Last week, I delivered a webinar on Leading Through Change and in this season of Thanksgiving I wondered how many people are going through significant change in their personal or professional life? It seems the Lord keeps bringing people in my life that are going through change at work and at home. I know I have been through a tremendous amount in the last three years and shared about my journey on my personal facebook a few days ago.

To help you navigate change professionally, here is John. P. Kotter’s Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change from his book Leading Change.

  1. Establishing a Sense of Urgency – Don’t delay, identity crises and opportunities ahead
  2. Creating the Guiding Coalition – Assemble your posse of influencers to lead change
  3. Developing a Vision and Strategy – You won’t know where you’re going without a map
  4. Communicating the Change Vision – Get your posse to be the communication rockstars
  5. Empowering Broad-Based Action – Get rid of obstacles and encourage risk taking
  6. Generating Short-Term Wins – Celebrate performance for the wins and recognize them
  7. Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change – Use credibility to change processes
  8. Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture – Improve leadership, behavior & success

There can be emotional barriers in dealing with change: stress, confusion, anxiety, fear, frustration along with hope, happiness, and excitement. A mental health care group on Linkedin shared a post about how to instantly feel better. Here are their suggestions: If you are angry – sing, burned out – walk, overthinking – write, anxious – breathe, stressed – exercise, sad – gratitude, lazy – cold shower, impatient – reflect on progress.

Align yourself with people in your organization and life that enrich your spirit, give you encouragement, hold you accountable and inspire you to go to the next level. My hope is that you all will be inspired in this season of Thanksgiving to count your blessings, help yourself to make positive, purposeful changes to improve your work and home life. YOU GOT THIS!

Blessings,
Merikay