In the latter part of the 20th century and during our entry into the 21st, mankind has made huge strides in the fields of business and IT. Bigger, better, faster, easier and more have become the ideals toward which we strive.
Enthusiasm for change is our most important safeguard against the all too easy road down to resentment and stagnation.
Jill Hamlyn, MD, The People Business
In our lifetime, we have been part of an exciting revolution that has generated innovation far beyond anything that our forefathers could have predicted. Part of this innovation is the marriage of business and IT - initially an uneasy partnership that looks set to become a match made in cyber-heaven.
Open any newspaper or magazine, surf any Internet search engine and the prefix "e" will virtually leap out at you. From e-mail to e-commerce, e-business to e-banking, the humble letter "e" has so far signified a radical move from traditionally accepted practice toward a vision of the future where everything will be virtual, paperless, remote and technologically very far advanced.
As we move through 2001, I can see the letter "e" taking on a new significance in different spheres and I predict that what I call "The E-Ideal" will become an integral part of the way people conduct themselves in their environments. "E" no longer stands for just "electronic".
E-change
The year 2001 has a different flavour to previous years. Change that until now has been relatively slow is going to enter its quickest period, affecting business, society and the individual. The E-Ideal in 2001 is enthusiasm: enthusiasm about the change that is happening around us in a variety of ways.
Any type of change implies that some sort of death has taken place - the old way of doing things is abandoned for the new and workable. This can be related to the groundbreaking work, "On Death and Dying," of Elizabeth K"ubler-Ross where the progression of life to death of many terminally ill people was studied. Observation of this transition led her to theorise that when faced with the diagnosis that they are going to die, people go through five stages before any sort of equilibrium is reached.
Denial is the first stage. As the shocked mind grapples with the idea that the body in which it is housed is not immortal, people question the validity of the diagnosis and insist that this is not happening. Denial is also one of humankind`s defence mechanisms elaborated on by Freud. It is a way of cushioning a blow until the organism feels ready to deal with the shock.
The second stage is anger - anger at the world, at the diagnosis, at what seems like the futility of it all. The third stage is bargaining. At this point, all sorts of deals are made with whichever higher power the person believes in: If you let me live for just a while longer, I will be a better person. The penultimate stage is depression. Here is the beginning of acceptance of the inevitable and during this time a lot of grieving takes place. Dreams, ideas and plans that can no longer be carried through are given up and mourned. The final stage is acceptance. Peace has been made and there is now a readiness to steadfastly face the unknown.
In her book "The Journey of Adulthood," Helen Bee cites research which shows that not everybody goes through these stages when confronted with a terminal diagnosis, and a lot of humankind`s reaction to dying is culture-specific.
The stage theory has also come under fire for being too neat. As complex creatures, at any given time we can be crowded with several different emotions and we do not necessarily progress from one to another in a specific and orderly way.
K"ubler-Ross`s theory is exceedingly useful when applied to change on a large scale and it is interesting to draw parallels between the stages she has set out and the shifts that SA has undergone since the beginning of the last decade of the old millennium.
Complexity
I am not going to be prescriptive and tell you which phase we are in, this is a matter for you to reflect on and come to your own conclusions. Any thoughts, feedback or opinions are welcome. Bear in mind that SA has one of the most complex cultures in the world and what is true for one sub-sect of the population may not be so for another in terms of the five stages. Some people may still be at the anger stage, while others are mourning the old way without looking at the positives in the new (depression). Still others may have accepted what has happened and be quietly getting on with paving the way for unprecedented success.
K"ubler-Ross proposed that there was a common thread that ran through all her stages: hope. Hope has also been a common thread that has run through SA`s transition, and as 2001 unfolds, enthusiasm is beginning to glimmer through.
Enthusiasm for change is our most important safeguard against the all too easy road down to resentment and stagnation. There are many people to be found who are enthusiastic about the road that SA has so far travelled and who also have nothing but enthusiasm for the road that lies ahead. Although one may grumble that we are a society in crisis, there is much to be said for remembering that the Chinese ideogram for crisis consists of two parts. One signifies danger while the other signifies opportunity.
Riding the crest of the wave of change, our challenge is to keep the maturity and experience we have gained and discard the old ideals that no longer work for us. The groundwork for enthusiasm is there, but there is one truth about change that is best summed up by what is commonly known as a "lightbulb joke":
Q: How many psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Only one, but the lightbulb must really want to change.
Enthusiastically embrace change to stride forward confidently in your life and work.
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