Building a Change Proof Company Culture 

If you are nervous about the future, you are not alone. We are in the midst of a massive cultural shift in the way people prefer to work. It has affected us and the ones we touch in vastly different ways. Yet, with change comes opportunity. 

Adam Markel, resilience keynote speaker, shares hard-hitting, creative solutions for high-performance organizations and tips for changing company culture.

Why Is It Scary to Embrace Change? 

Neuroscience research from the past few decades proves that uncertainty trips the instinct to avoid it at all costs. Naturally, we want to avoid the emotional pain of making mistakes but it’s impossible.

You've probably heard of the fight or flight response, where you decide to either run in the face of danger or stand your ground. It's not just fight or flight. It’s fight, flight or freeze. Overwhelming stress can leave us stuck in our tracks. 

The fear of heights can work to your advantage; without it, you might decide to go skydiving without a parachute. On the other hand, the fear of change can be a disadvantage. More and more, the workforce is faced with the fears of:

• Heavy workloads and tight deadlines
• Too little work or job insecurity
• Uncertainty due to poorly defined roles
• Lack of clear direction or goals
• Pay cuts
• Undervalued social status
• Lack of training in new technologies
• Poor working conditions (e.g. inadequate breaks, hostile coworkers)

Why Do We Need to Fall in Love With Change? 

As human beings, we all know how to build long-term resilience in the face of constant change. Think of how many different ways of life there are, how many different environments we thrive in. One of the best things about embracing change is all the new and exciting opportunities it brings. 

It's awkward to unlearn what we've been taught and let go of beliefs that don't suit us anymore. Before this kind of shift can happen, people need to make small, gradual pivots into resilience. 

Sometimes it takes a major event to make real change. For most of us, all it takes is a reality check, but our own beliefs and behaviors can get in the way. Letting go of these self-imposed burdens can be like losing an old friend. 

The good news is, just like our posture, an ineffective response to change can be corrected with resilience strategies. A resilience keynote speaker like Adam Markel can often be the agent that helps us bounce forward and make serious lifestyle changes. 

A Change Proof Master Plan for Changing Company Culture

People want tangible resources to solve their problems. Adam’s keynote speaker resilience events are designed to reinvigorate the players on your teams with comprehensive solutions.

In his upcoming new book, Change Proof: Leveraging the Power of Uncertainty to Build Long-term Resilience, he outlines a framework for tapping into your true potential. There are three main steps to this model:

1. Pause
2. Ask
3. Choose

Pause

Sometimes we are so wrapped up in work that we become tense, rigid and impulsive. As we know, our automatic reactions can play tricks on us. Our blood shoots up, our breathing quickens — these are automatic, learned responses. 

That’s why we have to bring our bodies and our minds on board. By simply taking a moment to pause, reset and refocus, you can begin to realize the infinite possibilities of the present. The pause puts you in a calm, collected, flexible state. 

Ask  

We are everything: love, resilience, sadness, compassion, strength... Walt Whitman wrote, “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large. I contain multitudes.)” In other words, it’s difficult to choose a path and stay on course; we are all confused about who we are and which way to go. Half of all the poetry ever written is about this condition. Even master keynote resilience speakers struggle with this paradox every day.

One part of you may want a greasy peanut butter bacon sandwich, the other part may want a mood-boosting healthy snack, but what do you want? 

• What are your goals?
• What are the mistakes you are making?
• Who do you want to be?
• What passions and skills do you want to develop?
• What is getting in your way? 
• What can you do to make your true desires a reality? 
• What can you do to make sure you're accountable? 

These questions may be hard to face but they are essential. The answers are only the beginning of a series of small pivots toward resilience. 

Choose   

We’d like to think we learn from our mistakes the first or second time around. The truth is that everyone repeats the same mistakes at one point or another. Mistakes usually arise from our conscious choices or learned habits. 

You can tell yourself you aren't going to eat that entire tub of ice cream after dinner but if something unexpected distracts you, you might not be able to resist the temptation. The Pause, Ask, Choose formula drives you away from strategies and habits that no longer serve you and into freedom, peace and resilience. 

