A Year Long Process

This past year, I had the opportunity to spend five weeks with a group of twenty five middle-level managers from Latin America. We were involved in a program designed to help the group focus on a series of leadership skills that would ultimately add to their leadership development. This great experience culminated just this past week with some great training experiences. Even more exciting was what has happened in the lives of these participants over the course of a year.

Change for many people is stressful, but for others it can be tremendously traumatic. Dr. Thomas Holmes and researchers at the University Of Washington School Of Medicine, who developed the Life Change Index Scale rated the factors that caused stress from the low (11) a minor traffic ticket to a high (100) the death of a spouse. Different types of business change fell midway on the scale between 20 and 46. Because this study is based on averages, a change stress rating of 47 may not impact one person as much as it may another. As business leaders, we understand that change is inevitable. So we must be aware of how change affects our co-workers and steps we can take to make the transition more comfortable for them and in turn for the success of the initiative.