The pace of change continues to increase as our world becomes more complex, ambiguous, and uncertain driven by COVID ripple effects, evolving customer and consumer behaviors, social unrest, political division, AI/tech integration…just to name a few. In our work environment, change is pouring in on unrelenting waves with higher-level complexity and magnitude.
To put it simply, change has changed. “Change” is now rarely this linear thing that happens with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. This foundation upon which Change Management finds its footing, in today’s world, has become incomplete. And here’s why:
- Change initiatives are being stacked on top of one another to keep up with business and market demands
- Change execution has increased in complexity with different types of change happening across our businesses simultaneously from digital transformation, to culture change, to employee on-boarding, to HR policy changes. The list goes on and on.
- Change lives across all aspects of life therefore the opportunity persists to give individuals the knowledge, skills, experience, mindset and practice to navigate change more effectively in life, not just work
- Change has become the new status quo with 100% of the individuals in our organization living in some state of change be it in their work or outside of it
As we consider this new status quo and the human-side of change, we must change the way we think about change, striving to become more focused on
(1) better preparing for inevitable change,’
(2) enabling our employees to not only deliver challenging business imperatives but also achieve growth and fulfillment within themselves through change, and
(3) empowering our leaders to nurture both themselves and their teams in this seemingly constant state of change.
And we aren’t the only ones dimensioning the need for this shift. A recent Gartner study discovered that 74% of employees were willing to support organizational change in 2016; today, only 38% say the same. This correlates with a lower intent to stay with the organization: Only 43% of employees who experience above-average change fatigue intend to stay with their organization, compared with 74% of employees with low levels of fatigue.
Mitigating this fatigue risk means arming our workforce with the mindset and the human skills that allow them to face the more difficult emotions of change head-on while enabling them to see and maximize the opportunities their ever-evolving environment present. We must expand our thinking from just managing change to growing through change. Though I’ve often said you cannot have growth without change, going through change doesn’t guarantee you will experience personal growth unless you are armed, empowered, and willing to allow it.
At Change Enthusiasm Global we believe growth potential is determined by what happens at the intersection of change and emotion. This holds true at the individual level, the organizational level, and even the societal level. Because of this belief, we operate within a space we’ve coined Change Growth. This space exists in tandem with Change Management, but within it are laser-focused tools and strategies to optimize the human operating system for maximum growth potential and resilience strength. Change within a business or organization doesn’t happen sustainably without change first happening within the individuals that comprise it. Though our Change Growth Accelerator™ experiences, founded in our Change Enthusiasm® and C.H.A.N.G.E. Traits® IP, we empower individuals to allow and use the emotions that change so often inspires, that so often drives change fatigue and burnout, as fuel for growth.
We inspire that transformational spark that will make individual growth and fulfillment possible as well as drastically increase your probability of change success. The best part being that the tools within the Change Growth space find relevance across all aspects of life. Wherever change and emotion are present, these tools will serve. Bringing them to life for individuals within your organization, means empowering their full self for growth through change, whether that change is taking place in a work context or not.
We are so grateful to operate in the Change Growth space, helping individuals within client organizations around the world to cultivate a practice of self-actualized growth through change and strengthen the human-skills necessary to achieve unparalleled business agility.
