Someone Unexpected to Thank This Week

Nov 24, 2020

When you’re taking a bite of the Panang Curry dish that your neighborhood Thai place makes, what do you think about?

If you’re like me, you think about how the dish is a dream-come-true. You think that you would be perfectly content eating it every day for the rest of your life. 

You likely do not think, “I’m grateful that the chef put in the exact amount of salt that they did.”

There are so many changes cooked up at our organizations that are simply bland. To play with this metaphor a bit more, there are also changes that are over-seasoned, over-cooked, or forgotten at the back of the fridge for longer than we’d care to admit.

How is it that some changes that go so well, and others don’t? 

“Luck,” you say, with a slight lift at the end like a half question mark. Luck could play a part. 

It’s more likely that the change was well managed. 

Like a chef, the person who manages changes thinks about what to add, when, why, and in a way that can sometimes make you relatively unconscious of the change itself. Like adding in the right amount of salt at the right time, if done well, you may not even notice that the change was managed

Change management is an intentional, strategic practice that honors process and, most importantly, honors people who are the recipients of the change. 

For instance, if you think of a new software program being rolled out at your organization, the project management part of that process would be the technical elements of making sure that the software licences are bought, that it’s accessible on employees’ computers, and many other technical elements that are outside of my scope of interest. The change management part of that is the people side of the project, which is entirely in my scope of interest. It’s making sure that the employees understand why this change is needed, how they can successfully use the new program, and how their continued adoption of the change really matters. It’s a lot of strategic, behind-the-scenes work that makes sure not only that the software program gets rolled out, but that you feel confident and valued.

When a major project like this is rolled out and totally flops, it’s usually because there was only a focus on the core project elements of the project, not on the very essential human side of things. We notice when it goes poorly, but if it goes well, we may not think much about it. We don’t thank the chef for that perfect pinch of salt.

Whom to thank

We are all experiencing so much change right now, and it can be extremely frustrating. 

I’m not expecting you to be grateful for all the change happening. But I am challenging you to be grateful for those who successfully managed changes you experienced. 

Think about some recent changes that happened at your organization. Upon reflection, which ones went so well that you didn’t really think much about them? With it being Thanksgiving in the U.S. this week, reach out to those who led those changes to express your gratitude. What they did really made a difference.

 

P.S. It also couldn’t hurt to thank the chef around the corner.

P.P.S. If you want some tips to help manage strategic changes, grab this free Resource Guide "5 Steps to Leading Strategic Initiatives in Times of Change"!

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