Change

I've been experiencing a lot of change lately.

My job continues to change. The needs of my students are constantly changing. The needs of my teachers are changing. I am beginning to change personally. My professional views are starting to change. I am changing internally. I am changing externally (there are more gray hairs and wrinkles than there were a few months ago).

Change can be an extremely emotional thing. When most people are told that something needs to change they often experience an immediate physiological response driven by an emotion (anger, joy, confusion, etc.).

As a leader, change can be especially challenging because we are rarely the cause of the change but we are always the facilitator of that change.

Here are a few "leadership boundaries" I have set for myself related to change and a few questions I ask myself to help process change.

Boundary 1: Never complain down about change.

- Good leaders understand that culture means everything and should be protected at all costs. When leaders start complaining down to their employees about something it gives everyone else permission to take a negative approach in their thinking and damages your reputation as a leader.

Boundary 2: Don't let my emotions frame my response.

- We can't control when change happens, why change happens, or how change happens but we can control our response to change. When I start to feel overwhelmed as a leader that is when I need to start leaning in harder to those variables that are within my control...and my attitude is the first, and most important, of those variables.

Here are a few questions I process to help me stay within the above boundaries.

1. What is it specifically about this change that has me rattled? (Why I am I actually upset about this?)

- This question is important to me as a leader because it helps me identify if it's my pride that I am upset about or if there is something more tangible in the way.

2. What do I need to know in order to execute this change to the best of my ability?

3. What specific values of our organization (or my personal values) do I need to lean into in order to navigate this change successfully?

At the end of the day, change will eventually occur no matter how hard I work to prevent it. I want to make sure I am a leader who does not let change take power over me but that I remain a leader who navigates change with authority over it.

The best leaders accept change, embrace what change can mean, and use it to propel their organizations forward.