3/5 - Headstand vs Change Management
It has been a long time since my last article... the two remaining ones will follow faster, I promise. I am grateful for your patience! In the meantime you might have read about my adventures in Nepal, which is also a good excuse for my silence:)
This is the 3rd of 5 learnings focusing on my professional experience as a consultant and how yoga ties to it without over-mystifying it. I started to write these posts inspired by life experiences as a management consultant, as a yoga practitioner and yoga teacher to show how everything that you learn on the yoga mat can be reflected and turned into something meaningful also in your life off the yoga mat.
Why yoga? - Intro
Link to the intro post answering general questions about yoga
1/5 Be respectful
Link to the first of the five learnings. Sun salutation vs. Client salutation
2/5 Find your own voice
Link to the second of five learnings. Find your own voice
3/5 Be flexible
On the mat - Flexible body, flexible mind
Through a disciplined yoga practice you will experience natural changes both in your body and in your mind. If you push it too much, if you are impatient, you can get easily injured. However, through a patient and consistent training your body becomes more flexible. And so does your mind.
By getting deeper and more advanced in one yoga pose can trigger your mind and inspire you to push your boundaries and try something new in your everyday life as well.
Behind most easy-going and inspiring people there is a story of hard work which can happen even on the yoga mat. Doing a headstand, turning upside down at the end of a class gets much easier as you first work your body to get more core strenght and flexibility.
Off the mat - Allow time to learn and transform
Driving clients to switch from the old into the new. Managing change journeys. Internalise changes. The more flexible a business is, the smoother the change happens.
Organisations just as the body can get injured easily unless building up their flexibility to transform step by step.
Getting ready for the change in a systematic way: ensuring leadership buy-in, engaging stakeholder groups systematically, observing developments in behaviour and culture, training individuals how future looks like, celebrating small achievements, ... - all these help employees to increase awareness, to feel more comfortable, stronger, to become more flexible while riding through the change journey.
Yoga mat takeaway:
Flexibility allows both individuals and companies to transform and adapt easier to the changing environment. It can help thinking out of the box, innovate and embrace new habits. However, flexibility requires training, time and patience.