Change for the Peak

This past week saw the culmination of a few months work with multiple clients. They were intertwined in dates, locations and approach. Both presented challenges, some complimentary and some contradictory. I was fortunate to have worked with some excellent other people in both cases and I knew I was never alone. Nonetheless it was a mildly grueling push to the top, with the nature of the work relfecting life - the hardest effort was required to get to the summit.

I was heartened in both cases and pleased with both my own personal results and the overall achievements. Importantly, the customer(s) seemed genuinely thrilled and looked to engage further to help their own people acquire pace in the changes they undertook. This sounds like nose on your face obvious stuff but you would be amazed in a corporate sense how little many care about the creation of success and change. The kicker is the latter, and many of us are afraid of change and even more potently frightened of creating or sponsoring change within their own work. It's risky and it may affect the very job you hold. It rocks the boat and may well be a CLM. That's a commonly held bad thing hence we see the idea of change "talked" but not "walked".

At work, when we get into those situations it's difficult as we want to help the customer discover the upsides of what is possible and at the same time help them bridge their fears. It seems very far off-task when this happens and it's disheartening to see strong efforts go to waste if it turns out the change champion was one-dimensional.

This idea of change affects all businesses as the idea of having a customer buy your offering in whatever form its in, means they are adapting their behaviors to use it. So the issues and challenges surrounding change management are something we should all be aware of and I mean that in a self-aware sense and how my customer behaves as well. It's not limited to the commercial world either. Teachers must change students understanding of a topic to create applicable knowledge. Doctors change our physical being in some way that requires adjusted behaviors - a new diet, walking with a cane, or a drug regimen.

Change is all around us and we all look for it in others regardless of what we do. Look inside first though as it's hypocrisy to prescribe that which you aren't prepared to take inboard yourself. The peak beckons those willing to embrace it.