Developing Talent in the Age of AI: Manage Change Fatigue
If AI is today’s Industrial Revolution, how will you build the energy to successfully lead through it?
The massive waves of societal transformation continue to roil, and this latest is a doozy. I’ve been speaking with leaders of all levels, and I’ve been consistently hearing something akin to, “You’re telling me that we’ve been running ragged for the past six years to simply ‘make it through the turbulence,’ and now you want me to literally change every workflow and redesign every system? I don’t know where I’m going to find the energy for this.”
This aligns with a recent poll that reports 73% are experiencing change fatigue, which can severely impact morale, attrition, and results.
Successful leaders will define the vision, enable their team with training (and career transitions), and provide emotional support along with other change management strategies. Crucially, leaders need to build an excess of energy to pour so much into their teams.
Calm the Loop
Before you can build energy, you need to release the emotional burdens that weigh you down. We need different degrees of emotional release, depending on how big our emotions have become. I recommend building an Emotional Regulation Menu that includes activities you personally find useful. Here’s an example:
3-5 Minutes to Breathe
Box Breathing: breathe in for 4, hold for 4, breathe out for 4, hold for 4.
Meditation or prayer
Panoramic Scan: Look outside at the horizon, slowly scan left to right, then back again.
20-30 Minutes to Release
Studies show that stress and emotional overwhelm are dramatically improved by 20-30 minutes of contact with nature. Be present, let yourself feel small, and invite awe into your life. Lying on the grass, birdwatching, sitting on a bench under a tree, or walking on a dirt path without your headphones are equally effective. Work your way up to two hours per week to maximize the benefits.
Call that friend who makes you laugh your heart out.
The fastest way to stop the rumination death spiral is to Journal. Specifically, you need to get to the root of what your unconscious mind fears to calm yourself. Try this What + Four Whys exercise.
60+ Minutes to Recharge
Exercise until you get the endorphins flowing. Dance, running, yoga, swimming, etc.
Our brains have only two outlets for imagination: anxiety or creativity. Do something creative: paint and sip, take a pottery class, build furniture, develop an app, take a cooking class, etc.
Do a group thing: take a class, join a DnD campaign, play a pickup game of hoops, join a sewing circle, etc.
Build emotional closeness with a friend or your partner using Insightful Questions.
Narrate Your Story
You cannot control whether AI is going to happen, nor can you control how you feel about it. You can only control your actions and what you make the new world mean for yourself.
Many years ago, I had an epiphany about how to regulate my emotional responses more effectively. I realized that I had no control over what happens to me, but I can decide what it means.
I am not the author of my story, but I am both the protagonist and the narrator. Some things are happening to me, some things are happening for me, and some things are simply happening.
For example, if AI is happening for me, then I have a mandate to develop Emotional Intelligence (EQ) programs for my team. Research shows that AI will not be able to master EQ, which makes it even more critical for the leaders of tomorrow.
The lessons we learn about who we are, who we want to be, and the legacy we create provide an important shift from feeling helpless to feeling empowered.
Build Coalitions
As social creatures, humans are hard-wired to need each other, especially in times of stress. We evolved in small groups of a few hundred highly connected individuals, which responded to stress as a community.
Despite the intervening 12,000 years or so since humans started living in towns and cities (thanks to agriculture), we still have a deep need for community and belonging. One reason we are struggling in modern society is that we no longer default to our community for support. Many Americans report feeling more disconnected than ever and lack regular community experiences.
Building a community takes a lot of time and effort, but building a coalition shifts the expectations and requires less energy. A coalition member is someone who aligns with you on a shared goal. You don’t need to agree on how to complete the tasks, you don’t need to have perfectly aligned values, and you don’t even need to socialize with them. But a coalition is a group of people who are interested in mutually supporting each other’s work.
Now that the seeds have been planted, how will you cultivate your capacity for change?
If all of this information sounds great but you’re still not sure how to actually create more capacity for change, check out the Managing Change Fatigue Course. It delves deeper into the psychological and physiological processes that create change fatigue, illustrates how to regulate yourself & your team, and provides a series of highly effective exercises to make it an active system.
