Change Style Preference: Strengthening Your Capacity to Lead Self & Others through Change

"Change is an essential and inevitable part of work and life, one that can be complicated and upsetting, fun and exciting, or a combination of all these things and more. There are, of course, all different types of changes that we experience. Some are big and some are small. Some are personal and some are professional or organizational. Some impact only us, while others impact many people. Some we choose deliberately, and others are given to us without much, if any, warning or preparation. And most significantly, some we consider 'good,' and others we consider 'bad' - although in many cases that assessment can itself change over time as we gain more perspective and hindsight. 'Good' changes usually comes in the form of new things we want - relationships, opportunities, experiences, accomplishments, and so on. 'Bad' change usually shows up as rejections, losses disappointments, failures, and any other number of things not going the way we think they should.

One of the things that make change so complicated emotionally is that most of us seek it and fear it at the same time. More precisely, we could say that it's our growth mindset that seeks change, and our fixed mindset that fears it. Change can be really exciting, and often gives us opportunities to learn new skills, have new experiences, and grow in all kinds of new ways. Change can also be scary, because we can't control it, it usually forces us out of our comfort zone, and it tends to involve uncertainty. Even change we consider to be positive can be scary and upsetting, especially at first (p. 185-187)."

From: Robbins, M. (2018). Bring your whole self to work: how vulnerability unlocks creativity, connection, and performance. Carlsbad, NM: Hay House, Inc.