A Change Will Do You Good

In the previous lesson, you examined your beliefs about change. When faced with disruptive change, many people respond by keeping their head down and hoping it will all just go away. The problem is, this can often be the worst response, leaving us feeling victimized, powerless, and vulnerable to the change. What’s more, it prevents us from taking positive steps that could actually generate a better result. Part of the adaptability competency is changing your mindset about change—to see change as positive. We’ll practice this now.

Watch Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and George Kohlrieser discuss how to practice adaptability. This short video explores how adaptability can be practiced by acknowledging and exploring alternative solutions to a problem. Adaptability can be combined with the EI competencies of teamwork and inspirational leadership to generate innovation in group settings as well. If you’re generally the type of leader who pushes harder when an idea isn’t working, this may indicate you need to pay attention to emotional balance, which lets you stay calm under stress–and allows your level of adaptability to remain high.

Adaptability enables us to see change as positive. It’s natural to resist the uncertainty and fear associated with change. However, by embracing a “growth mindset” in which change, problems, and conflict are useful opportunities for development, you gain a frame of reference that helps you become more adaptable.

When people resist change, they may actually be afraid of loss–loss of status, competence, relevance, and the like. Top performers understand that loss and the anticipation of a loss are powerful motivators. What’s more, they are willing to endure this discomfort to achieve their goals. If you can get used to embracing change and the challenges that accompany it, you will likely get more positive reactions from the people around you.

Self-Coaching Action Steps

1) Go back to the change you identified on lesson 2. Is there anything in that change that is causing you stress or anxiety? If so, what makes you anxious? What are you concerned you might lose?

2) Ask yourself a series of “self-coaching” questions to help find a positive perspective on change:

• What opportunities does this change represent?  What positive role could I find in this change?
• Are there things outside of my control that I could let go of? What do I have control over? What can I influence?
• What is the next action I could take to start moving in a positive direction along with this change? What is the best outcome that might result?

We recommend writing down  your reflections to help you get the most out of this experience.

What did you notice as you reflected on the self-coaching questions in the previous section?

Please share any insights, questions, challenges, and/or next steps that came up for you.

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