3 Things You Must Do To Navigate Change…

Things change over time. A very basic truth, but very hard to navigate. I came across these funny terms that have quickly changed over time.

Computer terms that once had another meaning:

• A window was something you hated to clean.
• A ram was the cousin of a goat.
• Meg was the name of someone’s girlfriend.
• A gig was a job for the nights.
• An application was for employment.
• A program was a TV show.
• A cursor used profanity.
• A keyboard was a piano.
• Memory was something that you lost with age.
• A CD was a bank account.
• Compress was something you did to the garbage, not something you did to a file.
• If you unzipped anything in public, you’d be in jail for awhile.
• Log on was adding wood to the fire.
• Hard drive was a long trip on the road.
• A mouse pad was where a mouse lived.
• A backup happened to your commode.
• Cut you did with a pocket knife.
• Paste you did with glue.
• A web was a spider’s home.
• And a virus was the flu.

The truth is, everything changes over time. And the longer time passes, the more things are subject to change. Your organization will change over time. What once worked, will now not. Culture changes. Market conditions change. People change. Wants change. Needs change. Leadership expert and author John P. Kotter said, “The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades.”  Sometimes trying to score points is like aiming at a moving target. You can be angry about the change, or you can adapt to the change–the choice is yours.  But those who can successfully navigate change are those who will become invaluable in the long run. Your speed of adapting to change will determine the your rate of success.

In 1906 American Football changed forever. The forward pass was legalized but no one adopted this new strategy. They clung to their traditional methods of running and kicking. However St. Louis University practiced the new play and implemented it that season. They outscored their opponents 402 to 11 that year and changed the game ever since. Instead of resisting the new rule, they adapted their game play and it caused them to win big.

If you are going to navigate change and keep scoring points even with a moving target you need to do these three things:

1) Stay Current

My good friend Chris Page once said, “If you don’t update you’ll outdate.” I couldn’t agree more. If you don’t stay in the stream of progress you’ll dissipate in a puddle of decay. You have to keep a steady pace into the future. In the early 2000’s Blockbuster Video had the opportunity to buy out Netflix for just 50 million dollars. This was small change for the 5.9 billion dollar empire, but they refused to do it believing there wasn’t a market for internet-based video. Not long after, Blockbuster ended up declaring  bankruptcy when Netflix was working towards it’s now 32.9 billion dollar climb. French Poet Victor Hugo said, “The future has several names. For the weak, it is impossible. For the fainthearted, it is unknown, but for the valiant, it is ideal.”

2) Stay Cultivated

American futurist and writer Alvin Toffler said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” We must keep ourselves fresh if we are going to be on point. Just as an athlete has to keep training in the offseason as to stay agile, we too, must remain flexible. We have to develop our ability to adjust to the ever-changing variables of success. Cultivate an endurance-mindset that allows you to stay patient through the challenges. Remember the old statement: Trouble is inevitable, but misery is optional. Choose to stay committed even if you have to adjust your method. Gymnast Dan Millman said, “The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

3) Stay Curious

The famous artist Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” He reinforced this truth when he remarked, “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” What Picasso knew and almost all highly successful people know is that you must never lose your child-like curiosity. The moment you stop growing is the moment you start dying. When we are young we have a student-like mindset, always eager to learn something new. But as we grow older we turn more into a critic, always cynical about what we don’t know. Never allow the critic in you to override the student. Keep asking questions and pursuing the future. Walt Disney said, “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”