The General Change Process

The process can be applied at any level whether this be personal, corporate or global. It involves seven stages, each of which is a necessary condition of successful outcome.

This is unacceptable
I wonder what options there are?
This option feels better
Okay—let's do it—let's move on.
Let's do exactly this, shall we?
We'll need to be responsible and careful…
...and to accept what we get when our plans don't quite work out.
Possible omissions or errors include:

Failure to define the problem Despite the strong emphasis in alternative bookshops on positive methods to engineer life changes, in practice the main task is not really to affirm what we want; it is to clearly define what we don't want. This has to be done very specifically indeed. NLP students know about this. We have to get to the exact physical aspects of the particular life circumstance that we want to change. Say something like: ‘I experience my father as uncomfortably invasive whenever he speaks to me disdainfully about my career prospects'.

Inadequate information and contacts Is it reasonable to expect to jump immediately from problem to solution without due process? That's not what life is about. We need to consider options, to enquire into possibilities, to be open to change our ways a little bit. There is vast energy wastage simply because information and contacts are not respected and developed fully.

Failure to take human feelings into account On a personal level, we need to be honest about the gap that exists between what we would like to be, and what we are. It's good to strive for something that would express an elevated version of who we want to be, yet actually if it feels awful, then there's a very good chance that we won't sustain the new situation. So we need to imagine how it would feel actually to be in the circumstances we're proposing. Equally, the machinery of business and government will never run smoothly unless and until the human factor is embraced as a necessary and valuable factor.

Indecisiveness and slovenly attitudes towards completions Committees in general are renowned for their indecisiveness, especially the local soviets in the ex-USSR. If we postpone our decision until there is only one possibility remaining, then we can't be blamed for making a mistake! What crazy logic! What nonsense! Is it thought that errors of omission are not errors? And yet we all suffer from failure to complete. When a shopkeeper gives us a plastic bag are we aware enough that unless we act wisely its disposal will probably cause additional pollution? Do we always keep our files upto date? Do we routinely throw out old clothes to the charity shops? In other words are we willing to deal fully with the implications of a decision before making it?

Indistinct intention and inability to win cooperation It's no good just saying ‘I want to get closer to God' or ‘I want to be happy', these are so indistinct that nobody can actually understand what we mean. Most importantly, we ourselves can't. So we don't know what we want and therefore we don't know how to get it or even when we've got it. Say something like I choose to find a home with everything I enjoy and need, and I will enjoy attracting cooperation to help me get it.

Lack of awareness and irresponsible dealings with other people We live in a world where there are other people with their own agendas, and their own situations. Some of these will be touched as we progress towards fulfilment of our own visions, and occasionally there will be those who feel upset when we get what we want. We need to watch out for this, and try to minimise their upset, even promote their own vision-fulfilment, as a way to diminish the resistance against us. It's not only nicer; it's also more effective.

Intolerance and inflexibility; failure to flow Rigidity is evidence of death not life. We will never get exactly all we want, so we do need to accept what comes instead. Life is about flowing through the changes, and although we can nudge things our way, we need also to acknowledge the larger picture over which we have no influence at all. Can we stop the sun shining or the tides rising? King Canute knew about this.

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