Saturday, November 25, 2017

Change Habit: Do you Have One?

The change progress is made via positive and growth mindsets.

Change, big or small is inevitable. You can’t step into the same river twice, meaning that everything is always in a state of flow with increasing speed. Change is becoming the new normal, people present different personalities for changes, such as Pathfinder, Listener, Organizer, Follower, and Resistor. Are change agents born or created? In order to improve changeability, it is important to build a healthy change habit. We all know how challenging would be to change a bad habit and cultivate a good habit. It takes practices, disciplines, and persistence. Change is not for its own sake, but for improvement and advancement. So, change habit - do you have one?

Change mentality: Resistance to change is part of human nature. Change leads to psychological insecurity. For many people, "sameness" is psychological security. There are full emotion cycles behind changes, and it is the mixed bag of positive emotions and negative emotions. The negative emotions which stifle changes include such as, fear, apathy, doubt, change inertia, loss of control, vulnerability, etc. Change is never for its own sake, it is always for something new and advancing, it means that removal of something old and familiar with because change is an evolutionary journey. People are emotionally attached to those things being possessed, and the majority of people have the fear to move out of their comfort zone. Even though it is difficult to change human nature, there is still value in understanding that resistance is normal and must be considered and managed. It is, therefore, important to stimulate positive emotions for building the changing habit, such as openness to new ideas and perspectives; optimism for things getting better; the passion to discover, and the empathy to understand the big “WHY” behind changes. And perhaps, develop a thinking habit first in order to cultivate the changing habit more effortlessly. Change is always there; improvement can only be there if people accept change, and make the most out of it. The change progress is made via positive and growth mindsets.

Knowledge/skills/capabilities for changes: Life is the journey of continuous evolving, learning and exploring; there are change curves on the way. The change journey from A to B is nothing like a straight line, in reality, it is a zig-zag shaped iterative continuum. What a Change Agent or champion most often does is to instill drive, passion, and enthusiasm, expand knowledge, harness skills, build capabilities, and make continuous improvement. Changeability also gives you confidence because you know you are able to positively adapt to any given situation accepting, embracing, and lead changes. Many say that people’s intelligence is tested by their changeability, and their quality is also proved via their changeability. Developing changeability takes effort and time. People need time to assimilate change and work through the issues that result from the change, moving from the emotional to the rational. Change isn't always in our control, but it is amazing how much control we have in adapting to it. Change Agent has the ability to play any role and know which to play, and when. Don’t let change overwhelm you, but ride change curve via building the multilayered changeability. Change is never for its own sake, a change champion is a progressive problem-solver, an innovator, and a forward-looking mover.

Risk appetite and attitude for driving changes: Many people cannot get out of ‘comfort zone” due to fears or doubt, or to put simply, lack of courage. There is always a risk of changes, to accelerate changes, you want people to be able to and dare to take risks. A change agent has the right dose of risk appetite and a good attitude to drive change via the stepwise approach. Because it takes courage, confidence, and intelligence to overcome the “ fear of failure.” Hence, the best judgment, a qualitative approach is given for risk in change. When you are ready and willing to ask questions as to what was the source of failure, what worked, what didn't, why, etc., you are on the path to gaining the solid ground for changes. Collectively, it is important to build the working environment both encourages success and also failures (when tried their best) but discourages inaction, and then change becomes the new normal. It is also critical to make risk management more practical and less emotional, and lessons learned from previous failure or others will increase the effectiveness of your next change agenda and therefore probably increase your chances of meeting your objectives on your next attempt. Be confident and cautious at the same time, be well prepared, take the calculated risks and make change adventure a meaningful journey.

A change agent is not a title, but the game-changing mindset and the fine-tuned skillsets. It takes a lot of energy to break old habits and outdated thought processes. Developing a changing habit is challenging, but imperative. Because change is happening at a more rapid pace. If you make change part of your routine, then change becomes a healthy habit to keep you moving forward, and collectively, we can move the world forward with accelerated speed.


Post a Comment