Lessons for a father - Dealing With New-ness

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Is all that is new good for us? That can be the case if we respond to the change, the newness, well. Easier said than done though.

Change almost always seems like a dance to me. So many things can go wrong at any time that anything less than our complete focus might not work. But that is hard work. The incessant focus can be very demanding and who is to say whether the change is actually good?

I have had the privilege to witness some organizations and teams go through change. The what's and the why's, at least on paper, are easy to answer. The change usually, at an organization level, is a function of a new target market, increased focus or just good business sense. In all the mayhem (temporary usually) that follows, we tend to forget that organizations are not just cubes and ledgers. The most important component going through the change is the human element.

A lot of organizations going through changes, and becoming new in the process, tend to keep human issues for later. Phrases like "all that emotion is not my job" or "they need to get with the program or leave" tends to make people believe that they are not important for or needed in the future of the organization. 

Not dealing with the team's issues on time might resemble a car manufacturer which keeps the task of solving the engine issues "for later".

I read somewhere, that an illusion of communication is worse than no communication. I think the same holds true for progress (like Petronium said many years ago) and being on the same proverbial page. Do not just assume that people will understand the change, help them get there.

As leaders, we must make sure that a change, no matter how minor, is communicated well and our team is ready to be successful with the change and the new-ness as well as possible. 

More importantly, we must make sure that the soft issues, those dealing with our people, are sorted because our ledgers might represent our finances while how we deal with our people depicts something way more important - our culture.