The Nature of Things
I arrive at work in high spirits on Monday morning and walk around the office to greet all of my employees. We are getting ready for our Monday morning meeting. After being off for the weekend, there’s some catching up to do. I enjoy this time of renewing our contact. It’s like the “break-fast” of work.
I duck into my office to fire up my computer so I can check my email before the meeting. As the dark screen springs to life and the email application comes up, my phone rings with the first crisis of the week. While trying to sort out the particular urgent need of the angry person at the other end of the phone, I glance at the number of unread email messages … 328. My heart sinks in my chest. Finally, I’m able to hang up, promising to get back to the caller with an answer this very morning. As I run to my meeting, I notice the light on my phone is flashing to indicate that, while I was on the phone, someone else had called and left a message. Whew!
I don’t know about you, but this is a typical day. Hundreds of emails arrive in my inbox every day. I receive 10 to 20 voice mail messages just for good measure, and this doesn’t even include the face-to-face interactions.
It used to be that I could go off on a two-week trip and, when I came back, the department secretary would hand me four or five pink slips of paper with messages from people who couldn’t make a decision without my input. Now, I leave my desk for five minutes and there are four or five voice mail messages awaiting my return. When you add all of the email, instant messages and … well, general interruptions, you begin to get a picture of my day.
I don’t know about you, but I’d really like it if the world would stand still for just one day. I realize that this is but a fantasy, since nothing stands still. Of course, this isn’t a new phenomenon. Three thousand years ago, King Wen wrote the I Ching, or “The Book of Change.” In the book, he describes the nature of change and offers to help its readers learn to be in harmony with change.
And of course, change is even more ancient than 3000 years. Just look at nature. Nature gives us examples of inevitability, such as the tide or the flow of rivers. These teach us that change is happening at all times, whether we are ready or not.
Our goal is to be in harmony with what is – don’t push the river. Even when change is sudden and violent, such as the shifting of the tectonic plates, it is still our job to be in harmony with what is.
In the next few weeks, we will explore change and how to thrive in times of transformation. I invite you to join me on this journey. Together, we will learn how to lead a culture shift. How do we dance with change, no matter how fast it comes?
In the next few postings, we’ll explore this together. I look forward to engaging with you to lead the culture shift to performance improvement.
I duck into my office to fire up my computer so I can check my email before the meeting. As the dark screen springs to life and the email application comes up, my phone rings with the first crisis of the week. While trying to sort out the particular urgent need of the angry person at the other end of the phone, I glance at the number of unread email messages … 328. My heart sinks in my chest. Finally, I’m able to hang up, promising to get back to the caller with an answer this very morning. As I run to my meeting, I notice the light on my phone is flashing to indicate that, while I was on the phone, someone else had called and left a message. Whew!
I don’t know about you, but this is a typical day. Hundreds of emails arrive in my inbox every day. I receive 10 to 20 voice mail messages just for good measure, and this doesn’t even include the face-to-face interactions.
It used to be that I could go off on a two-week trip and, when I came back, the department secretary would hand me four or five pink slips of paper with messages from people who couldn’t make a decision without my input. Now, I leave my desk for five minutes and there are four or five voice mail messages awaiting my return. When you add all of the email, instant messages and … well, general interruptions, you begin to get a picture of my day.
I don’t know about you, but I’d really like it if the world would stand still for just one day. I realize that this is but a fantasy, since nothing stands still. Of course, this isn’t a new phenomenon. Three thousand years ago, King Wen wrote the I Ching, or “The Book of Change.” In the book, he describes the nature of change and offers to help its readers learn to be in harmony with change.
And of course, change is even more ancient than 3000 years. Just look at nature. Nature gives us examples of inevitability, such as the tide or the flow of rivers. These teach us that change is happening at all times, whether we are ready or not.
Our goal is to be in harmony with what is – don’t push the river. Even when change is sudden and violent, such as the shifting of the tectonic plates, it is still our job to be in harmony with what is.
In the next few weeks, we will explore change and how to thrive in times of transformation. I invite you to join me on this journey. Together, we will learn how to lead a culture shift. How do we dance with change, no matter how fast it comes?
In the next few postings, we’ll explore this together. I look forward to engaging with you to lead the culture shift to performance improvement.
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