Zen, a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, emphasizes experiential Prajñā (wisdom and understanding of the Buddha nature within). This wisdom and awareness are realized through meditation and mindfulness of daily experiences. Zen practitioners believe this provides insights which ultimately lead to enlightenment. Theoretical knowledge and the study of religious texts are deemphasized in favor of direct, experiential realization through meditation and practice.
- The ensō, a symbol of Japanese Zen Buddhism.
Change management, a discipline that emphasizes managing the ‘people side of change’ has similarities akin to Zen Buddhism. Wisdom and understanding of change takes practice, reflection, observation, and mindfulness. Change management is a skill to be developed. For those of you that have tried to meditate and quiet your mind, you know that it takes practice and you realize your mind is difficult to calm.
There are plenty of change management texts, models, tools, and best practices, however, assessing change, preparing for change, being aware of how you are experiencing change, being conscious of how others are perceiving change, learning how to influence others to support change are ALL aspects of being an effective change leader that takes practice and experience. These insights don’t come from reading a book on change management – although change management books and research are useful in gaining knowledge from those that have gone before you - nothing replaces experience, nothing replaces making mistakes and learning from them and moving on, nothing replaces emotional awareness. For those golfers out there – you didn’t learn to golf by reading a book. You learn to golf and become a better golfer by practicing. The same philosophy holds true for becoming an effective change management practitioner – it takes practice.
So, back away from your journey and revisit your experiences.
- THINK about what worked and didn’t work with a recent change.
- REFLECT on the objections and resistance you experienced as a result of a change or the objections and resistance you faced from others during a change you were trying to implement.
- STOP and BE MINDFUL of where people struggled, where you struggled.
- REVISIT what you would do differently, what you would do again.
We all get moving so fast in today’s world. What would our world be like if we practiced slowing down, if we practiced stopping the empty chatter, if we practiced calming our minds? My bet is that that we would live better lives, more peaceful lives. We would notice when compassion is needed and when a firm decision to move forward is needed. We would recognize why people are resisting a change and what response is meaningful. We would learn how to affect change and be effective change leaders - a skill that that our organizations, governments, communities, and families need more than ever.
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Where to begin? First, much of Zen does indeed involve study of religious texts. Second, change management involves much more than the people side; in fact today, technological change is what is sweeping over us. Zen does not emphasize reflection. It emphasizes being and doing and not revisiting. Zen tradition does not encourage change. And oh by the way, a good golf book can help– as can a good teacher and coach. And lots of practice…
Hi Melissa – you could easily tunr this into a methodology
Regards
Denise du Toit
Melissa, I really like the stepping back. Recently I experienced a disappointment at work. My current way of handling that would be to quickly move on and think of all the positive and great things that are opening up. That sounds healthy doesn’t it? Not so. I am working on really experiencing both the disappointment and the loss. Not wallowing but reflecting. To do this I journal. I also give myself permission to say no to new and exciting things for a few days so as not to be overstimulating myself out of the pain. Finally, I move more slowly – figuratively and literally for about 3 days. (High heels force this nicely). Thanks for sharing this important practice of stopping reflecting on struggle.
High heels not recommended. : ) Thanks for a thoughtful reply!