A change is gonna come; what songs can teach us about handling change

Sam Cooke’s syrupy voice packs a punch both in your gut and in your heart. His plaintiff lyrics to “A Change is Gonna Come” include:

It’s been a long
A long time coming, but I know
A change gon’ come
Oh yes, it will

Change.

Love it, hate it or somewhere in between, change is with us to stay.  Change is wrapped up in a fuzzy
bathrobe and, like it or not, has moved in permanently.

There are as many ways to feel about change as there are ways to deal with change.

This is why, during a recent Learning and Development Roundtable focusing on managing change, I gave participants links to almost 100 songs that all have one thing in common.  They all have something to do with change.

Songwriters have long been our modern-day storytellers.  So why not turn to them for some help managing your own change?

Are you with me?

Here’s how to help yourself deal with change thanks to songwriters:

1. Check out my Spotify change playlist (the link is below)
2. Pick a song at random and Google that song’s lyrics
3. Then reflect on what lessons you can learn about change from those same lyrics
4. Enter that information on this spreadsheet
5. Check out what others have to share about other songs on the same spreadsheet
6. Use your newfound change insight the next time you are bumping up against some welcome or unwelcome change

Access my change playlist here

Musicians have a lot to say about change.  We’d do ourselves well to listen and learn.

Build your change resilience muscles with a little help from our modern-day storytellers.  You and your community will be a little better for it.

Now go on and learn, learn some more, and lead

Learn

• Think about a change you’re facing and use some of the songwriter’s musings about change to help you navigate through it.

Learn some more

• This chef is not very happy about his beloved recipe being compared to something, in his opinion, that is completely different.  No changes are welcome here!

Lead

• Invite a friend and/or colleague to do the above exercise with you and then compare your song change lessons.  And help each other apply the possibilities to a change you’re facing.

P.S.

Is your organization and/or team interested in doing online, on-demand training courses? I’m doing some research and I’d love to chat.  Please feel free to reach out to me.  I’m standing by all ears.