On Change Resilience

In today’s professional landscape, change is no longer an occasional hurdle—it is the environment. For many, this constant shift triggers a "survival mode" characterized by reactive thinking, stress, and diminished performance. 

What if we could do something about this in our change work? We can! 

Let’s dive into some simple, high-impact resilience hacks that can be used to help move people beyond a 'fear state' and build some resilience muscle. 

Hack #1: Find The Footing

The Circles technique, first introduced by Steven Covey in his 2004 book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, can be useful to help individuals surface the control and influence they DO have with change. 

• Circle of Control: What can I control in this change? Here we are bringing forward things people have direct control over such as their behavior, actions, attitude and reactions.
• Circle of Influence: What can I help shape in this change? Here we are thinking about areas people can help shape but not directly control, such as social networks, relationships and change or project outcomes
• Circle of Concern: Where can I not control or shape this change? These represent events, situations and reactions outside of ourselves including organizational moves, the economy, etc. 

Using the Circles technique we can turn peoples focus and energy towards where they can make a positive difference in change, focusing on what they can control and influence. 

Hack #2: Rebuild the Narrative 

Research shows that a lot of the time as humans we operate on auto pilot. We move through situations being zoned out, without active focus.

We do have the ability to change the way we look at situations and their meaning. 

First, we have to get off of being on auto pilot. This doesn't happen immediately. It takes intentional action and practice to replace them with new meaning. It can be especially challenging to address those thoughts grounded in fear, like the ones that may surround change. 

When we stop auto piloting our situational narratives, we create the opportunity to move beyond fear to a state of open curiosity. It is in that open curiosity that we can introduce new meaning to common situations. 

Common reframes for change include:

On Making Mistakes or Failure in Change 

• Instead of "I failed", try "I received valuable feedback about what doesn't work".
• Move from "I have to handle this change alone," to "Reaching out for change support is a sign of strength".

Move Fear of Change to Opportunity 

• Shift from "I can't handle this change", to "This is a difficult change that will stretch me" 
• Instead of " I can't do this change", to "This is an opportunity to try and learn something new"

Shift From Recipient to Change Owner: 

• Move from "Why is this change happening to me?", to "How can I grow from this change and help others?". 
• Shift from "I have to handle this change alone", to "Reaching out for change support is a sign of strength".