Last week one of my grad students wanted specific ideas for what model or framework they can offer their clients.
The segment my student works with has experienced a whole lot of change lately, and they were looking for something that could be a real difference maker.
We weighed several options, discussing ease of use vs appropriate complexity.
That’s what we all want, right? Either a straightforward way we can help others, or that key bit of insight that if we apply correctly will make our situation work the way we hope it can. A tool to make our work, work.
There are a lot of models and frameworks we as organizational & leadership psychologists can offer that are incredibly helpful. Difference makers, even.
But as we continued to talk we recognized that right now the amount of change her clients are experiencing is not something that’s necessarily solvable with a framework.
For many of our clients, especially those in nonprofit or government sectors, the things we’ve never worried about because they’re so foundationally solid in our lives are no longer constants. For non-profits that’s things like established funding or if the mission will change. For government agencies it might even be organizational existence. These foundational constants are changing.
And the changes are coming fast. The changes we’re adjusting to today are not necessarily the same next week. Literally.
Leaders can create new structures and vision around this week’s reality only to have to adjust it again next week. That amount of instability is not something we’re psychologically equipped to handle easily. Amy Cuddy (author of Presence) posted about this recently saying that this amount of uncertainty is “taking a toll on our surge capacity - the mental and physical reserves we rely on to cope with acute stress.” (Link here)
My student and I talked about the frustration of not having an established, evidenced resource to offer. Instead of offering a tool our leader-clients can use to help their organizations, what we have is the ability to normalize the difficulty, to address that surge capacity.
We can share that you’re not alone, and emphasize that pushing people to “just focus on their goals” is not practical, helpful or realistic. What is helpful is discussing the difficulty of today’s context and incorporating it into any planning, strategy or change discussions.
What does that look like, practically speaking?
This might sound like acknowledging the most recent impactful change and its implications: the stress and confusion that it creates personally and specifically.
But - and this is important - this should not be a platitude. No statements of “change is hard, but we’ll get through it.”
Be specific, be transparent. Something like, “Here’s what I currently know, here’s what I’m concerned about and here’s what we need to figure out.”
Leaders, acknowledge the impact of stress on people’s capacity. This might sound like “This situation has got me feeling frustrated and honestly, worried. I imagine others are feeling the same. Let’s acknowledge we might not automatically be at our most innovative or generous with each other when we feel this way and yet we’re still going to try. Let’s recognize that emotions are high and that we’re on the same team. We’re going to keep returning to being as kind, focused and generative as we can.”
Sometimes as organizational & leadership psychologists we can give you established tools and methods. And sometimes what we bring isn’t a tool at all - it’s our capacity to be authentically present for the full human experience.
All my best,
Sarah
P.S. Know a leader or practitioner wrestling with constant change? Share this post to let them know they're not alone.
P.P.S. If you're wrestling with constant change, let's connect. This is the work I do with leaders and organizations daily.
Comments