Change is a game

This exercise will give you more insight into how to play the “game of change”. The game includes a set of questions you can ask yourself. The answers to these questions are already in your subconscious. You can best access them by getting out of your head for a while. So, take a nice walk in nature. You might want to record the following questions at a slow pace so you can listen to them while walking.

 

As you fill your lungs with fresh air, gradually slow down your pace. If all goes well, you should start feeling calm and relaxed. When you’re ready, think about the situation at work you want to change. Imagine this situation as a game and ask yourself the following questions:

 

• What is the playing field? What does it look like? (Continue walking calmly.)

• Who are the players in this game?

• What role do you play? Are you a decisive player or do you let things happen?

• When you see yourself and others in the game, can you identify the written and unwritten rules of the game?

• Should the game be played according to your rules, or can it be played differently?

• Listen to the sound your feet make on the ground. Do you hear other sounds? Sounds you usually don’t pay attention to?

• Continue walking calmly and look around. What details do you see in the flowers, plants, trees, and soil you are walking on? Can you see things you often overlook?

• Feel the resistance of the ground under your feet. What resistance do you notice in the game? Is there something holding the game back?

• Now hide somewhere, behind a tree, hedge, or something else. What remains hidden in the game? Who or what is not visible?

• Look again at the ground under your feet. What is beneath that soil? What is beneath the game? Try to understand the deeper layers. 

 

Walk back calmly to where you started and try to summarize the insights you have gained. Take these insights with you into the situation you are dealing with.