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Letting go of fear and finally committing to change is a real ‘moment of truth’. If you’re at this point in the change journey, you are no longer on solid ground, you’re ready to jump.
C-suite roles don’t automatically deliver boundless confidence to make the changes that are sometimes required. At any given moment, as Maslow once said we can “step forward into growth or back into safety.” At this step in the Change Wheel, the choice is clear and binary. In fact, going back will feel impossible. We know the current situation is untenable and we can see the issue – and then need to change – much more clearly.
It’s the difference between just saying, ‘we can’t go on like this’ and actually doing something about it.
In this article, the fifth in our change series, we are at the ‘Commitment’ step in the Complete Step Change Wheel.
As a reminder, the Complete Step Change Wheel has four phases each with three steps – giving us 12 steps in the leaders’ journey. The four phases correspond to the process of human development – waking up, owning up, growing up and showing up or Discover, Decide, Develop, Deliver. Each stage builds on the last, helping you overcome obstacles to help you deliver at a new level. By understanding where you are on the wheel and what steps you need to take you can more effectively move your way through the developmental framework at greater pace.
The way forward requires commitment
At step five (commitment) we know we need to change, and we know that we are the ones to drive that change. Something about the current reality you are facing becomes insufferable. You might have been telling yourself for weeks or months that as dysfunctional as your team or organisation was, things were at least familiar, and some tweaking might make things better. But at this moment of commitment, none of those fabricated justifications matter. This must change.
Pulling away from the past is an important part of step five. There is something very liberating about commitment. There may be a moment of anxiety, but the choice feels right. We finally put aside the resistance and accept the situation honestly and bluntly.
An internal change
For this change to stick and our commitment to be real, we need to move towards something better. It can’t simply be about getting away from someone or something. That way, we just change the external circumstances, nothing changes on the inside.
Ultimately, step five is about the ‘I’ change. Something about us needs to change to make way for something new. This is not about ‘feeling the fear and doing it anyway’, it’s about feeling the fear and changing yourself.
This new way of operating is founded in level maturity. It’s not about changing our state, from say grumpy to cheerful, it’s about becoming a more emotionally intelligent human being.
The best way to make this level change is with the help of an expert coach who is familiar with the levels of human development – the work of Jean Piaget and Ken Wilbur for example. With a coach that is intimately familiar with what it takes to develop vertically – and become more mature, not just more skilled – you can make that internal change.
Take the next step in your leadership journey
If you’ve reached the point of no return – the commitment to change – you’re ready to take the next step in your leadership journey. There are clear actionable steps you can now take. The Step Change book is a great place to start your exploration of change, but if you want to make that change now, then get in touch with our coaches who can be your guide.
