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Spend Energy on Solutions

April 10, 2000

"Sometimes change creates a culture of complaint.  People get mad at the situation.  They gripe.  They burn up precious energy on frustration and angry feelings.  Some play 'poor me,' whine about being a victim, and dwell on what they've lost.  They wallow around in wishful thinking, and long for a return of the 'good old days.'  Still others waste themselves on worry - about the future, what they might lose, or what all could go wrong.

None of this negative thinking improves a thing.

Change makes a lot of new demands on people, leaving you little time or energy to spare.  So instead of getting upset and wasting these precious resources, spend them on solving the new problems.

Buckle down.  Channel your thoughts and efforts along productive lines.  Get busy instead of getting mad.  Crowd out unpleasant emotions by filling your mind with a search for solutions.

Action is the better therapy than tears.  And doing your part to help the organization adjust will lower your level of emotional stress a lot better than resisting the changes ever would.

Redirect grief, anger, or worry into a passionate pursuit of results.  Work from the heart, and you heal the spirit.  Put fire into your job habits, and you burn off worry and anger.

Spend your energy and time on finding solutions to the problems of change.  You can help shape the culture into an energy-efficient system (Pritchett, 1993, p. 15)."

Reference:  Pritchett, P. (1993).  Culture Shift.  Dallas: Pritchett & Associates, Inc.

How do you handle change?

Culture Shift is available on loan at the OSU Leadership Center.  A listing of all the Leadership Center's resources is available on our website www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~leaders

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Created: 2009-01-02, Updated: 2009-01-12