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Writer's pictureDavid Westerlund

Unlocking Your Potential: the Immunity to Change™ approach



It's funny. When I slow down, I feel more calm, centered, grounded, more in tune with myself and others around me. And yet why is it I find myself so often sped up?


I want to become a better listener, yet why is it not happening?


Why do we find it hard to actually make the change that we say that we want?


A big part of this is we aren't see the problem fully. We imagine it to be a technical problem that just needs a technical fix.


Need to lose weight? Just eat less! Exercise more! .. And yet something like 90% of people who attempt to lose weight gain 107% of it back.


What we are up against with these sticky problems are what has been termed ''adaptive challenges''.. They aren't an easy fix or we would have fixed them a long time ago.


Even addressing climate change or any of the UN's Sustainable Development goals - while there may be some pieces that involve technical problems/issues/fixes.. on the whole they are adaptive challenges.*


The difference is that adaptive challenges require us to adapt, learn, grow, develop and become better versions of our selves.


According to Harvard's Ron Heifitz, "The single biggest failure of leadership is treating adaptive challenges like technical problems." In essence, not seeing the problem correctly.


Another piece of why we are not seeing the change we want is that we are often trying to solve things alone. We need each other.


And often we don't go there together, because we don't want to risk vulnerability, feel shame, and show others our fears, and ways we are stuck.


We need safe, supportive containers to explore the hidden fears and beliefs that are keeping us stuck.


Well here's some good news. Or at least I think it is... I am facilitating a course (you could call it a learning experience) this October on a process developed by Harvard's Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey called Immunity to Change™.


I delight in being very intentional about creating a safe, supportive learning container for participants. This enables openness and learning to go deeper. In addition, I've added elements to the course (since running cohort #1 this past May) to support the integration of the learning and enabling the transformation to be sustainable.


If you are curious, check out the course webpage here,


"As an executive coach, I was introduced to Immunity to Change years ago, and it felt interesting but it didn't really come to life for me in a compelling way. In David's course, the concepts, tools and practices did finally come to life for me in ways that were both fun and light hearted as well as deep and significant. I highly recommend it!"

- course participant from May 2022 Cohort





Notes:

*The UN has launched Inner Development Goals - as they have realized that the sustainable development goals are actually adaptive challenges... Who do we need to be and become in order to do what we want to do?

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