It’s about achieving a dynamic balance.

As change practitioners, we can often struggle to stay connected to our inner nature. In this post I’ll finish describing ways in which to achieve a dynamic balance between who you are and how you show up as a change practitioner. (My three most recent prior posts address this topic as well.) Once again, I will call on the sapling/trunk metaphor.

The trunk’s function is to safeguard the sapling’s inner nature, not to become such a dominant force that the sapling’s spirit is lost. High-impact change professionals are able to achieve this dynamic balance.

There is no question we need defense mechanisms to cope when we feel the pressure to subjugate our true core in order to cater to the wishes of others. The challenge is how to employ this armor without losing our connection to what it is there to protect—how not to fall asleep and forget who we are and the positive impact our uniqueness can have for clients.

Done right, uncovering our core character is a messy, extended, resource-consuming, and emotionally laden process—not something most professional change agents would describe as a lot of fun. It’s not for the timid or faint of heart.

This is why most of the practitioners I know who have pursued such a path are the ones who did so in conjunction with their pursuit of becoming a strategic and invaluable resource for their organizations. They may have had reasons to engage in this very personal work other than raising the bar on their professional capabilities—it is not for me to say. I’m just observing that the change professionals I’ve personally had contact with who have engaged this kind of deep, introspective self-learning are ones who also rose to the top of their games—the ten-percenters—practitioners who are perceived by the leaders they serve as strategic, invaluable resources.

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It’s about achieving a dynamic balance