On the teleseminar for our Remarkable Leadership Learning System Members today (you can get two months months membership free) I talked about how as leaders we must communicate change effectively.
During the call we were talking about the role of the comfort zone in our willingness to change. During that conversation I stated what I had previously written in my notes:
The comfort zone is always relative.
Let me give you a couple of examples, and why that fact is so important to us as leaders.
You may have perfectly happy, thrilled even (read comfort zone) with your television until you found out you could buy one thin enough to put on the wall.
If you are like my mother, you love your sewing machine, until the new one comes out and you see all the new features it has.
You love your car, until your neighbor/friend/inlaws get a new model.
In each case (and when everything in our lives), we can b completely thrilled with our current situation – be beyond comfortable even – until a picture of something better changes our perspective. The TV, sewing machine or car didn’t change – it had all of the same features, etc., Our comfort with those items changed only relative to what the new one (i.e. changed vision) offered us.
Our comfort zone is relative.
Here is another example, which is currently very applicable with the current cold wave sweeping the United States (including Indianapolis) Our comfort – even with temperatures – is relative.
Be outside for an hour at 20 degrees (or less), then find yourself in a shelter at 50 degrees and you will be very comfortable. Spend time at that same 50 degrees after being in a sauna (or even a 70 degree house), and 50 won’t feel so good.
Our comfort zone is relative.
This is great news for us as we try to communicate and influence change. Because when we can help people see a picture of the future that is desirable enough, real enough, realistic enough and personally valuable enough, they will become less satisfied with the status quo, and more willing to take the efforts and risks involved with making a change.
Next time you are communicating a change, remember that while the comfort zone is a powerful inhibitor of change, it is also relative. And that can make all the difference in your ability to influence change successfully.
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