Everyone deals with change.
Not everyone deals with change the same way.
In business, as in the rest of your life, you should know yourself well enough to know if you are a “pull the band-aid off slowly” or “yank the band-aid off quickly” kind of change processor.
Further, before instituting changes in your business, you need to assess the change embracing styles of your co-workers, employees, clients, and vendors.
Yes, to successfully embrace change you must know yourself, and figure out others.
Okay. Don’t panic.
You don’t need to psychoanalyze everyone around you. But do give it a bit of thought.
If you are a “pull it off slowly” kind of person – you can help yourself ease into changes. And the same goes for those around you. You can plan to explain the change(s) in advance of them happening a few times to get that person or persons comfortable with embracing the change. Yes, even negative changes, like lay-offs.
If you are a “yank it quickly”person, but you are dealing with slow changers, you can plan for it so you won’t be impatient (maybe even reward yourself somehow to be sure you don’t race through things for the benefit of those you wish to embrace the change with you).
On the flip side, if you are a “slow change”person, and those around you are “quick”- then you can prepare something ahead of time for them. Anticipate their immediacy with a written document answering all their questions, so that you won’t have to react on the fly and potentially upset yourself and those you are trying to bring along with you to the change!
This fundamental part of embracing change is often overlooked.
Which leaves participants feeling left out, frustrated, uninformed, or sets them in the “reticent” position – making you work extra hard to convince them to change.
If your business, practice, consultancy has to make changes. Start with figuring out the change-style of those involved – for more insight to personality styles check out the free temperament evaluations on Kiersey.com. Or take a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment.
Have a great week-end. More on the subject of Embracing Change coming next week.
