Change is happening all around us. It’s also happening in us and to us. All the time. Yet, now, more than ever, we are visibly seeing change accentuated in such a way as to now recognise it, or at least recognise its impact – that we may prepare and act more effectively and proficiently towards it.
Some of us have lost loved ones to Covid-19. The loss of another human being in our life can emotionally and psychologically turn us upside down, potentially creating huge changes in every wellbeing key in our life. Our ways of working and living may have changed because of external factors that are beyond our control. Brexit is on its way – are we really preparing ourselves for the foreseeable change it may bring to us in the UK, or even in Europe?
For me, growth is demanding me to change my business model, resulting in a split in my holistic therapy services from my coaching services. The foreseeable hard work is a little daunting, yes, but Touch of Clarity shall allow me to personally continue coaching determined individuals to create impacting and sustainable change in their lives giving my new business room to liberate many more life-lovers & health enthusiasts from physiological underperformance. I’m focused on my goal, which has always been to help people within my capacity. The change required is simply the ‘how’ of it.
Here are 7 traits that help people adapt more readily to change. See how you do with these…
Adaptability: Adaptability includes two elements: flexibility and resilience. Flexible people have goals and dreams like everyone else, but they’re not overly invested in them. When something doesn’t work out, they’ll say, “Plan A doesn’t work, let’s go to Plan B.” Resilience is the capacity to rebound from adversity quickly with a minimum of trauma. Failure or mistakes do not limit or stop adaptable people from continuum.
Resourcefulness: Resourceful people are effective at taking the most of any situation and developing plans and contingencies using whatever resources are available to them at the time. They see multiple ways to achieve a goal, and they’ll think ‘out of the box’ in order to find help. Resourcefully creative people have a real talent for inventing new ways to solve old problems.
Optimism: Optimism is highly correlated with change readiness. Optimists naturally recognise opportunities and possibilities whilst the pessimist’s natural inclination is to remain paralysed with problems and obstacles. The enthusiasm and positive outlook of an Optimist is founded on an abiding faith in the future and the belief that things usually work out for the best.
Confidence: If optimism is the view that a situation will work out, confidence is the belief in your own ability to handle it. There is situational confidence: “I know I can swim across this channel, learn this program, write this report”. And there’s self-confidence: “I can handle whatever comes my way.”
Adventurousness: Two ingredients capture this adventurous spirit: the inclination to take risks and the desire to pursue the unknown. Adventurous people love a challenge. Since change always involves both risk and the unknown, they usually perform well during major situations requiring change.
Tolerance for Ambiguity: The offspring of change is uncertainty. No matter how carefully you plan it, there is always an element of indefiniteness or ambiguity. Without a healthy tolerance for ambiguity, change is not only uncomfortable; it’s downright scary.
Passion / Drive: Passion is the fuel that maximizes all the other traits. If you have passion, nothing appears impossible. If you don’t, change is exhausting. Passion is the individual’s level of personal dynamism. It shows up in a person’s level of intensity and determination.
To make a new procedure/process/lifestyle work, to overcome the myriad of problems that any plan for change unwittingly produces, you’ve got to have passion and enthusiasm.
As with all traits, it’s not about reaching extremes with them. If we have too much of the trait, we may lack certain skills and/or attitudes needed to get us through the change. It’s the same if we present with too little of the same trait. This is where a change coach really comes in handy, as they can identify quite quickly where there are imbalances in certain traits. There are multiple ways of identifying that: the coaching conversation is, of course, the best way, but there are also assessments that help with this too.
Touch of Clarity 