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Change is hard

January 16th, 2023 by Kenneth Abrahams

Most people don’t like change. Some handle it better than others, but for many it is uncomfortable. Whether it is a change at work or at home, often the reaction is the same discomfort. Perhaps I am not the right person to be addressing this, for most of my adult life I have lived in the same house (not the house I grew up in) and worked at the same company. Yet, I feel that my life, my job, and the world, are ever changing. Often, I go looking for ways to shake things up a bit, whether it is at home or how I do my job.

Luckily, there is an endless stream of stimuli that provides a roadmap to make some of those changes. Thanks, in no small part, to the Internet, which has provided unparalleled access to content in the form of Ted Talks, blogs, podcasts, magazine, and newspaper articles, as well as other books and periodicals; you can hop on a webinar or attend a virtual discussion group to explore new and relevant content. Sometimes, the change is sparked by external factors and at other times it may be an internal drive. Anybody that has ever lost or tried losing weight knows that you must make multiple changes to lose weight and even more changes to keep it off. If you stay on the course, success often follows. Yes, change is hard and uncomfortable.

Years ago, I always finished second in yearly sales totals in our office. For the first 11 months I was on top, and then December corporate holiday parties would happen, and another salesperson would blow right past me. If you know me, you know I am super competitive, so in order to prevent the home stretch takeover, I needed to change the way that I did things. Before we hit December, I needed a bigger cushion to ensure that all those holiday parties didn’t derail my entire year. I made some changes and I finally finished on top, but it started a chain reaction. After coming out on top for the year, I found myself very close to a significant sales mark, and now I wanted to reach that. So, I called a bunch of clients to explain my situation and asked for their help. Surprisingly, it worked, and I hit the milestone. A few years later, while driving to work, I heard an ad asking if I wanted to double my sales in the next 12 months, and of course I did. Sign me up, if it will help, I am all in. I purchased a sales training course, and you guessed it, I made more changes.

Nothing has brought this topic more into focus than the COVID-19 Pandemic. So many changes happened so quickly that it was hard to keep up with them. We are all still reeling from its impact and dealing with the devastation left in its wake. Our workforce and the way we work has been altered, possibly permanently. Education felt the impact from pre-K through advanced degree programs, and that too will be felt for years to come. Not all students had the same reaction or aptitude for remote learning. Some really gravitated to it, appreciating the screen to a live classroom. They were able to focus and had little or no issue with the lack of peers right next to them or the socialization they were missing. While others felt isolated, adrift, as they tried to navigate learning in a remote environment. As with anything else in this world, some teachers, professors, institutions, and school systems adapted better than others. Reports are coming out now that some schools’ efficiency and test scores improved during COVID while other organizations took a giant step backwards.

In the world of higher education, we have seen a lot of changes, some that have been documented and discussed on these very pages. Mental health issues are far more prevalent today than they were just 5 years ago. Recently, while doing a job at a college, an advisor told me that they were spending a large amount of time teaching, or re-teaching, students how to make friends. Some students that were struggling socially, pre-pandemic, were even further behind than some of their peers. They were spending a large amount of time in their rooms, alone. More parents are calling schools requesting assistance in helping their children make friends. One would think that is not the responsibility of the institution, and it probably isn’t, but some parents have nowhere else to turn. Now, students and professionals alike are finding that they need to change the way that they communicate and deal with these students. Not only are they required to plan, promote, and execute programs, there seems be an expectation that they do personal outreach to students that are struggling to fit in.

For some, the return to live in-person programming on college campuses has been an amazing gift. Students are returning to campus events in droves, while also joining clubs and organizations at record numbers. After being deprived of events for the better part of two years, students are craving that interaction. Other schools are having far less success in both recruiting members to join a wide range of groups on campus and getting them to show up for events.

Not only have situations changed, but students, and in some cases their advisors, have as well. COVID has encouraged people to leave the field, or they were forced out by the economic impact of the virus. It is shocking to see what has happened to some truly fine programming boards in the last few years. Instead of well-trained student leaders, who understand how to plan and run fantastic events, they on occasion seem to be wandering aimlessly through the process. They don’t have the benefit of some of those juniors and seniors that have been an active part of these organizations for 3 or 4 years who can provide mentorship, guidance, plus a historical perspective. Long before COVID reared its ugly head, one thing that was certain is that it takes a lot more time to build an organization, or instill quality in that group, than it does to dismantle it. I have seen great programs, which have had a change in advisor, look completely different in a mere 6 months. Change is so very hard. As many sports teams have talked about, it is easier to get to the top than it is to stay there.

We may not like change, but it is needed. Change is how we grow; it is how we learn. A theory that I subscribe to wholeheartedly is “we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes.” Obviously, it is more gratifying to succeed but you learn so much more from failure. As we get back from COVID, embrace change and be an agent for change. It is never easy, but often rewarding.

About the Author

Ken Abrahams often seeks out change to keep things fresh and exciting. He is also an avid traveler (both for pleasure and work) currently he has been to 48 of the 50 states plus a few territories. He is looking forward to what 2023 has in store.

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