“There is nothing more constant than change” is a saying we already played with as students in university, throwing it back and forth at each other and of course we always thought that the change would lead to the better and that the change is in us. Well, you cannot be right about everything!
Today, the constant change has been professionalized as change management. Now organizations have a clear tendency to create too much complexity in the search for solutions and to stimulate emotions.
Trust is an account into which you must always pay into which in turn will always pay back in dividends!
Even upper level managers are not exempt of this rule. Hope driven confidence: having finally found a strategic breakthrough is in high contrast to the energy consuming process of finding a consensus about it. The individual resources of energy and empathy, to deal with the process of change and its challenges, are starting to run out! Isn’t the main work done by creating a goal? And why doesn’t the organization comply? This is an understandable attitude – but just not helpful. Excuse me for using this expression: this approach is not very “grown up!”
Unfortunately, this approach is the gateway to the “childlike” desire for a correct and magical intervention that will bring the team back on track and reconcile it with goals and change, which could be, for example, the ingenious big event that covers “everything”: a charismatic presenter, media support, and creative involvement with a great atmosphere which is all captured in a corporate video. Everything is beautiful, everything makes sense, but all does not suffice.
A smart manager and his staff once told me: “Trust is an account into which you must always pay into which in turn will always pay back in dividends!” Hats off to them! I can only add: “Only then will you see a return – especially when you need it!”
The same principle applies also to sustainable change management. Effective change requires the ability to clearly see what is really going on and the ability to deal with the emotional fluctuations of systems and individuals in the long term. This is not easy and requires a lot of tenacity, especially from the management and at all other levels. With sustainable trust, self confidence and trust in your own team, this change will lead safely and calmly to a greater success.
It is not possible to delegate change: the essential investments are to work on change continuously and consistently.
On this road, we are happy to support you and we will even build you a magical event tailored for you, and that’s all part of the package price!
Joachim Karnath