Resilience 101: Embrace Change

Change can be our biggest ally. Becoming change proof doesn't mean you are immune to fear or pain. It means that you can accept the energy that hits you and harness it no matter which way the wind blows. 

Sometimes the worst situations can be the force behind our greatest achievements. One of the best examples of this happened when the Chicago Bulls played the Utah Jazz in the 1997 NBA Finals. Also known as the “flu game.” 

In a nail-biting series against the Jazz, the day before game 5, Michael Jordan, the Bulls’ strongest player, caught a bad case of the flu. No one expected him to play.

Barely able to breathe, dehydrated and on the brink of exhaustion, Jordan found the strength to put on one of the greatest performances in the history of professional sports. He scored 38 points in 44 minutes and sank a game-changing 3-pointer with under 30 seconds to go. Chicago went on to win by a single basket.  

Becoming Change Proof With Long-term Resilience Strategies  

It takes commitment and daily practice to build resilience but once you make headway, it becomes as automatic as your fight or flight response. It may not feel as automatic as say, eating a bag of potato chips and binge-watching your favorite series on Netflix but it means you can identify mistakes and go the opposite direction without hesitation. 

Even when we’re resilient and rested, we aren’t out of danger. Things rarely go exactly as planned and your mind will always dig up the past, trying to distract you from the fact that everything is okay. We can always take the easy way out but with daily resilience, we do what we need to get to where we want to go. 

Build a Trial and Error Culture 

We all make mistakes, but we can, and should, use those mistakes to learn and progress, to innovate. Many times the people who achieve the impossible aren’t afraid to look silly or be ridiculed for their “crazy” ideas. People who challenge the status quo like this achieve the impossible.  

It’s no secret that society, especially online, is full of judgment and negativity. This kind of environment heightens anxiety and reinforces self-defeat. When people are afraid to share because of the fear of being shamed for a mistake, profound ideas can go unrealized.

Imagine if we all felt free enough to try out new things, to go beyond best practices. A supportive trial and error culture provides a sense of safety and the freedom to be creative. This creates an ideal setting for innovations and gives your team an edge over the competition. 

Embrace the ‘Leaders Eat Last’ Philosophy  

It’s a myth that management and board members are solely responsible for a company’s success. As resilient and transformational leaders, we are invaluable players, no doubt, but every day the people on the frontlines keep the ball rolling. 

If you can motivate your workforce you are giving them that much more of a reason to be at their best. Movies often mirror real-life concerns. In the movie “Independence Day” Bill Pullman’s character (President of the U.S.) made a motivational speech inspired by a Dylan Thomas poem, designed to inspire the entire country to stand up and control its destiny. 

“And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: 'We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive!”

We can all relate to this when we feel like giving up. A resilience keynote speaker can spark the kind of passion that we need as a collective to thrive in the rapids of change. That is the goal of a keynote motivational speaker: resilience is the outcome. 

Invest in Your Employees’ Careers

It's not about you telling people how to change their life, it's about listening and giving them the tools to succeed professionally and personally. There are sound business reasons to invest in the additional training and education of your employees. 

• Increase Employee Satisfaction. It’s not all about salary. A higher salary is attractive but another great motivation for an employee to stay is a company willing to invest in their career. 
• Higher Performance. Additional skills and training lead to higher performance. When employees are trained in the latest technology and familiar with today’s markets, your company is more efficient. 
• More Talent. The labor market is competitive. The more attractive your company is, the more talent you will attract. When the word gets out that your company is a great place to work you’ll stand out among your competitors. 

Create a Change Proof Culture With a Powerful Resilience Speaker 

It’s remarkable how quickly small pivots and a change proof environment can generate long-term success you can count on. If you are looking for a high-impact, surprisingly different resilience keynote speaker to mobilize your workforce, schedule Adam Markel to spearhead an upcoming event that can teach your company how to build resilience.

We are happy to work directly with you to make the arrangements. Contact us to learn more about booking Adam to help you set the stage for a competitive edge.