Written by Josie Kornelson
In Part One of this series, I began with a quote from Adam Grant that I will include again:
“People who see change as a threat to the past reject new ideas and get left behind.
People who treat change as a challenge in the present embrace new ideas and adapt.
People who anticipate change as an opportunity for the future initiate new ideas and lead.”
Let's set the stage for the current part of our process:
You have developed an awareness of the need for change ("A" in the ADKAR change management model). The rejection of something new has been balanced with a tentative step forward toward observation.
Now what?
To continue through the ADKAR acronym, we come to:
Desire - to participate in and support the change
Knowledge - on how to change.
Moving from Awareness toward Desire and Knowledge requires action, but action without autonomy might just be compliance. When Adam Grant talks about treating change as challenge, we are offered a unique opportunity that comes with challenge: CHOICE.
Seeing change as a challenge invites us to ask ourselves what we choose to do with our awareness. Autonomy in the process can have an important impact on the sustainability of change since compliance is rarely a reliable fuel. Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you open up to the challenge of change:
Where do I feel excited to participate in and support the change that is happening?
Where do I feel confident in adapting to change?
What can I choose to learn more about in the process?
Before we can embrace something, we must first open our arms. Preparing for change through the posture of opening ourselves up to motivation, understanding, and learning can equip us for the challenge. Seeing the challenge as a choice offers us the opportunity to fully embrace the new.
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