We are experiencing a once-in-a-generation shakeup in the way we do, well… everything. We are watching it and living it in real time. The way we work, the way we go to school, the way we socialize, the way we do everything has been shaken up, and quickly.
And at the most macro level, we can react in one of two ways:
- We can sit back and hope for this crisis to end, so we can get back to normal.
- Or we can realize that the definition of “normal” will likely never go back to what it was, and we can embrace the change.
There is risk and anxiety with each path. Our old definition of “normal” may never return, and sitting around and waiting for it to happen carries great risk. And trying to embrace change when we don’t know a lot is kind of like a chasing our own tail round and round and round. There is risk to either path.
There is, in my opinion, greater risk in the first choice. Things rarely stay the same… sometimes the change is slow, sometimes it is fast. And the best organizations are always on the lookout for change. Right now that change is happening far faster than we usually experience. And that speed is disorienting. I know it has been for me. The speed of change over the last six weeks has made me highly uncomfortable.
But the best reaction for your organization, your team’s perception of your leadership, and your own confidence and anxiety management is to embrace the reality that we need to be open minded to new ways of doing things. I have been working on this mindset a lot over the last several weeks, and it is hard. But regardless of the difficulty, the simple fact is that the best leaders and the best communicators will embrace the idea that we are not going to go back to exactly the way things were before.
Be ready for that. Be ready for a new definition of “normal.”
If you want to continue this discussion about embracing change, please join me and my colleagues Dan Cooney and Hannah Morris in a short, interactive discussion on April 30, noon eastern time. We look forward to speaking with you. Click here to register and join the conversation.
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Does your team:
– Overwhelm the audience with too much detail?
– Make things too complicated?
– Fail to ask for what they want or need?
Does your organization:
– Waste time because of poor internal communication?
– Take too long to make decisions?
– Struggle to clarify and frame discussions?
Do your leaders:
– Exhibit poor executive presence?
– Lean on incomplete communication skills?
– Fail to align the organization?
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