In the midst of all the moving boxes, the uncertainty of what school he will go to, and if he’ll see friends again, my son has had a constant sore tummy. He’s been nervous, upset. On the day of the move, both kids were visibly upset and lashed out a here and there. It was a difficult day. But it wasn’t till the end of the day that they said why they were upset; that they connected their physical feelings with the move.

We see similarities in adults, in organisations, in societies as change happens to us and around us. We are going through enormous change. The internet was just the start. Now we are trying to figure out what to do with the data, how to act wisely, what does responsible data look like, data governance, digital ethics, and so on. Organisations of all types are changing, operating models are disappearing, and questions are continuing to be asked. We get some things right and some things wrong.

Sometimes we feel sick about it all, we have ‘tummy aches’ while other days we are excited. It helpful at times to pause and articulate we are nervous and anxious about. My son struggles to imagine what going to a new school will be like as he can’t picture it and doesn’t know any one there. Many of us in organisations struggle to picture what our organisations will look like in the future and what our role will be or even if we will have a role. It’s often not the digital or data that is the issue, they are symptoms of the bigger change which is the cause of the anxiety.

We can create space to talk about our anxiety or simply plough forward thinking it is just us. The choice is ours.

Photo by Erda Estremera