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Higher education professionals are likely to desire change at some point in our careers, whether it’s switching jobs, earning a promotion, or successfully writing a grant or curriculum.
When we make changes that we prefer, we are in control. But when unwanted changes occur at work, we might struggle to respond. We strive to restore order. If we can’t, then we can always try to take our talents elsewhere when things don’t go our way.
Change is happening all around us in higher education, from high turnover of leadership to technological advances like artificial intelligence.
For how much colleges and universities tout the transformative experiences they offer students, people who work in academe are often averse to change. We stick to structures, norms, folkways, and other agents of fixity in our work environment. We’re skeptical when administrators try outside business models to run their university. But as institutions are encountering more challenges associated with the demographics, public perception, and other market factors, change is inevitable.
What if we weren’t so quick to resist the changes, such as a new boss or reduced budget, and we stopped seeking comfort in job postings or longing for “the way things used to be”? Change is nondual. It’s not just for us or against us. Change can be both/and.
You might have valid reasons to switch jobs in the face of change, especially because of a toxic work environment or for your mental health. Making career moves can certainly be wise. But no matter what you do or encounter, you’re better off having non-dual thinking. Author and executive coach Brad Stulberg calls this mindframe “rugged flexibility” in his latest book, “Master of Change.”
“The goal is not to be stable and therefore never change,” Stulberg wrote. “Nor is the goal to sacrifice all sense of stability, passively surrendering yourself to the whims of life. Rather, the goal is to marry these qualities.”
Rugged flexibility is to be tough, determined, and durable, while also consciously responding to altered circumstances or conditions, and, like a palm tree in a storm, adapt and bend easily without breaking.
“Put those together and the result is a gritty endurance, an anti-fragility that not only withstands change, but thrives in its midst,” Stulberg wrote.
Before you dismiss rugged flexibility as some woo-woo, pollyannaish approach to dealing with a crummy situation, consider these five things — condensed from Stulberg’s “Ten Tools for Developing Rugged Flexibility” — that you can do to become a master of change and thrive in most any workplace:
Update Your Expectations with Reality
You might be holding on to unrealistic expectations in your job. If happiness equals reality minus expectations and you’re never happy, maybe it’s time to update your expectations accordingly. Expect that changes will occur. One of the best definitions of reality is “change.” Some changes will be good and some bad. Rid yourself of older expectations that don’t align with reality. Stulberg suggests telling yourself, “Here is what I was hoping for or thought would happen. Here is what is actually happening. Since I live not only in my own head but also in reality, I need to focus on the latter.”
Rely on Core Values Instead of Identity
You can’t always control what happens at work. You might be passed by for a promotion or miss your window of whatever opportunity you hoped for. Job titles and employers might be forcibly changed on you, but what you can control is your core values. These are your fundamental beliefs and guiding principles. Instead of holding on to your goal of becoming a tenured professor or tying your identity to working for a particular university, align your career development with your core values. Say to yourself, “I’m the person who appreciates X and does Y and Z,” not “I am A and I’m going to become B and C.” Your core values might change during your career, but you will always have greater control over them than external circumstances.
Perform Routines and Rituals
When everything is changing around you, routines and rituals can offer a sense of predictability and stability, and they can automate decisions when the stress of changing environments drains your motivation and willpower. This can be something simple such as writing for 30 minutes on your lunch break or meeting with a former colleague at the end of each semester. Don’t let a chaotic schedule or high turnover in your department prevent you from having healthy routines and rituals. Try not to stick to them at all costs or to your detriment. But it’s important to have some type of consistent practice that helps you grow.
Practice Tragic Optimism
Bruce Springsteen once told The Atlantic that the heart of wisdom is to “accept the world on its terms without giving up the belief that you can change the world.” Stulberg used this quote to explain “tragic optimism,” which he defined as “the ability to maintain hope and find meaning in life despite its inescapable pain, loss, and suffering.” It’s about taking wise action and doing the best you can with a hopeful attitude instead of falling into despair. Don’t pressure yourself to always “find” meaning in every hardship, like losing a job. Sometimes, simply showing up and getting through a forced change is enough. But often growth and meaning are revealed through a healthy combination of acceptance and hope.
Respond to Change with the 4 P’s
According to Stulberg, skillfully responding to change requires creating space between an event and what you do, or don’t do, about it. Instead of reacting to change, Stulberg developed a heuristic with four P’s: pause, process, plan, and proceed. Pause means allowing yourself to feel whatever emotions you’re experiencing from a change and label them. Process is when you get a better understanding of the change that took place. Plan and proceed are the final steps to strategize and take action. Stulberg said that research has shown that loops similar to the 4 P’s lead to the best outcomes during periods of change and disorder.
In Conclusion
Things are going to change in your career or at your institution. Some changes you will hate. Developing a comfortable relationship to change through a ruggedly flexible response is a far better approach than simply reacting emotionally. Change is going to happen regardless. Be prepared to thrive, not just despite change but because of it.
