Monday, August 18, 2014

MAKING CHANGE

Changing ingrained habits is extremely difficult. This is true even when that change is vital for survival. In fact, according to groundbreaking research by Alan Deutschman, only 1 in 9 people will actually make a sustainable lifestyle change—even if they are told that they must Change or Die (the title of his excellent book). Deutschman discovered that people do not respond in any lasting way to the 3 “Fs” (Fear, Force or Facts), so change efforts based on those are not going to work well.

However, better than 90% of Deutschman’s subjects successfully made long-term changes when they followed the three “Rs” (Reframe, Relate, Repeat). My colleagues and I were thrilled to discover Deutschman’s work because his three “Rs” are contained within the six steps of The Coreporation's CHANGE process—and show in part why we have been so successful in helping clients make lasting changes in life, relationships and work. 

The Coreporation's pragmatic, easy-to-follow CHANGE process is outlined in the image below. These six steps reflect the 5 Elements of Success and Synergy, which provide a holistic and systemic context for Deutschman’s recommended three “R” steps in Change or Die.



Step 1. Reset (Core): When you recognize things are not working well: stop, pause, and get quiet internally. Don’t push yourself to keep going. Instead, become more effective, productive and creative by taking a vital moment to self-reference before starting over. This is a bit like refreshing, restarting or rebooting your computer.

Step 2. Reframe (Vision): Rethink the situation; envision a different future; be inspired with hope; know that change and happiness are possible. Ask pragmatic questions (what is working well, what is not, and why) so you can change the consciousness that created this problem in the first place. 

Step 3. Re-prioritize (Mission): With this new mental framework, set a strong intention, clarify your priorities, set goals and a clear direction, and then move into action. This revitalization will help you overcome old obstacles as you move decisively into creating the new future you desire. 

Step 4. Relate (Interactions): Develop healthy relationships with people who will help you sustain hope, energy, and action. Let go of, or strongly boundary, those relationships that are less healthy and happy for you. Use your emotional GPS to navigate your way and make course corrections. 

Step 5. Repeat (Structure): Over time, steadily build more functional habits and skills; keep at it until these changes become your new reality. Implement your learning and new skills by putting them into daily practice so you can grow gradually into all the greatness of which you’re capable.  

Step 6. Reform (Synergy): When these 5 steps connect, you will have an increased ability to powerfully re-form yourself from the inside out. This is how the change you originally desired becomes thoroughly integrated into your daily life and work until you have a whole new way of being.  Because you determined to reclaim your personal power and responsibility, you will experience a steady evolution that generates more energy, a greater experience of ease, and perhaps even a positive revolution (miracle) in your life. 

The Coreporation's CHANGE process is built on Sharon Seivert's book, The Balancing Act. The Balancing Act is a very familiar, daily, ongoing dance for most people, in which they make constant adjustments in response to the many challenges life throws their way.

This CHANGE process teaches you how best to adapt to changing circumstances: it stimulates your intuition and creative problem-solving capabilities, improves your resilience, and increases your practical knowledge, energy and excitement as you achieve more and more of your goals. Furthermore, this incremental growth process of balancing and counterbalancing allows you to turn insights and small successes over time into a growing conviction that you have everything you need to realize your objectives. 

The Balancing Act's Change process contains not only Deutschman’s three “Rs” for successful personal change, but also some clues about how to create lasting change in organizations. This formula outlines the classic four-part PDCA and Action-Learning cycles used in businesses for total quality improvement. By adding the central Core element at the beginning of these four steps and Synergy at the end, this cycle is transformed into an even more effective upward spiral, i.e., (Be) -  Plan/Think - Do/Act - Check/Reflect - Implement/Have - (Transform). 

And lastly, here's an acronym that will make The Coreporation's CHANGE formula very easy for you to remember: 

CHANGE…
  • Comes from Centering in your Core
  • Holds your Hopes and choice to be Happy
  • Always moves you into Action
  • Navigates to success via emotional GPS
  • Grows your capacity for Greater…
  • Ease, Energy, and ongoing Evolution.

CHANGE =  Center + Hope + Act + Navigate + Grow + Evolve