My official changemaking journey started when I had a role created for me leading large scale HR change projects.
Having just done my career change from being a lawyer, I was sent on a project management course to equip me for the journey ahead. I assumed I had what I needed.
I remember the moment when I realised what real change at the coal face meant - and how ill-equipped I was for it.
I was meant to be interviewing partners at the law firm I was working in for the project. That day my boss popped his head into my office and asked:'Who are you interviewing today?'. When I told him, he frowned and announced:'I'll be here when you get back in case you need it'.
I was a bit confused by his response but brushed it off.
Once I found myself in front of the partner, I naively asked: 'Do you have enough information from the email I sent you, for us to get started?' That is when he looked at me icily and said:'Yes I have everything I need to know. This is another fluffy HR initiative that will go nowhere.'
In that moment I understood what my boss had meant and was grateful the he would be there to pick me up off the floor afterwards.
To this day I don't know how I held it together. But I didn't flinch, I looked squarely at the partner and I heard come out of my mouth the words:' I am glad that is clear. Let's get started then.'
Now the interesting part is that our interview was scheduled for twenty minutes. But we connected so well that he, instead, gave me 90mins of his precious time. Not only that, he became one of the strongest advocates of the project.
On that day I was operating on my innate instincts as a changemaker. And luckily they kicked in in the right way. But I have had plenty of times when it didn't work out so well.
For most of us there wasn't a changemaking school we could go to that helped us activate our changemaking DNA and refine those instincts.
School taught us the opposite. That we needed to to be perfect, please and appease to get the grades. When what changemaking calls for is for us to disrupt with awareness, shake things up with grace and transform ourselves and others with love.
Later as adults, we are sent on some superficial leading change course - where we are led to believe that learning some methodology is going to be enough. When at its core changemaking is about relationships - our relationship with our own truth, with others and their comfort zones and the general emotional messiness of being human.
So this is what I wish I had been told earlier about the inner growth needed to be a changemaker:
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You need to be able to manage yourself, your state and your energy no matter what is thrown at you. I have learnt since then that what I call power based leaders will test you to see if you are worthy of their attention. Just like that partner did to me. The fact that sitting there in my pink cardigan, I didn't flinch, earned me respect and made him curious. This doesn't mean becoming hardened. It means being able to stay centered in yourself and your truth as well as your care, compassion, heartfullness in the face of fire.
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You need to be really strong in your sense of self-worth and the value that you add. Not obnoxiously so. But you will have to stop relying on external validation to feel good about yourself. Because in order to be effective you have to be capable of walking alone in the wilderness.
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You need to become a master influencer as a basic. But you also need to to be able to guide the inner dynamics that people go through when faced with the unknown. To both inspire them to go beyond what they know. And to help them navigate the emotional landscape that comes up in the in-between - at the point of transition.
What I now know is that being the change means going way beyond project management, theories and methodologies. It is a form of human intelligence, art and heart that can be learnt - but not in 'normal' schools.
Until Next Time,
Louise
WE ARE ALL BEING CALLED TO ADVENTURE.
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Louise Le Gat, Founder Of The Purpose-Led Company
