Spanish
In a complex business environment where survival depends on the ability to adapt and innovate, redesigning organizations becomes a necessity. But what about people, how can we redirect our career and adapt to these new times?
In the latest edition of the initiative ‘ Prepárate 2013’, held in Madrid, an event on how to be prepared and ready for change, the coach Beatriz Rodríguez de la Flor gave us the tools to let us individually work through this reconstruction in her presentation, ‘Redesign Yourself: Managing Change’.
For the coach, the key to successful change management lies in working on the ‘Triple A rule’: acceptance, adaptation and anticipation. Let’s look further into these three key elements in the change process.
Emotional acceptance
The simple idea of change is often accompanied by a feeling of fear and resistance. We realize that we will leave behind the comfort we’re accustomed to in order to enter unknown territory. Accepting uncertainty and managing the emotions revolving around that fear is the first step we must take in the change process we are going to tackle.
Adaptation
Beatriz Rodríguez de la Flor pointed out how people define themselves is often based on their training and the work they do. That’s why she feels it’s crucial to work on deconstructing the identity itself in order to understand what personal meaning does a task we do on the job have for us, and ultimately answer the question: what does it mean to be who I am? Attaining deep knowledge of ourselves is the key to redesigning our careers, and through it we can tailor our capabilities and skills to the new task we want to take on.
Anticipation
Once we’ve mastered fear and become aware of our abilities, the next step is to understand the environment, analyze it and interact with it to anticipate the changes that may occur.
In the reorientation or redesign process, Rodriguez de La Flor points out it is essential to interact with this changing environment and create synergies that will allow us to adapt to the new reality.
Answering questions—what has changed and how, why has it changed, and above all what can change—will help us understand the structure of change. Only knowing the environment isn’t enough for working towards redirecting our career. To advance along the path we are going to take, we must know what resources we have for confronting the next challenges and the ones we don’t have as yet, and what we need for these, as well as what we will be forced to give up.
Taking on the need for change is complicated because it involves new challenges and learning processes, for this we need time, patience and thorough understanding of ourselves. However, Rodriguez de La Flor reminds us, “We must get behind the wheel of change, it’s hard, but it can be done.”
Featured image by Thephotographymuse (modified)
By Irene Giménez, Content Management Specialist
