During my life I have moved a great deal. Between Kindergarten and graduating High School our family moved homes over 18 times. My parents divorced when I was in kindergarten, leading me to attend three school in that one year. I became very adept at making new friends. Something that I am still good at to this day. We relocated from Kansas to Washington state, the place I still call home 35 years later.
As a side effect to moving so much, I have become very good at adapting to change. When change comes we can either make the best of it, or we can fight it tooth and nail. At the heart of this is the idea of control. We want to have control over what is happening to us, and change, when it is forced on us, has a way of making us feel out of control.
The change is in many situations going to happen whether we like it or not, and clinging on to the old way will end up having a more negative impact. On the flip side if we evaluate what is happening around us, and seek to find a way to engage the change in a positive way, we will end up having a stronger impact on the change than if we fight the tide.
When I worked in retail management we had regular changes to policy and practice. As a leader, my job was to help my employees transition to the new program. Some people were excited about the changes, some were apprehensive, but not closed off, and others wanted to walk into the president of the companies office and give them a piece of their mind.
This meant that I needed to be flexible in how I approached the transition. Maintaining a loose approach helped me to tailor my tactics based on the individual. The most effective path for helping people who were outright against the change was to help them see the change in a positive light, and if possible try to convince them that the idea was their own (this last one takes skill).
Over the length of my career the number of transitions, both with personnel, and in policy, gave me ample opportunity to develop the skill. In the end, what I wanted to do most was maintain my team, and ensure we were not only in compliance with the new policy, but that morale had been maintained in the process.
This happens in almost all facets of life. As my kids grow and experience change, my job is to help them develop in the process. One of my kids is super adaptable, and another is highly averse to change. In order to help them both I have to use completely different parenting styles. My hope is that as they become adults they will be able to face the changes of life knowing that they will have a greater influence on the change if they meet it head on.
One way or another change is coming. Time and, seemingly, technology stand still for no one. Do your best to be ready for it, and help those around you be prepared too. What changes are you facing, and how are you approaching it?
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