Change

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Detour Ahead……Bridge Closed for Repairs

We are sorry to inform you that all north-bound flights have been delayed.

I’m afraid we’re all out of the special.  Would you care to order something else? 

Do you feel a throbbing in your temple?  Is your stomach knotting up?  When we think of the word “change,” these are the kinds of negative pictures and reactions we often imagine.  Even phrases like, “I do,” or “Congratulations – it’s a healthy baby boy [or girl]” have made many of us feel anxious at the very least, and for some of us scared to death.   

But why does change have such a bad rap?  After all, it’s a natural part of life.  We grow physically.  Our taste in clothing and décor is altered over time, as well as our preferences for friends and social activities.  Even our value systems shift as we mature.  Change is more constant than we realize, and we have all experienced it over and over again and lived to tell about it.  Even so, when we hear that change is coming, we oftentimes react with fear, anxiety, anger, and other emotions that keep us from taking it in stride.  But if change is such a normal part of the human experience, why do humans have a  negative reaction?  Negative reaction occurs because of a normal part of human physiology: the flight or fight response. 

The oldest part of the human brain (often called the reptilian brain) is the amygdala.  As the command center for the autonomic system, it has a singular purpose: to preserve the life of the human.  It regulates our body temperature, sets our heart rate, and controls our breathing.  It also prepares us to either fight with or flee from anything we see as a potential threat to our well-being.  Any time we sense danger - physical or emotional - the amygdala causes our bodies to undergo some dramatic changes: our pupils dilate and our sight sharpens, our perception of pain diminishes, our respiratory rate increases, and blood is redirected from our digestive tract into our muscles and limbs.  Meanwhile, the rational mind disengages and logic is temporarily short-circuited to enable singular focus on dealing with the danger at hand.  Within seconds, we become prepared to flee or fight both physically and mentally. 

Once the fight or flight response is engaged, we literally see the world around us through heightened fear. Our perception of reality is altered such that it causes us to react to situations in ways that we wouldn’t if the rational mind were still in control.  We may overreact, losing our temper or becoming snippy at the slightest irritant.  We may make rash decisions in order to get out of a situation rather than analyzing it to make the wisest decision.  We may check out mentally or even run away from a situation rather than dealing with it.  These are true whether we hear a snake rattle in the brush, hear a sudden crash of thunder, or experience any other change in our environment – personal or professional – that we perceive as a threat to our well-being. 

So if the fight or flight response is autonomic, then how can we stop it and avoid these negative reactions?  We can’t, and we wouldn’t want to since some situations call for a healthy dose of fear.  But we CAN avoid allowing fear to highjack us away from rational thought and behavior.  We must simply choose to do so! 

You may be thinking, “I didn’t have a choice in the changes I’m going through.  It seems everything has been decided for me.”  And that may be true.  Things happen to us all of the time over which we have absolutely no control.  We get sick, family members make decisions that affect us, the car breaks down, or people don’t come through on things.  And that’s just how life is - full of surprises, full of changes - some great…some not so great.  We can’t always control the changes that come our way, but we can always control our response to them…if we choose the rational mind over fight or flight and use our logic instead of feeding our fear.  Our best strategy for managing change is to manage our emotions.  Then we are able to manage our words and behaviors constructively. 

Effective change management is not about successfully taking control of a situation; it’s about controlling ourselves successfully as we go through it.

For more information about Ken Chapman and Associates’ Leadership Development Programs, contact Ken Chapman at 205.366.0265 or email Ken at kchapman@leaderscode.com.

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