What is change?

by admin

Leadership and Change

Change is frightening, invigorating, enlivening, and deadening.

Change is emotional. Pay attention to your emotions and the emotions of others as you move through change. Embedded in emotion is motion, scan emotions during change for their reactions, inactions, or actions.

Change is transition. Transitions are the psychological adaptations to change. William Bridges outlined the transitional process of change. It begins with an end, has a neutral zone in between, and ends with a beginning. Your first concern during change needs to be: What is ending and what is being lost with this change?

Change is learning. The most common definition of learning is a change resulting from experience. What do you need to learn to manage change and what have you learned from mastering change?

Change is impermanence. Nothing is permanent or lasts - good or bad. From an Eastern perspective we need to recognize impermanence and that much of our suffering is due to clinging to the way things were or hoping for things not to change.

Change is a central feature of life. Change often asks us to let go or loosen our hold of the way things were.

Change is a metaphor. What is change like for you? Develop a personal metaphor for change to get a fresh perspective. Perhaps even a laugh as you compare change to something ridiculous. Creating metaphors can be a way to play with change and mentally break free from change challenges.

Change is a stage. From the stages of loss: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance to the other change model. Examine models outlining the stages of change and consult them as a guide to navigate through the complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty of change.

Change is ineffable. Change is more than words. It is actions, relationships, advancement, loss, opportunity, stress, and so much more. The wisest comment about change can be distilled to the two simple words woven through this page:

Change is!

Everything else is extra.

By Axel Meierhofer, Presidnet AMC LLC, with permission from David Zinger,