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Practice Adapting to Change

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Put It All Together

You are going to start thinking about your own New Beginnings and what those might look like.  By working with a current, change event you listed earlier in Module 3- The Change, you are going to develop a “Thriving through Change” action plan.  We want you to share this information with one person after you’ve completed it, someone who can support you and help you continue on with your Adapting to Change journey, so it is important you complete this activity thoroughly.

Activity:  A New Beginning

The Details Section

  1. The Change Event
  2. The Phase of Change (include key action item)
  3. Understand the End Game
  1. Refer back to the change event list you came up within Module 3- The Change activity. From that list, chose an event and write it next to Change Event on the activity sheet.
  2. Next, determine which phase of change you will focus on and write down the key action you will do for that phase. For example, if you are in a Change phase you can think of positive ways to react to change.  Or, if in a Turning Point phase you might want to write down how you will manage your self-talk or adopt a new behavior.

Note: This is the perfect time to conduct some review of the course. Ask yourself several recall questions about The Change phase, The Ending, and so on.  For example: What is the main focus of each phase? Why are self-talk and emotions so important? How are surviving and thriving different? Continue creating your own questions until you feel you have a firm understanding of the four phases and their key elements.

  1. Clearly know where you are going to keep motivated and write it next to Understand the End Game. We talked about this in Module 1. Remember the marathon example? If not, go back and review.

This first section was all about what you were going to focus on during your plan; which event, what phase, where are you headed.  Now you need to be clear about what you know and what you need to know so you can move forward in Taking Ownership.

Activity: A New Beginning (continued)

Take Ownership

  1. What do you know? 
  2. What information do you need?
  3. Who do you need to talk with?
  4. What tools and resources do you need?
  5. How can you advocate for yourself in your situation?

As we’ve discussed, asking questions during The Turning Point phase is essential to successfully Adapting to Change. The answers you get are essential to your growth and development because there are elements of every change event where we can learn to do better next time. It has nothing to do with perfectionism, it’s about when we know better we do better.

1-5. Answer the questions in the Take Ownership section as specifically as possible. Look back at the Thriving Through Change model in Module 5 for reference.

Activity: A New Beginning (continued)

The Expectations

  1. As a result of this activity, list how you will be “Thriving through Change” by:
  • I will Start: _____________        Effective Date of Change:
  • I will Stop: _____________        Effective Date of Change:
  • I will Continue _____________        Effective Date of Change:
  1. You will actively take ownership of your change event by doing what two things:
  2. What two action items will help you be of service to others­­

Consider your End Game and how you will Take Ownership of your Thriving Through Change process.

  1. There are behaviors you have identified early on in your Modules. Think about how each of those actions have held you back or propelled you forward. Some of these behaviors you’ll want to Stop because they aren’t supporting your goals. Those actions that propel you forward you’ll Continue. There will also be actions you’ll want to Start doing because they’ll fill in the gap of your progress or without them you’ll only get so far to your goal. Set yourself up for success by choosing one behavior you will Start, Stop, and Continue and list their Effective Change Dates on your sheet.

Ideally, the dates should be about 15 to 30 days out so you have time to practice the behaviors in several different situations if necessary.

You want to commit to these dates on your action plan so appropriate goal setting is important.  Some behaviors will be easier to change than others and require less energy and focus, but you still want to give yourself adequate time for the Turning Point phase.  Remember, this phase is where we need to give ourselves permission to have successful failures.

By writing committed dates you are also informing your support network of what you will Start, Stop, and Continue. This will be something observable to them so they might question what’s going on. In order to truly support you, they need to be in the know.

Caution, you also want to be prepared for changes that have a short timeline. For example, you are seeing a specialist in 2-weeks and will immediately STOP salt intake to influence bloodwork results. Whether there is time to adapt or not, the “Thriving through Change” model will help you be successful in the workplace.

  1. With the information gathered in the Take Ownership section, select two actions you will follow through with, that will impact future change events and move you forward to a New Beginning.

List two action items that will allow you to be more of service to your support network.

Key Takeaways

This module takes you through a 3-part activity to determine the details of your change, prompts you to take ownership of the change, and sets your expectations for the future.

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