According to psychologists, we humans tend to focus more on preventing potential loss than on pursuing opportunity for gain. When we face change, then, many of us resist it as we scramble to protect our status quo. There may be good reasons for doing so. At the same time, if we solely focus there, we may be missing potential good and opportunity that open up through change.
As change management expert Price Pritchett points out, “Change comes bearing gifts.” We may not see the gifts immediately, but we are more likely to find them if we are looking. The “gifts” may take a different form than we were initially expecting. Rather than the old form, the gift may come as discovery and learning, new opportunity, resources, better fit or balance, stronger relationships or some other form of gain.
As you face change, consider:
- What aspects of change could be a “gift” for you, your family, or organization?
- How might you reframe a “loss” into a “gain” during change?
- What needed change anyway, but required an outside force to trigger it before you were likely to take action? Sometimes we stay in a job or relationship or pattern that has long outlived its usefulness.
©New Century Leadership LLC 2020
Jane Moyer heads talent development firm New Century Leadership LLC as executive coach, workshop leader, and speaker. She is author of Leaders Lab: 66 Ways to Develop Your Leadership Skill, Strategy, and Style.