Everything changes. In the credit union movement, those changes have come in the form of competition, regulations, technological advancements, consumer preferences, industry consolidation, and more.
Change is inevitable, but Change Enthusiasm Global founder and CEO Cassandra Worthy believes that humans can learn how to deal with change.
“I believe adaptability, resilience, and perseverance can be learned and taught,” says Worthy, who gave the opening keynote Sunday at America’s Credit Unions’ Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC) in Washington, D.C. “The more you practice, you’re going to be rewiring the chemistry in your brain and strengthening your resilience muscle. I’m a believer that resilience isn’t something we’re born with.”
And it can’t be learned overnight. Worthy coined the term “change enthusiasts” for people who harness the power of their emotions to fuel their growth through change.
Therefore, the Change Enthusiasm strategy helps people alter their mindset and attack any changes with enthusiasm.
Following a change event, the three-step Change Enthusiasm growth cycle consists of:
- The signal — When people undergo a change, they often feel fear, frustration, anger, or anxiety. “The things that you just want to run away from,” Worthy says. “The things you want to escape.”
- The opportunity — Change enthusiasts turn those emotions into opportunity. Once they realize they have the power of choice, they begin weighing their options and exploring what’s possible. Worthy says people in the opportunity stage have “recognized these feelings as a signal and accepted their invitation into your opportunity to learn, grow, or evolve.”
- The choice — “You’ve made a conscious productive choice and took control of your own experience,” Worthy says, adding that stepping into a seat of choice can change those fearful, frustrated emotions to ones of hope, anticipation, excitement, joy, and gratitude.
“It’s about allowing the very real emotions of change to exist. They’re there for a reason. They’re there to guide us,” Worthy says. “The more you can recognize your own signal, step into your moment of opportunity, and choose how you show up, inspire, and change, you’re going to find the big changes never happen to you; they happen for you. When you practice this, you’re going to spend less time in those signal emotions and more time in the moment of opportunity. ‘It’s up to me to decide how I show up.’”
Use #GAC2024 on social media to engage with America’s Credit Unions and industry advocates throughout the 2024 Governmental Affairs Conference.
