Chapter 20
Chapter 20: Making Change Easier
In This Chapter
▶ Understanding the structure of change
▶ Discovering the mindset for avoiding change fatigue and staying productive
▶ Maintaining employee engagement through change
▶ Bringing NLP tools together‘N
othing endures but change’ is an oft-quoted truism. Change can
happen in one of two ways:✓ You can initiate and plan for change. This type of change can be
something relatively minor such as buying a new car or getting a new
kitchen, or it can be life-changing – for example, when you decide to
get married, move house, have kids, or change jobs: in these cases, you
feel as if you have some control, although external agencies can throw a
spanner in the works and leave you feeling helpless and stressed.
✓ You can have change imposed on you, for example, by your employer or
through events such as an unexpected pregnancy or loss of a loved one:
change is harder to accept when you feel as if you’re the victim.
The NLP approach is that no single correct map of change exists at any one
time. To survive and thrive, you need to acknowledge and embrace the fact
that change is happening and put strategies in place to work with change
rather than against it.Because NLP is about how people think and behave, this chapter focuses on
the people aspect of change and not on the project management of change
in the workplace. We aim to show you how to deal with change in a way that
allows you to maintain your equilibrium through choppy times, whether you
initiate the change or a change is imposed on you. Should you come across
someone for whom change isn’t going as smoothly as they would like, we
hope the insights you gain here enable you to ease their way a little. You
could do this as simply as listening sympathetically, by lending a helping
hand, or just explaining what they are experiencing.