I’ve heard this a lot lately. We hold back or we hold our teams back because “We aren’t ready.”
So we wait until things feel solid, until the risks feel manageable. And while we are waiting, what we want to start doing just keeps dragging out. Do we have time for that? NO!
The research—and frankly, 30 years of watching organizations navigate change—tells a different story.
Mastery experiences—doing something real and navigating the outcome—are the single strongest driver of self-efficacy. Confidence follows action. Not the other way around.
People don’t move because they are ready. People become ready because they move.
Readiness isn’t a starting point. It’s a result. It grows from action, from small experiments. Planning can help.
But readiness comes from doing. Trying something. Navigating it. Coming out the other side is how we step into the future quickly.
Name the change you or your team has been “almost ready for” the longest. What’s one action you could take this week? Not the whole plan. Just one small move.
Remember, your job isn’t to eliminate uncertainty before people move. It’s to make it safe enough to take one small step—and it creates trust, if you take it with them.
You’re More Future-Ready Than You Think!
Want a few more tips to help you and your team take action and step into the future quickly? Check out this short video.
* For those interested in the research I mentioned, you can find it here:
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control. W.H. Freeman.