When is Change Really Change?

Fall is upon us and with it comes the change in weather, the leaves turning and falling away, and the gradual decline in temperatures.  Fall is a period of transition and while some are eager for the change (Fall happens to be my favorite season), others dread its signal that Winter will soon be upon us.  Change is an inevitable fact of life.

Just over the last week, I have experienced an extraordinary amount of “change” in my personal and professional life.  With this convergence of some very significant situations that will affect my family and myself immediately and over the rest of our lives, I began to reflect upon when that “change” actually occurred.  It turns out, that several of the situations now present to me have in fact been in motion for months and in one case, for years.  It was only just within the last week that awareness of the realities of these events became known and recognized.  So when does change actually become change?  In other words, were these in fact changes when they first occurred without my awareness of them, or did they become change at the point that I recognized their reality?  Even more importantly, at what point did it really matter?  An even deeper question I’ve pondered is whether or not their reality is fact, perception, or some combination.  It’s like that age-old question:  if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around, does it make a sound?

Change is fundamentally an experience, not an event.  Because change is a constant in every aspect of our universe, it is the experience of that change filtered through our perceptions and attitudes that determines its nature, not the change itself.  Here is a basic fact: different people can reach very different conclusions yet experience the same event.  A situation for one person may not even rise to their awareness while another may view it as catastrophic.  I often use this simple example.  Most of us have witnessed an auto accident or perhaps had the unfortunate experience of being in one.  The attending officer must gather statements from as many people as possible in order to piece together a conclusion on what happened.  Keep in mind that each witness or victim observed the same event, yet the conclusions could be as unique and different as each and every individual present.  How can so many people have witnessed the same thing yet come to a very different set of observables and had a different experience?  It’s all in perception; perception shaped by attitudes, experiences, emotional state, and a myriad of many other factors.  So how does all this relate to change?

Change doesn’t happen to us, it’s in how we choose to perceive, interpret, and respond, that determines if an event becomes a moment of change in our lives or is simply another event.  When you come to understand that the reality of change is a decision that you control, it can create a much broader range of possibilities; you suddenly have options!  I’ve often marveled at people who are seemingly standing in the center of a cyclone yet seem unmoved and calm as if the sky is blue, birds are singing, and the sun is warming their skin.  You wonder how in the world such peace and calm can be found in the midst of so much turmoil.  But what may seem as chaos and gloom to one person is relatively harmless to another. 

Can change then be judged by some measure of magnitude?  Here again, the event is in the eyes of the beholder.  While a majority of people might conclude that a significant change has happened, it doesn’t mean consensus; there might still be others that look upon the event and yawn.  So magnitude is also a relative measure and not a reliable indicator of the significance of an event.

A great reflection to use when you’re facing into a moment of change then is to shift your perspective.  Look at others who may be directly involved and those that are on the periphery.  How are they interpreting the experience and what reaction(s) are they having?  Assume for the moment that their perspective is correct and yours is misguided.  Allow yourself to experience the event as if you were literally in their shoes.  Take the role of the traffic officer collecting witness statements, and then with that additional information, draw your own conclusion.  Taking the time to reflect before acting may just save you time and frustration while allowing you to be more circumspect in judging the situation.

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action and connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Learn more by visiting www.connect2action.com.