Book Notes: “Change Management that Sticks” (Takeaway #7)

Do you love people? Me too! (Well, once I get to know them). It's difficult to form great bonds at work, but with change management you can have the best of both worlds.

Here is my takeaway #7?from a book that makes organizational project work worthwhile, “Change Management that Sticks: A Practical People-centered Approach, for High Buy-In and Meaningful Results”:

7) “Change Management means many things to many people. To me, the essence is about creating deep human connections. The kind of authentic connections that motivate the permission to choose change. This book is fundamentally about how to create those connections. Then how to keep them aligned to project purpose.”

Note: This comes from the Introduction (page xxiii).

I think it is important that there are several takeaways highlighted from the "Introduction" section of this book. Most people are not familiar with Change Management. It is an essential element of today's working environment.

Most people are performing some change management duties naturally in their positions. Some positions (HR Managers, Project Managers, and Department Managers to name a few) are called on to manage the people-side of change, without the formal title, on top of their regular duties. Most people spring into action when the organization springs something on the company. It becomes damage control. That is how I became familiar with the field of Change Management and better practices.

Personally, I'm not naturally an extrovert. I'm not a robot, so I do like interacting with people. If we didn't know it before Covid, we know now that we all need some socialization. It's just that I like people more when I get to know them on a deeper level. Turns out, change management, project management, and knowledge management are all dependent on good people relations.

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STORY TIME

When I first started my career, I had a hard time finding the balance of talking with people and getting to know them, without feeling like I was not being a dedicated worker or that I was delving into people's personal lives too much. I think I have found a good balance or at least have a better internal gauge to monitor it. Change Management along with whatever project we are working on gives us purpose behind having meaningful conversations and forming "deep human connections".

One of my good friends came from one of my most awkward working experiences. We were both thrust into a similar situation learning the ropes so-to-speak. We were basically hired for the same job. Our employer couldn't choose between us, so he chose both of us. I'm not sure how much of that we were expected to work together or how much of that we were being evaluated against one another.

I have found that when people are good people to one another changes can be managed so much better and more easily. He and I did several projects together or apart where we helped each other and our teams to succeed in a tough working environment that was not about forming a good working culture. He and I got off on a good foot so-to-speak, when we stayed at the same company condo for a week or two before our families could come join us in the new location that we were each moving our families to.

We got to know each other, discovered we had the same excitement and nerves, and cared about each other's success. We each had different strengths to offer and didn't fear the other person's abilities compared with our own. We opted to work together for one another's good regardless of anyone else's intention for our working relationship. At some point we each found out that the job was not worth winning over the other person anyway, and we each long since found new jobs, but our friendship has continued. We still do things together, including helping each other advance in our professions (the essence of networking).

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I'm a fairly open person as evidenced by the stories I share in my social posts. I'm open to my humanity and relish making work a more engaging atmosphere for good human experiences. I'm grateful for all the co-workers I have worked with. I have gained so much value and understanding from those relationships in life and in work. I cherish the people-side of it, meaning how we have matured as human beings and just enjoyed each other's friendships, as much as anything else I have gained from those interactions.

Granted, there are politics to be concerned about. You can't invite a co-worker to some kind of crazy unprofessional activity outside of work, for instance, and then expect you will both be professional inside of work. But my life inside and outside of work are not incongruous, so it's not that difficult to let people into my life, and to benefit both worlds.

Having respect for others, understanding that even executives are just people, and getting to know others in appropriate ways and timing only strengthens the possibility of pulling off whatever nearly impossible change project that takes a solid unified team effort to achieve.

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