Although we’ve been off taking a break to mostly eat chocolate eggs, the pace of change on the global stage has continued with a vengeance.

And for anyone leading in a global business with a global supply chain, we can only imagine the internal conversations as a result of Trump’s tariffs. They must have been off the chart.

With any change, it’s always not only about what you do, but how you do it. And even the most experienced senior leaders can panic when the status quo gets threatened – particularly when it’s likely to hit the financials as hard as the egos.

If the change is straightforward and predictable, by all means get on and execute. This is where all that ‘doing’ energy is important. When you’ve sprung a leak, get on and fix it and stop it flooding the building.

However when the change is complex, the solutions uncertain and you need to face into ongoing uncertainty, here are some CALM thoughts on how best to approach your transformation plans and dial up that ‘being’ energy.

Be wary of your red head response

The stress response to significant change, particularly when it lands swiftly and painfully, is human and natural. So give yourself time to let this play out but don’t let it overtake your energy and overall response ability or sense of direction. Use your toolkit to bring you back down to earth and process what insights your emotions are telling you as well as give yourself space to access more rational thinking. (If you don’t have a toolkit for this – get in touch with us!)

Remember every action has an equal and opposite reaction

When in an unpredictable and volatile operating context, it can be wise to test out plans and ideas for  change rather than go all in from step one. As we saw with the market response to Trump’s tariffs, the implications of big changes are likely to be seismic and the ripple effect that follows can then prove hard to contain. 

Although it can feel counter intuitive, time to pause can be really important to see what happens next before jumping in feet first. As with the pandemic, the swift introduction of the furlough scheme mitigated the initial knee jerk response for wide scale redundancies and a few days after the tariff changes were announced, there was ultimately a climb down on the US side for most of those initially impacted.

Scenario planning is your friend

When a significant threat or challenge comes on the horizon, our natural fight or flight response needs to be satisfied. Here taking time for some scenario planning can be incredibly powerful in creating sound options to consider before making your response. It also keeps your brain calm in the meantime, giving it confidence that you are doing something practical to manage the risks.

Take small steps and keep focused on course correction

Small steps are always the way to go in uncertain times allowing you space to take on new information as it comes into play. Keep your ‘doing’ energy focused on course correction along the way as you move towards a set of principles around a north star goal, rather than a set of absolutes. Keep checking for clarity around your known unknowns as well as your unknown unknowns as you move forward. Time and space for reflection and team discussion on this will be key to remaining effective.

We can do hard things

The media would have you believe that this is the end of life as we know it but in reality the world, it’s people and business have always cycled through systemic and seismic changes when you look back through history. Trust in yourself, your leadership and your values to keep you on course. We can do hard things and we will move through this for better or worse. It will all be alright in the end.

Calm In A Box partners with businesses, teams and leaders to help them perform well through change.

We have developed our CALM philosophy and toolkit to facilitate focused and proactive work on culture, mindset and behaviour change programmes so leaders and teams can be well, to do well. 

Accelerating successful transformation of all types, without the struggle, we’ve worked with global brands and growing SMEs who are passionate about supporting their people through change for better results.

We provide value in a range of ways through our CALM product ecosystem including consultancy, workshops, coaching, our Learn, Lead, Transform membership and free digital learning on the CALM hub.

If you’d like to chat with us, we’re always up for an online coffee. Book a slot with us here – drop us an email hello@calminabox.co.uk

Curious to know if you’re thriving or surviving at work? Go to www.calminabox.co.uk to get your free CALM scorecard.