Tune up your EQ

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”

Quotation by e. e. cummings

How To Change Yourself And Change Your World

When a senior public sector health administrator (I’ll call her Vera) realised that her organisation had serious problems, she couldn’t afford to get upset. Vera wasn’t sure how to solve the issues, she had no additional money to motivate her team, yet she knew that several sick people were depending on her to put things right.

She must have been tempted give up and give in to the 4 Ds, Deny that anything was wrong, Defend herself and simply argue that it wasn’t her fault, Deflect the situation by complaining about lack of resource, or just give up in Despair

Yet Vera reflected on her situation, reviewed her strengths and weaknesses and began to encourage her team to thrive on change. She:

1. Made an initial analysis
2. Presented her findings
3. Told stories
4. Encouraged the team
5. Led by example
6. Listened intently

By the time that she accepted a promotion within the same Government ministry, her team had achieved more than 60% of the necessary organisation changes although they hadn’t received any additional resources.

They’d improved the organisation’s performance by improving their selves.

What was the precious quality that eanbled Vera to kick start the transformation? Vera is bright, yet it wasn’t her IQ . She is a skilled doctor, but she didn’t operate on anyone.

Vera achieved her goals by applying her self-awareness.

Warning: To Thrive On Change, You Must Be Self Aware

Self-awareness is the cornerstone competency of EQ. Vera made a conscious choice to direct her mind in a positive direction. She had a realistic view about her strengths and weaknesses. Vera was grateful for her strengths and sought to make the most of them, yet she wasn’t paralysed by her weaknesses.

I’m sure Vera’s life isn’t perfect, but her attitude enables her to squeeze every last drop out of the potential that it holds.

In the first part of this series, I described Viktor Frankyl’s life-changing message:

“each of us is responsible for, and must fulfil the potential meaning of his or her life.”

You put Frankyl’s message to work when you:

1. Take responsibility for your life.

2. Act, based on that sense of responsibility.

Reading Books Can Help You Thrive On Change

In 1992, I read a book by the management thinker, Charles Handy called “The Age of Unreason.” He highlighted how globalisation and other forces meant that a job for life would soon become a thing of the past for many professionals. It was the right book at the right time. I decided to start my consulting business.

Self-employment isn’t for everyone. However the only way to thrive in this discontinuous, uncertain and dynamic world of work is to develop your understanding of yourself.

As Aldous Huxley said:

“I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.”

The Top 3 Benefits Of Being Proactive

When you take responsibility for thriving on change you’ll:

1. Identify opportunities for growth and development at work that used to pass you by.

2. Make the most of these opportunities.

3. Bounce back quickly after misfortune. Not getting the job that you craved, or losing your job to redundancy may be the best thing that could possibly happen.

Earl Nightingale argues:

“An idea is useless unless it is acted upon”

Do you agree? Here are 3 positive actions that you can commit to right now.

3 Tips For Thriving On Change

1. Write a detailed list of your strengths and weaknesses. Be sure to include feedback and suggestions from people that you trust. We will discuss this important step in greater detail later on in the series.

2. List the major workplace challenges that your boss faces. Then imagine how you would deal with them. It beats complaining about him/her and you’ll be well prepared for the day when he moves on.

3. Develop a thorough understanding of your business and the industry. Anticipate and respond to changes within your organisation. Become more knowledgeable,and therefore more marketable to your company and your job market.

In his book, the 8th Habit, Stephen R. Covey said:

To know and not to do is not to know.

I’ve shared 3 tips for thriving on change to get you started.

Download the Thriving on Change Presentation in pdf format.

My Questions For You

1.How do you feel about this approach?
2.What are the barriers that you’ve experienced when seeking to thrive on change ?
3.How do you triumph over them?.

I’ve mapped out a broad framework for this Thriving on Change Series AND I’d to hear and include your views and experiences.

Let me know by leaving a comment in the comment box below, or by emailing me, using the contact form.

LET’S THRIVE ON CHANGE TOGETHER !!!

Additional Resources

Download The How To Transform Organisation Failure Into Positive Results BrightIdeas Presentation
Read Steve Pavlina’s summary of Stephen R. Covey’s Habit #1 - Be Proactive from the 7 Laws of Highly Effective People

Add to Onlywire

Popularity: 10% [?]

Every week, I write 3 original articles that help you improve your Emotional Intelligence. If you're new here, feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

License

This work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.