people, through accountable action.


d) take a good Compass With You On the Journey. Most likely

there are not adequate maps to take you through the changes we are

pioneering in today’s world. What you will need on the journey is a

reliable compass, a set of clear and uncompromisable principles on which

you live your life. You need to be clear about what you value and willing

to hold true to what matters most. In an age of “tyranny of the urgency,”

you need to know what’s important, and live in accord with your values.

This kind of integrity is the self-respect needed to take you on the

arduous journey of personal and organizational transformation.


Strategies For Rebuilding – and Beyond

Once you have turned the decision corner it is time to define or redefine

success and build accountability processes to keep you on track. As a leader you

want to be a step ahead of the crowd, who may still be in chaos. Rebuilding

can inspire those who may still be struggling in chaos, as long as you stay in

contact and maintain their respect and trust. Here are a few strategies to help

you rebuild:

a) Get clear about the decisions necessary to move you and your

organization forward. Make the tough decisions that will advance

yourself and your organization.

b) To prepare for the rebuilding, take the necessary time for reflection and

refocusing on your intentions. Learn to get in touch with the silence

within yourself and know that everything in life has a purpose.

c) Have a clear and explicit accountability process to keep yourself and

others on track. Stay focused on results. Get clear on your purpose, your

agreed upon promises, your support requirements, your goals, and the

consequences for achieving your accountabilities. Talk these over with

those you are accountable to. Have an “accountability partner” to help

you stay on track.


d) Stay connected to people you serve and are accountable to, who still

may be in chaos. Continue to earn their trust and give them support. Be

honest with them. Tell them what you know; tell them what you don’t

know. Affirm emotions that are expressed in constructive ways. Don’t be

afraid to hear the negative, keep helping them reflect on what they are

committed to preserve, what they need to let go of, and what they are

learning. Keep moving them toward their own decision that will help

turn the rebuilding corner. Resist the inclination to throw more changes

on them when they are still coming to terms with the original change.

e) Develop a clear method to assess when you have reached a new status

quo, so you know when the cycle is complete. While many demands and

new expectations beyond your control may be throwing you back into

chaos, you want to be sure there is at least one project at work and one

project in your personal life that you have some measurable control over

and can bring to fruition.

f) Support the emerging leadership. This spring, the city close to where I

live experienced the worst flood that we have ever known in these parts.

The crisis was unimaginable and the wreckage indescribable in Calgary

and Southern Alberta. The rebuild will take years and billions of dollars.

It’s amazing to witness people in this kind of crisis coming together in

ways never thought possible. We’ve seen remarkable things from

seemingly ordinary people. The surge of goodness that emanates from

humans in times of such calamity becomes the type of leadership that


binds societies and organizations together. Responding to a crisis and

rebuilding always presents an opportunity to step into leadership. But it

is not a title that defines these leaders. In times of change and upheaval

leaders are those who find clarity and compassion in the chaos, who

make decisions when others are indecisive, who take action when others

are immobilized, who persevere when others abandon ship. During the

rebuilding process leaders inevitably emerge. Recognize and support

those who can be counted on in times of change, and expand their roles

when the new reality emerges.

During the rebuilding processleaders inevitably emerge.


The eight-stage model, along with accompanying tools and strategies

outlined here are meant to be a guide in the transformational journey,

especially through the wilderness of chaos. For those with experience on this

transformational journey, you know that this is not a linear process. We all

know that human beings aren’t machines that can be put into an “eight step”

box. You go in and out of these stages. These are meant as a guide, as a tool for

conversation, clarity, and concentrated action. I have found it to be a good tool

to track your energy, measure your progress, and keep yourself moving, or at

least stumbling, forward. I wish you all the very best on your own personal

journey and as a guide to those you serve.


If you need any support on the journey, regardless of your

title, we’d love to hear from you. Please visit:

davidirvine.com

© 2013 by David Irvine. Permission to reprint and circulate is granted.

http://davidirvine.com

A RoAd MAp FoR NAvigAtiNg the tRANsFoRMAtioNAl JouRNey · 1 Change is the only constant in life and...

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