Going for a walk

by | Feb 18, 2021 | Change |

going for a walk

Going for a walk with two children under 7 and a puppy is never going to stick to the path. It inevitably has different speeds from running to not moving and everything in between. And mud will be found, trees need to be climbed, snacks demanded, and the walk will take longer than you planned.

This is a rule or law of life. Not a fancy Pythagoras rule or even Sod or Murphy’s law, but a law none the less. Every parent and person with small children or puppies in their lives know it to be true.

And so we expect it. We are not surprised it. In fact, we tend to nod our heads in that knowing fashion when someone tells us such a story. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Some of us deal with this law of life by bringing a massive backpack with us on each walk trying to cater for every possibility. However this is where Sod’s law kicks in as the one thing we didn’t bring is the thing needed on that particular walk. Others of us deal with the law of life by bringing nothing. Going with the flow and trying not to care. Or at least projecting the not caring image outwardly.

This law of life is also the law of managing and implementing change. Weirdly, when dealing with organisational change we some how think it is going to be straightforward. That everyone will stick to the plan, it will go at a steady pace, delivered on time, and no tantrums will occur.

This never happens.

Business processes, people, and organisational cultures develop over time to maintain things the way they are. And therefore naturally resist change. And we, like children and puppies, get distracted, engage with things we don’t need to, and have needs that need to be met.

This, too, is a law of life. Not a fancy one, but one every change maker knows to be true.

We should expect it rather than be surprised by it.

The choice is up to us.

Photo by Annie Spratt

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