Embrace Unprompted Change, Quickly (Opinion)

I am a “Cyclist.” I haven’t always been. In fact, if you asked me a few months ago, I would have proudly told you that I am a “Runner.”

I have run my whole life and loved every mile in some way, even if only for what it allowed me to eat afterward. I have run trails and roads, short races and long, track workouts and marathons. I have coached young runners and pushed youngsters in jogger-strollers.

I’ve dodged big-city traffic and outrun growling farm dogs. My running shoes have pounded both coasts, seven countries and wound through six mountain ranges. In March, it became all too obvious that I have been a runner for more years than my body can tolerate. With one knee surgery behind me and another one looming, I am starting to understand the importance of adaptation if I am going to continue to stay fit. 

I don’t have the same experience with cycling as I do with running. I don’t fully understand the mechanics of cycling, nor do I have the same natural focus I did as a runner, lacking the many years of experience. Nevertheless, I am learning to refocus so I can understand cycling at a level that will increase my effectiveness.

As a result of adaptation and refocus, I wake up ready to hop on the bike and embark on the challenge. I envision the rides before I go; I cherish the experience after I return. I catch myself trying to scope out roads to find new routes to try.

Instead of packing my running shoes when I travel, I grab my helmet and load up the bike rack. I am quickly evolving into an avid cyclist, creating a foundation to excel.

Earlier this year, I watched my college-aged son rapidly go through the same process of refocusing. After continued running injuries as he competed, he transitioned to triathlons, only to find that he was really best at cycling. I watched him quickly choose to embrace cycling, learning everything he could, enabling him to compete at a high level on the college racing scene in just a few short months.

I saw how effective he could become when he adapted and refocused his energies, fully. With his decision to commit his discipline and abilities to a totally new sport, he quickly evolved, creating a foundation to excel. It has been inspiring to watch.

The recent recession, along with a warp-speed pace of change in technology, has likely had a similar impact on organizations and individuals, sending them scrambling to define a new means to operate effectively.

The environment is different. They didn’t see it coming and they may not have wanted it, but here it is … Maybe the organization has had to reinvent what they do or how they do it; perhaps a core component of the operation no longer works because the organization has outgrown it, or customers are demanding adaptation. It could be they have had to operate with fewer resources, or possibly, the organization has grown beyond what their current systems enable, prompting change.

At the individual level, many of us are finding we have to do things we have never had to do before. What we have done in the past no longer gets us what we need; what worked before is not continuing to work.

What we learned as a result of our deep experience is no longer applicable to what we need to know, today. This prompts an extreme need to reinvent ourselves to stay relevant. We can’t spend time resisting the need to change, or becoming defensive about what we used to do.

Such change requires a person to adapt quickly and demands them to fully commit their talents to refocus and learn everything they can about the things that are different. The quicker we realize that what we were doing wasn’t wrong then, it just isn’t right now, the more quickly we can evolve. 

Evolution enables individuals and organizations to excel beyond belief. We must commit our minds, move forward with openness and pedal with passion. 

Ken and Patti Leith are managing partners of EDGES, Inc., a strategic planning and process efficiency firm based in Bentonville. They also own and operate e-Gauge Inc., a software services company specializing in talent management and strategic plan execution. You can contact EDGES at 479-203-7198 or www.getedges.com.