The Farmer and the Donkey One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Every change is a steppingstone. We can get out of even the deepest well just by shaking it off and taking a step up.

NOW, the rest of the story The donkey later came back and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock. MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON: When you do something wrong, and try to cover your “donkey”, it always comes back to bite you.

The other moral of the story is….. How you respond to change is way more important than the change itself!

CHANGE Change

Comfort Accommodation Confusion Denial CHANGE The Cycle of Response Anger

Comfort the status quo is almost always more comfortable than the unknown

Denial is what we use to try to protect ourselves from what we don’t know, don’t understand, or are afraid of. Unfortunately, it seldom works for very long….

Confusion ….we don’t know what to expect or what will be expected of us we don’t know how to react…. It is very unsettling not to know.

ANGER most frequently arises from a sense of helplessness about what is happening to us and the belief that it will have a negative impact on our lives

Accommodation is the process we go through to adapt to the change and make it work for us. This is how we create a new status quo that allows us to feel comfortable again.

Navigating the Sea of Change

Comfort Accommodation Denial CHANGE So how can we minimize denial, confusion and anger so we can accommodate more quickly and regain a level of comfort? Confusion Anger

You have to start by thinking about how you respond…. …..being more aware of your thoughts and feelings…..

How do you respond to change? Most often, our response is based on our perception of how the change will impact us. People in different situations will be at different levels of readiness for change at different times. You need to know how to “manage” yourself when change happens in order to reduce your stress and improve your ability to accept the change and move on to a more comfortable place. As a team, you need to know how to support each other through the change process, rather than reinforcing denial, confusion or anger.

Managing Your Response to Change Select the three reasons on your sheet that are the strongest barriers to your being comfortable with change.

For each of those three reasons, work through the exercise below: 1.Describe exactly what it is about the change that triggers this thought? 2.How does this thought make me feel? 3.Is this thought true? Is it based in reality or fear? 4.What can I do to change this thought? 5.Write down a more reasonable, objective thought. 6.What feelings do you have related to the new thought?

Building a Tower

How Can Your Team Respond More Effectively to Change?