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No matter what level of change you are working at, there are many different approaches you can take. I like to think of the differences as being like the sliders on a stereo EQ control. When tweaking settings for sound, different types of music require different adjustments. Some music sounds best with the bass turned all the way up. Some sounds better when the mids are emphasized.

It is the same with change processes. For some situations, neither a 1 or a 10 is the best option. Instead, an optimal solution lies somewhere along the scale, or in some combination of several scales. For other situations, nothing but short of total commitment to one extreme will work.

There are many dualities to choose among when picking an approach to change, but I want to focus on three in particular. Each is defined below, but I will be devoting individual posts to each pair.

Change vs. Accept It As It Is
The first choice we all have to make is whether a situation should change at all. This may seem obvious, but in some situations it is easy to sit at a 5 and never make a choice at all. In future posts I’ll discuss some research that suggests that it doesn’t really matter what choice you make here, as long as you are committed to the choice and don’t second guess yourself.

Rapid vs. Gradual
After making the decision to change, the next choice is often how much time to devote to the change. In some situations, such as a crisis, extremely rapid change is the only viable option. Often, though, a moderate pace is appropriate.

Many factors go into determining an optimal pace for change. A short list includes: size of the change; amount of change prior to and after the change; and resistance to the change. The full range of the slider can be used on this one!

Creative Destruction vs. Recombination
I take these terms from Change Without Pain by Eric Abrahamson. Creative destruction is the idea of tearing everything down and starting from scratch. Recombination, as the term suggests, implies moving pieces of an existing structure around and creating as little disruption as possible. Huge, revolutionary change processes try to hit a 10 on the creative destruction scale. In the opposite paradigm, the Bottle House is an extreme example of recombination.

So now you know of three ways to tweak a change process. In future posts, I’ll go into more detail about each. In the meantime, please share your thoughts and experiences with dualities and change in the comments.

Related posts:

1. Sliding Scales - Creative Destruction vs. Creative Recombination
2. Sliding Scales - Putting It All Together
3. Sliding Scales - Rapid vs. Gradual Change
4. Get Excited to Change Faster