Who says something has to last forever? It’s our natural thought process to stay with something because: it is safe, it is what we know and what “we have always done”. My belief is that things will work for a while but then it is natural to need to change it up. Yet we tend to try and hold on to the way it is, often because we are fearful of the change or because our pride gets in the way. First you have to see what’s not working anymore. Often we get caught up in the day-to-day and we don’t see the need for change. There could be a frustration that comes on during a weekly meeting, a sense of distrust with an individual or team or a feeling of boredom in a position when it used to be exciting. We talk about this in coaching land as “the rub”, the people or the system is moving towards a change. In order to get to change there has to be a conflict. Once you notice that rub or conflict is there, you can do something about it. Ask yourself the following to see if there is a rub in your world that requires change.
1. What image / metaphor would you give the current situation? Is it what you want?
2. Are we truly serving the greater good right now? Could we do it better?
3. What hard decisions am I avoiding?
4. What do I need to let go of (ego, anger, pettiness) to move toward serving greater good?
5. What is one step that needs to be made to get there?
Know that even if it changes it will be okay. You and your team will be more fulfilled, even if there is a hard decision that has to be made. If people are suffering, the work will suffer as well. Once change has happened, they will see it is better even if it is hard to get there.
I’m curious – when have you had to make a hard change/ When did you notice it needed to happen and what did you do to move it along? What would you do differently next time (if anything)?