This too shall pass…

I call on this slogan a lot. Particularly when I am in a difficult time, feeling that I just can’t go on.

Because really. Everything changes.

Change is happening everywhere in everything right now…

Our human bodies are completely replaced every 7 to 10 years. Your body has changed just in the time you’ve spent reading this. Emotionally and mentally you change every day too. It’s not always linear, these changes. We can progress and regress and progress again.

Change is the only real constant in our lives…

Yet, as humans, we crave sameness. Our bodies want homeostasis. When change comes, we viscerally resist it because it’s our nature.

But, this resistance is where we get into trouble…

There Is No Steady Place to Stand and There Never Is Going to Be

Our world keeps moving faster and faster…

While some were able to slow down a bit in the pandemic, there are many technological forces that are speeding the pace of change; information technology, interconnectedness, artificial intelligence, and more. Our environment is often described as VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity).

The speed of change has been accelerating for some time now…

In a recent Harvard Business Review article, authors Aneel Chima and Ron Gutman describe what they call 3D change. “This three-dimensional (3-D) change is defining our emerging future and, as a consequence, effective leadership will be defined by the ability to navigate this new reality.”

They describe 3D change as:

• It’s perpetual — occurring all the time in an ongoing way.

• It’s pervasive — unfolding in multiple areas of life at once.

• It’s exponential — accelerating at an increasingly rapid rate.

Instead of resisting change, we are better served as leaders to adapt to the new environment and use more effective ways of leading within it.

Leading in an Ever-Changing Environment

What do leaders need to do in a changing landscape?

As complexity rises, we need to rely on our teams more. We can no longer make decisions from the top and get the outcomes we hope for. Successful outcomes require thinking situations through from all facets, more than one person can do alone…

As leaders, we need to create:

• Shared values and vision:

Getting anywhere in business requires 10,000 steps. In order to get everyone’s steps going in the same direction, we need to involve team members in the creation of the values and vision and then communicate them out over time, using multiple communication channels, to keep them top of mind. Having a strong connection to the company’s vision and values helps employees stay on board with the mission and make it through times of change more smoothly.

• Psychological safety:

  

When employees feel trust, they can feel psychologically safe. It’s the number one factor contributing to team performance. Yet, so many teams lack both trust and psychological safety, even small teams that seem well connected. While there are many things a manager can do to create this kind of environment, transparency is crucial during times of change. When left to their own creative minds, people will make up stories in their heads about what is happening and it’s usually worse than any real outcome.

• Inclusion:

One of the reasons that psychological safety is so important is that in this new environment, we need everyone’s brains working on complex problems so we can foresee problems and come up with more creative solutions. When we shift the environment to be truly inclusive, valuing every person’s contributions and purposefully tapping into the power of diversity, we create the ground for psychological safety to occur.

Managing Yourself During Times of Change

We can’t help but be affected by change personally…

As leaders, we can cultivate resiliency so that when changes or even shocks occur, we can keep our footing and be a support for others. Humans have a tendency to worry and ruminate which is exacerbated by our news cycle and social media.

By watching our mindset, we can keep worry from zapping our energy and resources…

Some mindsets that can be helpful during rocky times are:

1. Being both planful and hopeful: One of my favorite coping mechanisms is to go ahead and plan out the worst-case scenario. It’s always good to know what the worst case is and to have an idea of what to do if it happens.

But, we can’t stop there because we don’t want to end up catastrophizing. So, we want to both plan for the worst and hope for the best.

2. Stay present: In between the plan and the hope is what is happening right now. The present is usually the least stressful place to be. In the present, we can more easily set aside our worries and focus on what is needed right now.

3. Use worry strategically: Worry generally just works against us but used carefully, it can spur us into action. So long as you can drop the worry once you start acting, let it get you going to take that next step.

By using these strategies, you can not only be more adaptable to change, your team will be stronger and happier as a result…

Leading with the human-centered approach of creating shared values and vision, psychological safety, and inclusion not only helps in times of change, but it also leads to more innovation, better problem solving, and more employee engagement — all tied to higher revenues and profit.

No longer will change be scary when you have a rock-solid team standing with you ready to use all their brainpower to tackle the toughest problems…

We are living through a time of great turmoil. Even when this pandemic period is over, we can count on more changes from more directions as technology continues to speed us up.

As Maya Angelou says,

“Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.”