Hello and welcome back!

Why I'm Always Talking About Change

Have you noticed that I've been ending my newsletters with wondering what will change in the upcoming week? It's not random curiosity—it's an intentional habit I'm developing to better prepare for what's ahead. Sometimes the changes I anticipate do materialize—like last-minute plan adjustments I've learned to predict from past patterns. These don't rattle me as much anymore because I've considered the possibilities and have backup plans ready.

The Three Faces of Change

When we think about change, we encounter it in different forms.

📌 The Expected: When predicted changes happen, we're ready.

📌 The Unrealized: Even when predictions don't materialize, we build our change-sensing muscles.

📌 The Surprises: Those beyond our radar teach us the most about our adaptability - or the need for it.

The "Surprises" vary in scale and can bring positive or negative impacts, and they're precisely the types of changes I'm working to better anticipate and handle.

The Startling Reality of Change in Today's Workplace

The landscape of change in today's workplace is staggering. Consider how many changes you've experienced at work this year. Your list is probably lengthy, and there's good reason for that. Data shows that employees faced 10 planned enterprise changes in 2022, up from just 2 in 2016—a 400% increase. This dramatic surge helps explain why 73% of employees report moderate to high stress levels, which significantly impacts both health and work performance. The declining support for organizational change—down to 43% in 2022 from 74%—could mean the difference between hitting your milestones or missing them entirely.

How We Process Change: The Human Factor

Change affects each of us differently. Some individuals see it as a gateway to opportunities and growth, eagerly embracing new systems like CRMs as chances to expand their skills. Others prefer familiar territory - resisting change, viewing the learning curve as a big burden. Or, there are those whose resilience has been depleted by constant change, struggling to recover from unexpected challenges. Their return to peak performance is crucial for collective success.

Lead Through Change

Leaders bear a unique responsibility in this landscape of constant change. You're tasked with empowering, elevating, and energizing your teams through perhaps 10 planned changes annually, plus unexpected disruptions—whether it's new policies, innovative competitors, or supply chain crises. Supporting your team to navigate change effectively is key to the success of your programs, especially given the declining willingness to support organizational change.

Building Your Change Navigation System

Getting better at navigating change starts with putting it deliberately on your agenda. This practice helps you become more skilled at predicting what is likely or unlikely to happen and understanding the potential impact. When you combine this awareness with strengthening your adaptability muscle, you become a highly skilled anticipatory leader. You're prepared and leveraging change, creating new opportunities that energize your whole team.

The Path Forward

The question isn't whether change will accelerate—it's how well prepared we'll be to navigate it. The next decade will bring more change than the previous century. By putting change on our agenda today, we're investing in our future capability to not just survive but thrive amid uncertainty.

Start small: take 15 minutes at the end of each week to consider potential changes ahead.

📍 What shifts do you see coming?

📍 How might they affect you or your team?

📍 What opportunities might they create?

Remember: The most successful people and organizations aren't those who avoid change—they're the ones who learn to dance with it.

One last thing, check out this short documentary, Pivot Point, to understand more about our changing landscape at work. It may just help you list out a few more changes happening at work.

Gear Up for Change and Thrive

Thanks for reading! If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe to Gear Up for Change here.

And if you found this valuable, I’d be grateful if you shared it with others who are looking to better navigate change.

See you next week -- what will have changed by then, I wonder?

Ann
​www.adaptsuccess.com​

Ready to kickstart your journey towards greater adaptability? Here’s how you can gear up:

📌 Measure Your AQ Take a 25-minute assessment to discover your Adaptability Quotient (AQ). Learn how to thrive in times of change and create a strategy for your growth. Hit reply and tell me you want 15% off our normal rate of €85 (plus VAT) and we'll get you set up. Tip: check with your manager -- you can probably expense this!

📌 Make Change Part of Your Team’s Agenda Want to empower your team to navigate change more effectively? Hit reply and tell me about your team's main challenges and disruptions, and we'll set up a call to outline a tailored workshop for your next offsite.

Issue #8, 22 Nov 2024