As a mindful leader, you not only need to lead through the example of embracing change; you also need to help the people you lead to do the same. In order to achieve this successfully, you’ll need to be familiar with the various stages of change and help your people get from avoiding change and fighting against it to accepting and embracing change.
The stages of change are exactly like the stages of grief, but with some minor adjustments:
1. Denial. You may come across an attitude of unwillingness to change or an inability to foresee any major changes working out.
2. Anger. Some of the people you lead may then experience anger at management or leadership putting them through a major change.
3. Bargaining. During this stage, people are likely to try to keep everyone happy and make compromises. Though this can look a lot like the final stage of acceptance, it isn’t, so don’t be fooled.
4. Depression. After ‘faking it’ during the bargaining stage and maybe not seeing any obvious results yet, worry and doubt set in.
5. Acceptance. Once people overcome the final speed bump of depression, change is much more likely to happen successfully with acceptance.
Part of your job as a mindful leader is to coach the people you lead through these stages, so reframing the situation can be very helpful for guiding those you lead from avoidance to acceptance. One of the most effective ways to do this is by asking new questions to detract focus from the negative questions that may be plaguing people’s minds. Some of these questions might include:
• “Why do we have to change things?”
• “Who is doing this to me?”
• “How will this affect me?”
• “We’ve never done it this way and the old way works just fine. Why change it now?”
• “When will this be over so we can get back to business as usual?”
These are all concerns that people may have during a time of change, so it’s important to know how to reframe the situation to be more positive and inspire people to focus on innovation and possibility.
• What new opportunities could be available because of this change?
• What problems will be solved because of this change?
• Doing something differently can be a challenge at first, but what will it look like once you get the hang of it and the process runs smoothly in this new way?
• How will things improve after this change has been implemented?
• What can you do to help make the process of change run smoothly?
In the interest of providing some inspirational fodder for you to share with the people you lead, here are a few quotes you can utilize to help keep people motivated and inspired despite their reservations about the changes happening within your organization.
“Life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.”
—Charles Swindoll
“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”
—Les Brown
“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”
—Albert Einstein
As always, continue learning and leading mindfully!
