Let’s change something! How fun! (Sarcasm font.)
How do you react to change? Many people don’t like it. They don’t welcome it, at least not at the start.
I’ve had to adapt to change physically. I have CMT, a neurologic disease that causes calf atrophy, foot drop, and instability while standing or walking. I’ve suffered from the symptoms for over 20 years. I used to think it was a result of two back surgeries over that time, but now that I know the root cause, I’ve taken it a bit more seriously.
To increase stability, I wear a leg brace.
It’s a pretty cool little device, custom molded to my foot and leg, and carbon fiber so it’s light as a feather. The brace holds my foot flat and aligns it with my leg and knee, which is the way my skeleton is supposed to work. Sounds good, right? Well, in the beginning, it wasn’t easy. Walking in alignment caused hip and back pain because for 20 years I grew accustomed to my old gait. Since I wasn’t walking the way I used to, my hip and back rebelled.
The leg brace is right for me. It’s safer, and keeps me from stumbling. But the better way didn’t come without some pain.
This reminds me of a hard change a client wanted to make. They wanted to shift from an economic mindset (“making money”) to a people-centered purpose. Their existing plans, decisions, and actions didn’t take people into account because they were driven by the almighty dollar.
Their systemic mindset caused them to hire people who would honor money but would virtually ignore people. As you can imagine, engagement from employees was low. Turnover was high. Customer service suffered.
At least they knew something needed to change. So the company promoted a long-time leader to help. He instituted a new way to “be” at work–and was put to the test.
One day during a casual conversation with some of his direct reports, he made a teasing comment about an employee. The reaction was subdued…different than the past.
We gave him feedback right away, and he immediately grasped the inappropriateness of his comment. “I’m so used to using humor with my team–but that was over the line. This is going to be hard.”
Change isn’t easy. But if you lean into aligning with the better way and the higher values, those changes will raise you, and your team, to heights you never thought possible before.
