Momentum of Change

A lot of the focus within launching a business, initiative or anything new, is the beginning.

The concept of starting your own project and taking that first step of action is almost romanticised as being meaningful and significant. In a way this romanticism is justified, it is a big milestone, but the real work lies in keeping your wonderful passion project afloat. There is nothing glamorous about hard work, stress and the late nights that follow that initial launch phase and the allure of newness starts to fade.

Those first steps of planning and beginning are so exciting because at that stage it is still just an idea. It is yet to come to true fruition and is devoid of all of the unforeseen problems that arise after implementation. Making a difference and taking action is difficult but most of that difficulty is an internal one about stress and anxiety and ultimately about you. Once things get into motion and that initial action has been successful the issues that arise become a lot more interpersonal.

People tend to resist change. It isn’t malicious, it is just that if things are comfortable change feels like it could threaten that comfort. This is an issue clearly recognised and approached when in that first phase of initiating the new idea or system but is just as big of a threat to success in attempting to sustaining any change that you may have enforced. Even after agreeing initially many individuals have an elastic-like tendency to try to snap back to their old ways. After that original push people will start to slowly start to push back as that initial enthusiasm fades. This second stage of resistance is often not anticipated and can be crippling.

The way to overcome this resistance is through momentum.

The nature of how hard you have to push and communicate and reinforce the goals of what you are trying to achieve does not change after launching a project. You need to keep reaching out to the people already on board just as much as you need to reach out to new people. Consolidation can often fall behind outreach and expansion but ultimately it is of equal importance. If you as a leader you back off your interactions with your initial connections and team you will start to lose them as it is likely that their enthusiasm will wane faster than your own.

If you continue to communicate with those already involved in your cause and continue to consolidate and push your agenda you can maintain that essential momentum and keep those around you motivated to sustain the change you have brought about.