Change Management

 

This year has been full of change, more than usual it feels like. It seems like it's happening to everyone, not just me. Heard so many stories from friends and family that make this year seem more overwhelming than most. There was no shortage of bad news during the first half of this year and it's not over yet.  It feels like we have been chasing an imaginary goal to bring things back to a normal state. 

The real problem with this plan is that change truly is inevitable and normal is always changing.  While we try to make the world around us more comfortable to what we have been used to, the world continues to evolve in ways we never imagined.  Just because everything is changing we shouldn't worry too much because our core beliefs still hold true and if a change truly works better it will stick around for a while and if it doesn't it will change.  

This weekend marked the autumnal equinox and you can see signs of changing seasons everywhere. Tree leaves are changing color and falling.  Weather is getting cold quicker at night and school is back in session. Personally I am going through lots of change this next week so it seemed fitting to make this post, got a new job with lots of new and exciting challenges, seems like it will be good, but it's much harder going from 4 months off to back to work. Will have to hit the ground running, but that's the way I like it.  

One thing I've learned over the years is embracing change generally leads to the best success and personal satisfaction. Resistance is futile when change is inevitable. New schedules will mess up routine but optimizations can be introduced to make a change more tolerable. Now for the tricky part, practice adapting to change whenever possible to become a more resilient human.  Take a lesson from the change management playbooks used in critical infrastructure, every change is reviewed regularly to help communicate intentions, plan for possible impacts, and stay prepared for back out and recovery plans if a change fails.

Cheers to change! For the better, worse or otherwise it will continue to happen!