Misunderstandings About Change

Change is very applicable to leadership. Leaders regularly drive change. As they drive change, they will face resistance. There will be people that will think the leader doesn’t understand them or how they have done things. They will fight change at all cost. In most cases, it will be because they have a misunderstanding about change.

Many people have misunderstandings about change. Some people think that if they don’t want change it will just go away. Others think that change will slow down if they don’t change quickly. They think that when they stop changing their surroundings will also stop changing. There is also a wide range of other misunderstandings about change. However, they are just that, they are misunderstandings about change.

Change happens all the time. The only thing constant about change is that it is always happens. For some people, change happens so often that they call it the “flavor of the week.” With change happening so frequently, it is important to understand it and know the common misunderstandings about change so you don’t fall trap to them.

Over the next 15 posts I will write about 15 common misunderstandings that people have about change. They are:

Change at your pace
Become the victim of change
Fear the future
Be evasive
Become the change fighter
Management wants to make my life miserable
Create a stable and certain environment
Work the same as always, only harder
Be cautious and proceed with caution
Don’t change
Avoid stress by creating a low-stress environment
Move on before moving on
Hold onto nostalgia
Give control to others
Worry about the uncontrollable

With each post, I will explain into detail what each misunderstanding is and how you can get trapped believing it. I will also give you recommendations on how to avoid believing and acting on the misunderstandings.

When change happens, it is very easy to believe the misunderstandings. It is the natural tendency to reject change and fight it, but that only leads to heartache and frustration.

How Have I handled Change?

Change can be very difficult because it completely alters your life even when it is a good change. It is very easy to believe the misunderstandings. I, just like everyone else, have experienced a wide variety of changes in my life. I can’t say that I have never fallen trap to the misunderstandings. There have been times where I did not handle a change with ease. There have also been times where I successfully avoided many of the misunderstanding.

Without getting into specific examples, I have learned just as much, if not more, from the changes that were forced upon me as I did from the changes that I drove. When you are forced into a specific change, it forces you to act on your feet. You need to adapt so that you can handle it.

Your Thoughts?

What misunderstanding about change have you seen? How have those misunderstandings altered your behavior or the behavior of others? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!