UNIVERSAL MODEL OF CHANGE

Change is the only constant thing in our lives. You may have noticed that life is full of ups and downs, and you may have wondered, why is this happening to me, again? But once you understand the Universal Model of Change you can make going through change less stressful.

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often”

Winston Churchill, Former British Prime Minister

This Universal Model of Change gives us a great insight into the process that we experience when we make significant change in our lives, and it can help explain why this process is often accompanied by emotional turmoil and confusion.  Most importantly, it helps reveal what you can do to recognise the development and accelerate the change. But let me be clear. You cannot avoid these inevitable cycles of change. They will happen, whether you want them too or not!

The Universal Model of change allows you to identify these rhythms of life earlier and faster therefore giving you the opportunity to help yourself. There is still likely to be emotional pain, but you can grow with the process more easily.

Position A can be referred to as ‘business as usual’, it’s the status quo where life is just happening, and everything seem to be running along fine. We are here in our comfort zone, experiencing the usual ups and downs of life.

Position A is where we feel we are in a safe, content, and comfortable environment, surrounding ourselves with people whom we feel able to explore ideas and concepts. Here we can think outside the box, it’s safe to manifest, to create, and to dream.

THE JOURNEY FROM A TO B

Point B is not so much a specific day or event, it is a period in time when everything that came easy and effortless, starts to feel uncomfortable, daunting, difficult, and demanding. It is now that your unconscious mind is reminding you, that ignoring what is happening around you is not working anymore.

POSITION B – EXPECT A GENTLE NUDGE FROM YOUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND

THE JOURNEY FROM B TO C

Many of us are pretty resilient and have experienced hard times before. We tend to fall back on our existing strategies, those which have served us before. However, this time they are short-term, unsustainable, or just not working anymore. At this point both business and everyday life can feel very overwhelming, and we may think and feel that ‘something is just not right, that you’re on the wrong path, but don’t know how or why you have reached this point.

The closer we get to Position C, our emotions become more intense, and we can feel confused. The seeds of discontent begin to grow. Situations become unmanageable and we find ourselves embracing a daily combination of negative emotions, such as:

  • Fear – ‘What is happening with me?’
  • Inexperience – ‘Why can’t have this right now.’
  • Frustration ‘I can’t believe that this is happening.’
  • Anger – ‘[Raised voices]’
  • Confusion – ‘I don’t understand why…’
  • Disappointment – ‘I should be able to do this’
  • Confusion/Doubt – ‘I am a good person?! Am I doing the right thing?’
  • Regret – ‘I should have listened to…’
  • Sadness – ‘Why me? Why now? [upset state]

The list continues as you hit rock bottom.

POSITION C – HITTING ROCK BOTTOM

“The unconscious mind of man sees correctly even when conscious reason is blind and impotent.”

Carl Jung – psychiatrist and psychoanalyst

It is here that we feel at our lowest, is life failing us? Am I failing at life? Many of us attempt to deal with this most difficult stage by falling back on our outdated coping strategies, rationalising the whys, and going round in circles. Finger pointing and blaming others is just prolonging this experience and wasting your time (in C), it is time to accept that where you were before is no longer an option. Yes, it can be an exhausting and very frustrating. This can be a crossroads in many people’s lives, and can be the cause of illness, burnout, anxiety, depressive thought patterns, fear, and sadness. You can certainly feel this way despite outward appearances of success, and if you ignore this stage for too long, it can even manifest as a chronic illness. This is also the point that people seek out coaches and therapists, making it all the more difficult for the professional coach, this is not a quick fix, but there is a way out.

As an NLP Coach you will know how to conduct your sessions and figure our quite quickly where your client is in the process. The role of the coach here is to provide a safe space, by helping the client gain perspective to enable them to navigate this uncertain territory of self. You will guide them to building a new map.

Synchronicities occur that support us on this new pathway, one of these occurrences maybe discovering the right coach, who will lead and accelerate the client through this transitional period.

If you’re reading this and feel you are spiralling from B to C, don’t wait until you hit ‘rock bottom’.

“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life”

J.K. Rowling, Author of Harry Potter Series

THE JOURNEY FROM C TO D: ON THE UP

The point of change begins here; you’ll have an increased awareness and a new plan of action. If you’ve hired a coach you’ll have tasks and deadlines to complete, you’ll feel motivated and inspired to take the progressive steps towards your new goals and imagined future. You now have an amazing opportunity for personal and professional growth, and by surrounding yourself with the right people and resources you will enjoy the journey back towards D.

This will take work, but a new sense of purpose will help catapult you in the right direction. Investment and time will be necessary to accelerate this phase, especially in business as this can be crucial to personal and financial return of investment for all your efforts.

POSITION D – A NEW SELF EMERGES

You have put in the hard work and have developed and expanded your comfort zones. You have overcome the doubt, have cleared your negative thinking patterns, developed new strategies, and are moving forward with confidence and commitment. Embracing a new energy, you’ll be once again able to visualise innovative ideas and possibilities.

You will remain here until…

POSITION A* ‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’
THE STATUS QUO – WHERE LIFE IS JUST HAPPENING

How a Business Coach can help you navigate the Universal Model Of Change.

Businesses are often in a state of flux. Market conditions can change suddenly, personnel change roles, or people leave, and new people come on board.

The first thing that a Business Coach needs to do is to assess where on the change curve is the business. And where are the different departments or people on the change cure too. You can do this by assessing the level of clarity that people have with what is happening around them, and by looking at the actions that they are taking in comparison to how they see the environment. It is important to remember that the vertical scale on the change model is about psychological effectiveness. What this means is how well does your understanding of the world that you are in match with how the world really is. The initial assessment is about sensing this within an organisation to ensure that you place the components of the organisation accurately on the change curve.

What a Business Coach would do next is assess where point D is. Do the people in the organisation know where point D is? In any organisation it is essential that the relevant leadership cadre know what D looks, sounds, and feels like. With this sense in mind, it is then possible to assess the steps that may be required to move from wherever people are on the curve to D. It is not necessary to know all the steps, not even all the big steps, but knowing some of these can be useful. The most important point is knowing what the next steps are.

From here the organisation and the people in it then move forward and the Business Coach is there to course correct as is necessary.

You can apply the same thinking to any situation. Be that a personal crisis, or an objective which is being sought, or a relationship, or a family. Know where people are on the change curve, know where D is, and figure out the next steps. Then keep on taking steps, day after day.