In the past two years, your life has probably changed. Do you commute over the same route you did two years ago? Same transportation? Same job? Same company? Same industry? Do you live in the same home? With the same people? You probably answered "No" a few times. Change is all around, and you're probably pretty skilled at adapting to it. You can become even more skilled if you change how you change.

Steppingstones in Roman Pompeii. Photo (cc by-sa) by Norbert Nagel/Wikimedia Commons.
- Accept the letting go
- To change, you must let go of something. It might be something you want to let go of, or it might not. Letting go is like crossing a rushing stream on steppingstones. To get to the next stone, you must step off the one you're on. To become skilled at change, you must accept the letting go.
- Feel the tug pulling you back
- That next steppingstone will be unfamiliar — you must learn which parts of it are dry and which parts are comfortable. And you'll wonder where to go next. All this can be unsettling, and you might want to give up and go back. When you feel that tug pulling you back, recognize it as a natural effect of change. Resist the tug — choose your direction consciously.
- Focus on the good
- Organizational change
requires personal change.
They're inseparable. - If you're the change architect, you probably hope that everything will be better after the transition. On the other hand, if the change is forced on you by events, you probably fear that everything will be less bearable afterwards. Recognize that for every change, some things will be better, some things the same, and some things more difficult. No change is all bad or all good. Focus on the good.
- Learn the new way
- When you start doing things in a new way, you won't be very good at it. Judging the success of a change on the basis of early performance is often a rationalization for going back. Stick with it until you've learned, and until you can tell how well it works.
The next time you try to change something, practice these skills with intention. Expect difficulty, because you'll be changing two things at once: not only whatever you're trying to change, but also the way you approach change. The only time you can practice changing how you change is when you're changing something else. Top
Next Issue
Is your organization embroiled in Change? Are you managing a change effort that faces rampant cynicism, passive non-cooperation, or maybe even outright revolt? Read 101 Tips for Managing Change to learn how to survive, how to plan and how to execute change efforts to inspire real, passionate support. Order Now!
For more on the Satir Change Model, see "Now We're in Chaos," Point Lookout for September 19, 2001, and "Piling Change Upon Change: Management Credibility," Point Lookout for October 18, 2006.
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Related articles
More articles on Organizational Change:
Training Bounceback
- Within a week after we've learned some new tool or technique, sometimes even less, we're back to doing
things the old way. It's as if the training never even happened. Why? And what can we do to change this?
Obstacles to Finding the Reasons Why
- When we investigate what went wrong, we sometimes encounter obstacles. Interviewing witnesses and participants
doesn't always uncover the reasons why. What are these obstacles?
Reactance and Micromanagement
- When we feel that our freedom at work is threatened, we sometimes experience urges to do what is forbidden,
or to not do what is required. This phenomenon — called reactance — might explain
some of the dynamics of micromanagement.
Learning-Averse Organizations
- A learning-averse organization is one that seems constitutionally unwilling, if not unable, to learn
new and better ways of conducting its operations. Given the rapid pace of change in modern markets,
one wonders how they survive. Here's how.
Way Over Their Heads
- For organizations in crisis, some but not all their people understand the situation. Toxic conflict
can erupt between those who grasp the problem's severity and those who don't. Trying to resolve the
conflict by educating one's opponents rarely works. There are alternatives.
See also Organizational Change for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming December 6: Off-Putting and Conversational Narcissism at Work: III
- Having off-putting interactions is one of four themes of conversational narcissism. Here are seven behavioral patterns that relate to off-putting interactions and how abusers use them to control conversations. Available here and by RSS on December 6.
And on December 13: Contrary Indicators of Psychological Safety: I
- To take the risks that learning and practicing new ways requires, we all need a sense that trial-and-error approaches are safe. Organizations seeking to improve processes would do well to begin by assessing their level of psychological safety. Available here and by RSS on December 13.
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