Facilitating Change...It was one of the competencies as a manager for T-mobile. It was the ability to help your team overcome a change in a process or in the company. It was probably my favorite. Not because I love change, but because I love figuring out how to get through it.
Every company I have always worked for had changes. You never knew when opening your email box what announcement there was going to be. It could be a change I agreed with or one that I was not very fond of. No matter what it was, I usually had to find a way to win my team over with the idea.
The hardest one was changes to the commission structure. I would have a meeting with the team and butter them up with food and with the most exciting voice possible, "Guess what...we get to go through another change..." The key word there was "we."
It was never about pawning the change off onto them and then walking away from the situation. One of my most favorite bosses taught me an important concept: "Yes, things are changing. I might not agree with it (or maybe I do), but regardless, it is happening whether we like it or not. But GUESS WHAT!? We get to go through it together!" I loved this concept. I truly believed it was the only way to keep morale up with any change, that maybe, some thought was for the worse. Yet, we would get through it...together.
Care Bears and Tinkerbell are the shows of choice for Emilee lately. She will watch them over and over and over again! Ironically, both shows involve a story about change.
In Care Bears, there is a young, blonde boy named Nicholas. He finds a magic spell book and uses it to cast evil spells on people he doesn't like and becomes evil himself. The Care Bears get involved and "yada, yada, yada"....He changes into a good boy. Once again, the Care Bears save the day.
Tinkerbell is helping the animals cross into "winter." While doing so, her wings change into some sparkly colors and she wonders what the heck this is all about. So she crosses over into winter (which is against the rules of the "warm" fairies) to talk to "The Keeper." She wants to find out why her wings changed different colors. While she is there, she discovers she has a sister. "Yada, Yada, Yada"...Tinkerbell's life changes forever because she has a new found sister and they end up changing the rules so there is no rule against crossing into winter.
Change is inevitable. It is going to happen in our lives regardless if we like the change or not. Sometimes, we ourselves, create the change. Most of the time, we create the change because something needed to be changed. Sometimes it is a change forced upon us. Sometimes it is our job situation, our weight, our spirituality...the list can go on and on. Sometimes we want to change the world. Other times, the world wants to change us. Sometimes we have support; other times we don't. That is just life. Yet, if we reach inside ourselves, we can find the strength to endure changes. Sometimes the only way to find happiness inside ourselves is to change. Sometimes it's not easy but that is why we are here, right? The fun part is figuring it out!
"If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living."- Gail Sheehy
I just wish Emilee would change her choice of shows every once in while...add a little spice to my day.
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