It’s common vernacular – “people don’t like change”
But somehow, it’s not entirely true. I was recently doing some reading on adaptive leadership and came across a discussion on the topic of change and the common misconception that we are averse to it. In truth, it isn’t about change; it’s about loss. When change involves potential loss (real or perceived), our natural tendency is to cling to the familiar. The authors go on to say that the crucial factor therefore, is the ability to understand and articulate these potential losses in terms of relationships, wealth, status, loyalty, identity, competence etc. Of course, that isn’t going to solve all the problems since the question of loss is a difficult one – both emotionally and intellectually difficult to think through or foresee. It is however, an important question to work through in the praxis of adaptive leadership (and life in general).
It’s also not only about loss – it’s additionally, a question of what to preserve –
Adaptation is a process of conservation as well as loss. Although the losses of change are the hard part, adaptive change is mostly not about change at all. The question is not only, “Of all that we care about, what must be given up to survive and thrive going forward?” but also, “Of all that we care about, what elements are essential and must be preserved into the future, or we will lose precious values, core competencies, and lose who we are?
(source details below)
In a nutshell, we can start asking ourselves two questions – what do we have to lose and what is crucial to retain?
These are two questions that I have re-visited quite frequently in the last while with small and comparatively bigger decisions both personally and in a more professional context.
I hope this gives you something to think about as you approach inevitable changes in your life too. After all, change is the only constant.
t
PS – By now you should know never to believe anything I say. Take it from the source – “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World”
By Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky
T 
Loved this. Beyond a development level, I loved this on a personal level, on an organizational level (wink wink)…Thanks for sharing. CAN I READ ALL YO BOOKS AT SOME POINT?!?
Hey girl! Thanks!! haha YES. we can share books until we are 90 please and thanks! Actually, there’s more to it that I think is helpful at an organizational level –
Adaptive leadership talks about managing through the period of loss that a team moving through change may go through. So it’s about the ability to move folks through that potentially uncomfortable disequilibrium of change in a productive way that’s a testament to adaptive leadership.
They also draw from evolutionary biology to define successful adaptation –
1) It preserves the DNA essential for the species’ continued survival;
2) It discards (re-regulates or re-arranges) the DNA that no longer serves the species’ current needs; and
3) It creates DNA arrangements that give the species’ the ability to flourish in new ways and in more challenging environments.
I think those 3 factors are definitely useful in thinking about organizational change
Hi Tarini, I came across your blog through a tip-off from a fellow member of our EWB chapter here in Winnipeg. Really enjoying what I’ve read–I have to say you’re an excellent writer! I am looking for some content that could go in the EWB-themed article they give us in the professional engineering association magazine in Manitoba…would it be OK if we take some excerpts from some of your blog posts for an upcoming article? Won’t do a thing without your permission–send me an email, freepaulklassen@gmail.com.
Hi Paul!
Thanks for getting in touch. I’ve sent you an email – let me know if for some reason it doesn’t reach your inbox!
Cheers,
t