imapMyTeam Blog

Getting from One Trapeze to Another

It’s not so much that we’re afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it’s that place between that we fear. It is like being between two trapezes. It’s like Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There’s nothing to hold onto. 
--- Marilyn Ferguson, American Futurist

Many change efforts fail because people focus on the situational business issues of the change and forget to manage the strong behavioral issues that emerge due to the change. There is a lot of behavioral angst involved in change because change means loss. That is why navigating the transition is the hardest part.

Before you begin something new you have to end what used to be. Before we learn a new way, we need to unlearn the old way. If we are flattening the organization the loss could be your next promotion. You could be mourning the loss of friends if we have to downsize. If we are reorganizing, relationships are jumbled; people you used to trust and rely on may not work with you any longer.

Changes of any sort, even those fully justified by economics, market conditions and the like, finally succeed, or fail on the basis of whether the people affected do something differently.

How do you let go of the old way; navigate the tricky time between the old trapeze to the new trapeze, and come out happily doing the new?

imapMyTeam.com supports you each step of the way in these transitions.

To communicate benefits of the change effectively there is the‘Strategies to Properly Position Change’ report. That report helps you frame your conversation with others in a way that the benefit of the transition to the new is made in a way that is appealing.

To help you manage some of the loss change triggers you need to concern yourself with your motivational needs. The ‘Embrace Change’report helps you understand where you may feel uncomfortable with moving from old to the new. It can help you communicate that to others.

Along the transition journey you are bound to feel stress. All change, no matter how well planned creates unintended consequences and stress is primary among those consequences. Your stress is not so much a function of the events, but a function of the view you take of the events. The ‘When Change Stresses You’ report will help you to understand how your behavior is likely to change when the transition is out of sync with your view. It also gives you a practical approach to counteract that stress so you can get back on track.

imapMyTeam and these three essential reports go a long way to manage key behavioral aspects of changing trapezes.