Setbacks

I've just recovered from a rather badly timed bout of Covid. It meant changing some long term plans, an event that I'd been preparing for over the last 12 months. The way I dealt with the setback was ugly at first, but I'm out the other side now. It prompted me to reflect and to write this post.

Let's talk about setbacks.

I'm in my 6th decade as my GP likes to phrase it. In my many years of living on this planet I have taken on, faced, skipped over, denied, accepted and worked with many many setbacks. A small number of these were life changing, most of them no more than major disappointments and all of them out of my control at the time.

There is much discussion in business about how we manage change. A Google search tells me: 'Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state, ensuring that changes are implemented smoothly and effectively.'

Of course there are toolkits, methodologies, theories, text books (believe me I've probably used them all). This is an industry all of it's own. I myself am a self professed expert.

The thing is though that people deal with change all the time. Every single one of us has the capacity, experience and personality to work through and deal with setbacks, it's part of being a human. We are all (whether we think of it like that or not) really familiar with the ups and downs of the change curve. We've ridden it many times.

So, my fellow change professionals, leaders, coaches and friends, let's advocate a slightly different approach. We can use all the tools and techniques that we like: as long as we have front and centre the knowledge that everyone has the innate resources to deal with change and setbacks. It's how we support our fellow human beings in accessing their innate ability that will make the difference.