Be the Change You Want to See

We all are confronted with change in our world. Be it in our private life, professional environment or society around us. Technology and new ways of communicating and collaborating are opening doors of opportunities, but are also questioning our expertise and proven ways of doing our job.

We often can see or at least sense these change opportunities and know they can move us forward.  However, the change also requires new tools and ways of engagement that can feel very frightening.  Even if we know the change is for the better, the process of transformation makes us and the people around us stressed, nervous and less productive.

Professor Nancy Schlossberg formulated a theory of transition which outlines the different emotions we all go through when confronted with a significant change in our lives. Understanding this emotional rollercoaster is a journey for us, our colleagues and complete organizations helps to proactively manage transformations far more effectively.

Embracing insights from psychological and motivational research during times of change and transformation can mean greater success.  It is all about considering leveraging emotions to reduce friction and optimize the probability of broad success for us and the organizations around us.

The five steps that help lead any transformation to success are:

1. Identify a clear and compelling Vision
2. Clarify the impact of both changing and not changing
3. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
4. Team up across functions to multiply your impact
5. Lead the process, celebrate the successes and be the change you want to see

TEDx Video

Many of our students are leveraging knowledge from a variety of sources and TED has become a great platform to share key thoughts and often to engage in a deeper conversation following. A 5 minute TED talk on "Why change is hard and how to manage it" can be found here.

Click here for the slides used at the TEDxRainier talk.

Mark Mueller-Eberstein is an internationally renowned business leader and bestselling author. He is a leader, consultant and entrepreneur with over 15 years of global experience in the information technology industry working with companies and governments to choose, adopt, roll-out and measure the impact of new technologies.

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