Tag Archives: change

“But we’ve always done that way, you fool!”

02 Thursday Sep 2021

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“Once we get into routines we feel comfortable. From comfort comes confidence.“ Judith E. Glaser, author of ‘Creating WE’

Nothing confines us more than an imposed requirement to comply with ‘the system’. In many ways systems serve us, keep us safe, and provide for the creation of consistent results. A properly considered system is a valuable tool. Or we could all decide, every morning, which side of the road we feel like driving on today.

But blind obedience to a system disallows creativity, stifles innovation, and doesn’t allow for the unexpected to be properly challenged. When something arises that is a bit off-the-wall, the system might not work and our slavish adherence won’t change that. A new system is needed, or at least a modification. And don’t we fight that!

Change is the greatest constant. So fighting change is pointless. On the other hand, applying Aikido to take control of change does have a point. (Eh?)

Aikido is a martial art that doesn’t resist attack like the fist- and foot-focused arts; it takes the force used by an attacker and redirects it until we can take over control. For example, as an attacker moves towards us, instead of resisting we step back and take the impetus away from the imposed force and send it where we want it to go until such time as the threat dissipates.

In the same way we can take a proactive step back when a system is challenged, and redirect our thoughts not to resisting the stimulus, but instead to re-identifying it and its likely direction, and then deciding what to do about it so as to achieve a desirable objective. In that stimulus-response gap we can identify whether the system is wholly inappropriate or just needs tweaking.

Which leads me to the repeated realisation that principles apply. They always do. They never change, and they influence the success of a tweaked system more than any other factor.

So the order of events must be:

  1. What is the system for?
  2. What has the new challenge done to affect the system’s ability to achieve that original objective?
  3. Where in the system has that happened?
  4. Can the system change in order to achieve the same result? If so – change it. If not – design a whole new system.
  5. And if a new system needs to be designed – do we have to change the way we see the problem? Because just changing what we ‘do’ might not be enough of an answer. The ‘why we do what we do’ might be what’s changed.

In any event – don’t blindly and repeatedly apply the ‘old’ system and expect it to work. Because it won’t.

(Reposted from 2015)

Something challenging is coming. So what?

17 Sunday Jul 2016

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“Just when I found out the meaning of life – they changed it.” George Carlin

When things change, we desperately scream about unfairness, the loss of what was, the inconvenience of what is to be, and No, this is not about Brexit even though it could be, just as it applies to any change. The fact is that people are reluctant to change, so create emotional rationales for why it shouldn’t happen, even when logic suggests that some of the things we fear are not actually facts.

For example, I just heard Andrew Marr on the BBC bleat again about how money from Europe funded Universities and now that’s at risk. Well, AM, as it was OUR money before it was THEIR money to hand it out, perhaps WE can fund the Universities ourselves? Ergo – fear IS False Evidence Appearing Real – to the uninformed.

Change, ladies and gentlemen, just IS. It is the only true constant outside maths and physics.

How we respond is usually based on a couple of factors.

  1. Did WE plan it – if so, it is ‘good’.
  2. Did our bosses plan it – if so, it is ‘bad’.
  3. Can we deal with it? If so, good. If not – what the hell is wrong with you?!

If you have an unchangeable set of core values, I suggest that you can cope with absolutely anything that comes to pass. You can use your unifying principles, values, credo, mission statement (whatever you choose to call your life’s philosophy) to deal with change.

  • New job – treat it by applying your mission statement to it.
  • New relationship – treat it by applying your values to it.
  • New home – create it with your values and mission in mind.
  • Tragedy – focus on your values and beliefs and work through it.

In the end, who you are can be the one thing, the only thing you have that need not change. Hold on to what you believe, be willing to accept alternatives if you discover them; but hold on tightly to what you are, and what happens will be easier to endure. Always.

It’s a lot easier, more productive and ultimately a lot less tiresome and noisy than sheer panic.