By Barb Ward
I’m not going to lie, I am change-resistant. That’s not to say I can’t or won’t go through change when it’s necessary to make a situation or process better, it just gives me anxiety. For instance, my kids are changing schools this year after many years at the same school. The prospect of meeting and getting to know all of their new teachers, friends, friends’ parents, and the rules and customs of the school is exhausting to me. And yet, I know this change will be good.
If you’re like me, you may experience these feelings of unrest in many instances in your life; moving to a new town or neighborhood, getting married, buying or building a house, starting a new job, taking a promotion, the list is seemingly endless. And, these are seemingly “simple” changes (if there is such a thing) compared to the exponentially rapid rate of change in the world today. The past year has likely stretched your change capacity to the max, and yet, you did flex and change. While it may look different, the rate of change is unlikely to slow down, so buckle your seatbelt, it’s time to learn to navigate change effectively.
By intentionally building emotional intelligence, resilience, and change management skills, you can enhance both your personal and professional life. Personally, these skills help you cope and move through change more effectively and efficiently. Professionally, they help you navigate increasingly complex organizational environments, and develop solutions that solve problems in the right way. What’s more, change management skills enable you to embrace and implement the solution with buy-in and support.
Think about a time when the demand for change exceeded your psychological capacity for change.
What caused this situation to exceed your capacity for change?
Is there anything you could have done to make the situation better or easier?
