by Jamar Wright – Mind Food International
[KINGSTON, Jamaica] – Author and commentator Malcom Muggeridge once told a story of how to boil a frog. He mentioned that if you toss a frog into a pot of boiling water, the frog will feel the heat and will immediately leap out. However, if you should place that same frog into a pot of cold water, and gradually turn up the heat. The frog will not notice the change in the temperature of the water. He will eventually stay there and boil to death. What is true of the frog is also true of human beings. Especially in dealing with change.
If change is sudden and abrupt, we leap out of it but if change is slow and gradual we adopt to it. Yet change is something none of us can avoid, life is always moving forward and nothing remains the same. In 2020 many of us included myself was blindsided by the pandemic, we didn’t see the storm cloud coming, but a storm was brewing on the horizon and a mighty wind of change was accompanying it.
When COVID 19 hit the change was sudden, swift and abrupt. Life we knew as usual was changed forever. Like the frog who was tossed into the pot of hot water and hopped out immediately, the world was thrown into the heat of the pandemic. However, unlike the frog who could opt out, we could not escape this sudden burst of changes. Leaders were scrambling to get a hold of this situation at hand. The sky was falling rapidly. Two third of the world’s economy was wiped out within six weeks. It was the worst financial crisis since the great depression for a period. The worst social upheaval with tensions high from racial and social injustices being watched on tv and social media. It was the first pandemic since the yellow flu.
Pandemic Brought Significant change
Schools, businesses, clubs and every institution had to change their business model. Those who didn’t change was washed away by the tsunami of change. One of the many tragedies of life is that only few percentage of the world’s population ever respond to change effectively. Many people succumb to change and become a victim of it. Some people refuse to adjust, and others rather died before they do change. But why do leaders and people resist change?
- Too much uncertainty- People will resist change where there is little to no information regarding the changes that are coming, it creates conspiracy and doubt. No one likes to venture into the unknown blindly.
- Losses- Whenever there are changes there are usually losses and people fear losses. The losses of jobs, status, love ones and financial earning.
- Fear of failure – fear of the unknow we don’t know what is coming, will it severely affect us? What will happen to my family, my job and finances.
- Culture of mistrust and corruption- For change to be effective and without resistance there must be trust among the leaders. When there is mistrust and corruption, individuals take it as a scam trying to lower them to more losses and destruction
Why is change so hard?
There are several other reasons why people resist changes yet there is nothing on earth as permanent as change. But how can leaders guide their organizations, clubs, churches, countries or any other institutions through change. During change a leader should provide
- Calm- Leader should provide a state of calmness during the turbulence of change, during change people are usually edgy and fearful.
- Certainty- Leaders should help to reduce uncertainty by providing information, truth and providing the right perspectives. In doing so you are holding their hands and walking them through the unknown.
- Positive action- lead by example through positive actions and others will emulate you.
- Hope- during times of negative changes people lose hope and become discouraged. However as a leader you should help to provide hope and encouragement. People need a light during dark moments and by helping to shed a ray of hope you bring peace and encouragement to the hopeless.
You cannot have progress without change and not all changes are bad. But regardless life is always shifting and your life is always in transition nothing on earth remain the same. As Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” In other words, the river changes every second and so does the man or woman who steps in it. Embrace change, become an agent of change and remember there is an opportunity in every change if we have the right perspective to see it.
