life is full of changes

so i started my day with a great webinar on change manangement - how to be an effective change leader when the people around you don't want to change.  it was part of the UK's NHS Change Day, hosted by helen bevan.  on the lighter side of things, i'm still adjusting to a recent change - the time change! i spent all of yesterday running perpetually late (which will be the focus of a future blog post...). but on a more meaningful front, there were some great insights from the webinar:

• rocking the boat (ie trying to make changes) can be fundamentally disempowering, as it makes us stand out, be different, not fit in - sometimes the urge to conform is stronger than the desire to make something change
• when we're frustrated by the inability to effect change, we risk becoming "radical" or "self-defeating" in the way we challenge the status quo (oh, i've been there before...)

so, how to be effective and successful in rocking the boat?  some suggestions from the webinar included:

• staying true to your values and helping others identify how their environment is - or isn't - aligned to their values
• have a strong sense of self-efficacy - in other words, know that you can make change happen
• be action-oriented, even if it's small - knowing "what" to do, and not just "why" to do it - and be specific!
• join forces with others - create a sense of "us" (but not an "us" and a "them", just an "us") and build a shared purpose

a couple of quotes that really resonated for me:

"if you want to go fast, go alone. if you want to go far, go together." - attributed to al gore (modification of an african proverb)

"there's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self." - aldous huxley

would love to hear what you think about change - can we "make" others change, or is it about inspiring and motivating? how is change an individual but also collective experience?