WASHINGTON–Have you gotten frustrated, perhaps in your career? Feeling anxiety? Are you fearful of what’s ahead? You’re not alone, according to one person, who said you have two choices in response and who outlined what she recommended is the best strategy for moving forward.
Speaking to America’s Credit Unions’ Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC), Cassandra Worthy, founder and CEO of Change Enthusiasm Global, said if there’s one thing every person has gotten closer to over the last several years it’s change. And often, just about everyone pushes back, with response typically being frustration and anger.
Drawing from her own career as an example, Worthy shared how a time of great dissatisfaction in her career led her to almost quitting, until one person offered some advice that ultimately led her to recognize how she can effectively respond to change, and so can others.
Life in Corporate America
Cassandra Worthy speaking to GAC.
Worthy related to the meeting how she spent years working in corporate America and leveraging her degree in chemical engineering by working in package goods at Proctor & Gamble.
“It was really fun, but it was a career riddled with significant shifts in change,” said Worthy.
She added, however, that she had been “groomed for change.” Born in 1981, the first year of the Millennial generation and with two older siblings she said spoke a different language due to their experiences, Worthy related how she was born on a “generational seam.”
She reviewed all the tech changes she participated in growing up, going from a pager to getting the Internet and an AOL account, to her first Nokia cellphone, and then a “Crackberry” and finally an iPhone.
Adaptability & Resilience
It was a life, she said, in which she developed adaptability, resilience and perseverance.
“If that can be learned, it can also be taught,” said Worthy. “I’m certain some of you are feeling fear, anxiety, frustration. So, now is the time to learn the power of the energy to fuel your growth, and not just the growth of your credit union business, but the growth of you.”
To that end, Worthy shared a process she calls “Change Enthusiasm,” which she compared to a stop light with the Signal (red), the Opportunity (yellow) and the Choice (green).
“The very first change in my professional life was after being at P&G for three and a half years. I was involved in a multi-billion-dollar acquisition of a tech company and in integration,” said Worthy. “I was naïve thinking this would be similar to work I’d done in the past. But day one in that tech community, I learned the language, behavior and cultural norms were different. On top of that, despite my very best intentions, the use of tools I brought was met with great adversity. I was lost and frustrated.”
All About the PIE
Adding to that frustration, said Worthy, was discovering a coworker had used her data and presented it to senior management during a presentation. When an aggravated Worthy told her manager, she was met with indifference.
She noted that at P&G the mantra is all about the PIE: Performance, Image and Exposure.
“Every day I was feeling more and more disengaged,” said Worthy. “And that was the signal, the feelings you just want to run away from and escape. The signal means something very big has happened. The best part of my day had become lunch. We would vent and commiserate and talk about how horrible things were. I was looking for any opportunity to leave.”
Two Choices
Worthy said she reached out to a director with the company who had great influence and was venting over what had occurred.
“She offered me some advice: ‘You can either get bitter, or you can get better. It’s your choice.’ As I was leaving her office I was fuming. I was thinking it’s not my choice,” said Worthy. “So, I made the decision I was going to quit. But then something happened. Those words stayed with me. I started to explore bitter vs. better and the idea that I had power. The more I stepped into this idea, I stepped into major opportunity.”
Yellow: Opportunity
Worthy asked her audience what runs through their minds when a traffic light turns yellow. As her audience agreed, it’s all about the options, she said. Hit the gas. Slow down. Look for cops.
“For me, I could either remain resigned to despising going into the office, or I could trust that they had my best interests at heart,” Worthy said. “The more I leaned into that, the more I started to feel intrigued. If they were not acting maliciously, why did they do the things they did? The intrigue created a path for me to reengage with my work.”
Green. The Choice.
So, what happened?
Worthy said she was inspired to write a series of intra-company articles and that for one of them she interviewed colleagues, including the person who had used her data in their presentation. She asked everyone numerous questions about their careers, motivations and more.
“Come to find out that colleague wasn’t acting maliciously, they were just abiding by a different set of cultural norms,” said Worthy.
She said the article became one of the top three reads in P&G at more than 6,000.
“I had people thanking me for the words, for helping nurture conversations between them and their colleagues,” said Worthy.
Not All Rainbows
She reminded her audience to remember that it’s “not all rainbows.”
“But the more you can recognize your own signals and how you step up, you are going to find that the really big opportunities and disruptions don’t happen to you, they happen for you,” said Worthy.