Change—a little word so frequently used but one with so many possible meanings. Take a moment and complete the following sentence:
I understand the word “change” to mean _______________________.
Most people who are asked about their definition of change easily identify one central idea, that of something being different. Was that true for you? Let’s look at how one dictionary defines change.
There are many important distinctions that point to the great complexity of this little word “change.” Notice the variations and subtleties to the multiple meanings of the word. Sometimes the change process involves an actual alteration of the original design or situation while retaining some of the original essence. Other times, there is a greater variation from the original to a distinctly different adaptation and/or transformation. Clearly, the process of change can be one of very simple means or one that might be more complex, overwhelming, or even a bit frightening.
One thing is certain, no matter how complex the change, it is the ability to move beyond our feelings and welcome the possibilities that allow for growth from these opportunities. The tendency, when change occurs, can be to seek the security and safety of the way things used to be. In fact, we often prefer to keep things the same rather than look for what might be different.
Think for a moment about your own experiences with change. Some were probably so smooth and easily accomplished that you barely noticed the process at all. Others may have been fraught with complexities and challenges of which you were all too aware. As you review these changes, select one of your personal experiences and answer the following questions:
• What was a time that you experienced an easy, seamless change in your life?
• Who were the people affected by and involved in this process?
• How did you and they talk about this change?
• Identify a time when you experienced a more complex and difficult
? change. Describe that time in detail.
• What had you expected to have happen? What were the contradictions
? between your expectations and what actually occurred?
• What were your feelings at that time?
• Who were the people affected by and involved in this process?
• What kinds of conversation did you have with the people involved?
Keep thinking about these changes and the conversations you had with others about them as you read on in this chapter. Notice how the things that we discuss apply to your experiences. Stay curious about new ways to approach the changes that you encounter each day.
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Chapter 5
Energizing Conversations that Create Opportunities for Change
Some time ago there was an anthropologist who lived for a long while with
a North American tribe. It was a small group of about the size of twenty
to forty . . . . Now from time to time that tribe met like this in a circle.
They just talked and talked and talked, apparently with no purpose. They
made no decisions. There was no leader. And everyone could participate.
There may have been wise men or wise women who were listened to a bit
more—the older ones—but everybody could talk. The meeting went on
until it finally seemed to stop for no reason at all and the group dispersed.
Yet after that everyone seemed to know what to do, because they understood
each other so well.
—David Bohm
Change: verb, Middle English, thirteenth century
1. to make different
2. to give a different position, course, or direction
3. to make a shift from one to another
4. to undergo a modification of
5. to put fresh clothes or covering on
Intransitive tense: to undergo transformation, transition, or substitution.