How to Embrace Your Change Mindset for Growth

One thing that’s for sure in a leadership role is that you will need to navigate change.

Change is one of the few constants. Despite its regular presence, many of us find change uncomfortable, often viewing it as a threat to our current stability. To thrive in change, we need to embrace a change mindset.  A change-positive mindset is not just about coping or enduring change; it's about being prepared to seize opportunities that can move you forward. 

If we can reframe our thinking and implement practical strategies to cultivate a mindset that welcomes change, we can transform it from a threat to an opportunity and reap the benefits.

How our brain views change.

Our brain is fundamentally designed to seek stability and predictability. This trait has helped us to survive by enabling quick responses to potential threats. However, in the context of our workplace, this can make adapting to change extra challenging.

The amygdala part of our brain associated with emotional processing is particularly attuned to detecting any signs of threat or discomfort and plays a critical role in how we perceive and respond to change. If a certain change is deemed to be a threat, the amygdala can trigger an emotional response before the rational part of the brain, our prefrontal cortex, can assess and fully process the situation. This is often the source of our initial feelings of anxiety and fear created by a situation where we may have little to no control.

Once the amygdala comes into play, this triggers our fight, flight or freeze response. In the context of organisational or personal change, this might manifest as resistance, avoidance, or indecision and inaction. These responses are designed to protect us but can be counterproductive where change is inevitable and where adaptation and acceptance are more useful.

To effectively embrace change, we can adopt strategies to increase awareness of our brains response and how to manage them.  Here’s how,

• The 3 A’s.  Awareness, Acknowledgement and Action.   By becoming aware of your natural tendency to perceive change as a threat, we can begin to understand and recognise some of our default responses. Acknowledging that our go to reactions are normal and not necessarily reflective of reality can help us to reduce their impact.  Once we recognise this, we can choose the action we want to take.
• Reframe change as an opportunity for growth and learning rather than a threat, to alter your emotional response. This g helps engage the prefrontal cortex, reducing the amygdala's influence providing a more balanced and constructive approach to change.
• Recognise where you avoid change and embrace discomfort.   Discomfort often arises when we encounter change, new responsibilities, unfamiliar challenges, or the need to innovate within our teams can all take us outside our comfort zone. This discomfort represents a departure from routine and patterns, expanding our limits and capabilities. Facing these discomforts is where true growth occurs, as we adapt, learn new skills, and rethink old strategies.
• Be present.  Being aware of our feelings in times of change helps us manage our reactions and make informed decisions. Acknowledging the discomfort rather than avoiding it allows us to understand the underlying causes and decide how to move forward. Accepting discomfort as an integral part of the change process can transform potentially negative experiences into opportunities for development.

Change is essential for our leadership growth. By understanding and addressing how our brain perceives and reacts to change, we can better prepare ourselves and our teams to navigate the uncertainties of our workplace with agility.  By recognising our default responses to change, we can change our narrative and embrace opportunity.