Want change? I do if it’s considered beneficial to my goals and desires. My hunch is that you do too. We all want change that leads to different and more positive ways of experiencing life –personally or professionally, in order to get stronger results.

Then why are some changes so hard to accomplish? For example, a recent medical study showed that only one in seven heart-patients was able to change a life-style when told by doctors that they were in danger of dying without change (diet, exercise, smoking). If any change were to stick, you’d think it would be this one, and yet it didn’t – not for everyone.  Why not?  And, hold on – most people gain back 110% of what they lose when on a diet.  That’s depressing!  When desired changes are challenging to accomplish, there seems to be a gap between what we say we really want and the actions we take to get there.  Let’s call it the “wanting/doing” gap.

I’m drawn to what Kegan and Lahey (Immunity to Change, 2009) call our natural immunity to change.  They say we all have this protective immunity system working deep within each of us, keeping us in a status quo, auto-pilot way of being.  A way that’s tightly connected to our emotions – most specifically our anxieties.  Kegan and Lahey say that the way to break the immunity to change is though transformations in our thinking rather than following a step-by-step, recipe method.  It’s making an adaptive change rather than a technical one.

A technical change, while not necessarily easy, nor the results insignificant, has a set of well practiced and proven steps, that while they may be complicated, can be learned.  Think about how you learned to read, drive a car or use your computer.

Adaptive changes – those that leaders tend to confront on a daily basis, can only be met by transforming your current mindset and advancing your level of mental complexity.

Let’s see how this works in your own life.  First, think about a change you earnestly want to make and yet have been unable to accomplish – a change that you would rate as “very important” or “highly important”.  Next, spend time considering ways you may actually be working against the very change you want.  This helps surface hidden, competing commitments, connected to worries that may be pulling you away from the actual change you said you really wanted.

For example:  You say, “I’m committed to delegating more.” And yet you tend to make all the important decisions yourself because deep down you may be concerned that no one else will do the job as well as you.  It’s possible that a competing commitment for you is to always be the one that comes up with the best answers.  Or, maybe you’re concerned that if you don’t make the important decisions you’ll not be seen as a valuable leader and lose your edge and perhaps your job.

There’s much more to the process of examining our immunity to change, something we spend significant time with in our Powerful Coaching Seminar.  For now, it’s enough to say that based on your own way of thinking – your current mindset and assumptions (a.k.a. Big Assumptions), you may actually be holding yourself captive  – keeping yourself from the very change you want.  As you begin to test out your Big Assumptions to see if they are actually true, which many times they are not, you discover new ways of being and doing that lead you to what you really want.  You begin the process of making an adaptive change and closing your wanting/doing gap. Now, that’s exciting!

We’re going to talk more about our immunity to change in upcoming blogs this month.  For now, what’s speaking the loudest to you about this thing called change – especially when it’s hard to accomplish?

By Vicky Dearing
Coaching For Results Global