What changing bed sheets teaches me about Change Management

Just as I was making peace with my resolve to write being melted into oblivion by the heatwave, a spark of inspiration and energy ignited a timid creative push. Ironically, the heatwave bears most of the responsibility and, therefore, the credit for it!

My survival instinct (which sounds so much more constructive than “retail therapy craving”) pushed me to buy a cooling gel mattress protector, which turned out to be one of my best investments yet. I was… how should I put it… “hopefully skeptical and skeptically hopeful” when I hit that “add to cart” button, but now I can say that I am “almost truly happy.” This being said, my recent purchase turned out to be quite an accurate analogy for technology acquisitions – simply getting and installing it, did not (completely) solve the problem, and it actually created additional challenges. The fabric of the mattress protector is very silky and smooth (I know, I know, it starts to sound like an advertisement), which made it impossible to use with my regular flat bed sheets. The solution presented itself as one item I have spent most of my adult life hating passionately and skillfully avoiding up to this point: the fitted sheet!!!

As I struggled under the ceiling fan to put on the fitted sheet on my previously-loved-for-its-sheer-size-but-not-anymore-because-of-the-fitted-sheet-torture bed, (in case you are wondering, a Euro Super King size bed, which makes for an approx. US California King), I wanted to find a deeper meaning to this effort. The thought of starting a series of unconventional fitness advice crossed my mind, and I could have launched it with this prompt: “Skipped gym today and put on a fitted sheet instead. Follow me for more guilt-free alternative fitness tips.” Maybe as I was subconsciously processing the guilt of skipping a Tuesday random thought issue, the question popped in my mind: what if the whole point of this human-versus-fabric struggle was to bring inspiration for change work?

Still enjoying the somewhat cooler morning in one of my favorite bedding sets now complete with a fitted sheet, lying comfortably on the cooling mattress protector, here we go with a few takeaways, celebrating one (temporary and utterly vain) victory for human over fitted sheet this past weekend.

Arguably, the only thing more frustrating than a fitted sheet is a fitted sheet that doesn’t fit. A few years ago, one of my best friends came to visit me in Tallinn. As she helped me put on new bed sheets and we folded the edges of the flat sheet under the mattress, she asked me why I didn’t buy fitted sheets. Now please bear with me and suspend judgement for a second, as you read my reply: “Because I don’t know what bed I will sleep in next, so it makes no sense. The only thing more frustrating than a fitted sheet is a fitted sheet that doesn’t fit.” Relocating so often over the years meant that it made no sense for me to buy my own furniture, and one thing I really did not need to be strict about was the mattress size in the new home. Small fitted sheets are useless on a larger bed, while the larger ones you need to fold them under the mattress, so what’s the difference from using a flat one? At least, this was my reasoning… Last year, I finally gave in and decided to settle for a little longer than usual and bought furniture for the first time in my life, which meant a mattress of my own choosing and decision-making. And now, the cooling protector challenge made me reassess my surprisingly strong, and (slightly) irrational, standpoint against fitted sheets. I am not a full convert, and I believe this is yet another example of how things in life and business are never simply clear-cut binary. Fitted sheets helped me address a very specific immediate need under (stable) medium-term good visibility and control conditions, while flat sheets give me full flexibility for any future “bed changing decisions.” Which leaves me with a question for change work: what is the “organizational bedding” equivalent for balancing long game flexibility needs with clear(er) visibility over solutions for immediate requirements?

Bridging the great divide: ironed bed sheets or not ironed bed sheets. Is making time for it the solution to iron this one out? My relationship with my mom slightly improved over the years, yet despite our best efforts, there is still one great divide that simply cannot be bridged: ironing the bed sheets. She sits firmly on the “You MUST iron the bed sheets to get a good night’s sleep” edge, while I am on the “Oh, PLEASE!!! Can we just move on from this already?” side. When I used to go visit her, I felt really bad every single time the pristine looking freshly ironed bed sheets would wrinkle the very moment I sat my pajama and the toiletries bag on the bed. Conversely, when she was over at my place, I could see her trying to take out the slightest creases in the pillowcases with the back of her hand before getting into bed. For a brief time, we bridged this divide with the absolute textile abomination: the crepe cotton bed sheets!!! As life gave me new additions to my collection of natural wrinkles, the “beauty sleep” in crepe cotton bed linen started to turn me into a Shar-Pei, so thankfully that came to an abrupt halt a few years ago. When catching-up over the phone this weekend, she told me that, among other things, she ironed some bed sheets… in red alert heatwave… Mumbling to myself something along the general lines of “Give me strength and prosecco!!!”, I quickly changed the subject. And now, I can’t help but think there is value for change work in this conversation. Apparently, the main challenge is having the time to iron, and making the decision to allocate time to this activity (based on individual preferences, generational conditioning, and other factors.) There is an interesting article on pedestrian.tv from back in April, 2020, looking into an empirical research conducted at the beginning of the pandemic about how people re-allocated their time at home, and whether they kicked ironing bed sheets up their to-do lists. Titled “Apparently Some of You Iron Your Sheets & I Need to Know Where You Get The Fkn Time”, it said that the results leaned toward “Team No Iron”, with “Team Iron” winning extra points for strength of conviction – “Team No Iron, (…) questioned how people had the time of day to stop to iron their bedding. But Team Iron, oh boy. Not only do people iron their pillowcases, but they also iron their sheets, doona covers, the whole bedding kit and caboodle. Some see it as an indulgence, others as a guilty pleasure. One person claimed that it adds to the whole fresh sheets thing, which is arguably one of the best feelings in the whole world.” This debate reminds me of countless change work conversations when, faced with the probability of not getting the exact expected (ideal) outcome and the necessity to reassess, executive sponsors and stakeholders come with the solution to “put more hours into it.” According to extensive research (no kidding!), getting the impeccable “hotel room-like look” for a bed comes with much more than just ironing time. It is about the (correct) choice and combination of fabric, size, washing cycle, detergent and softener, drying method, overall bedding skills of hospitality staff, and so much more. Not every problem can be solved by “putting more hours into it”; sometimes you need to go back and make different choices and decisions.

Pro-tip to change bed sheets easier and faster: do it when you are NOT tired and impatient to just get into bed already. While mindlessly browsing the internet for tips and tricks to change bed sheets easier and faster, I ended up going down a rabbit hole on this topic on one of the social media. Who knew that changing bed sheets is one of the most frustrating things ever and such a social unifier? I got fascinated by how many tips rely on turning things inside out, like the duvet cover or the pillowcases. At one point, I discovered this gem of advice from someone who introduced themselves as “working for a high-end bedding company”: “(…) At work, we tend to turn the duvet cover inside out, secure the ends in the corner, then fold the cover over the filler and button that one up, then fluff and pray nothing moves.” Is it just me or does this sound a little bit similar to change work? But then, oh, my, in an ocean of tips and tricks related to “methodologies” and “interventions”, this one shone bright as anything but that: change your bed sheets when you are not already tired, and everything seems so much harder because you just want to get into bed and call it a day! We tend to get so focused on the process and the steps and the tools, that we oftentimes miss out on plain common sense and a little bit of forethought.

I read somewhere that the reason it is so difficult to neatly fold a fitted sheet is because you are actually folding five different sheets at the same time. This sounds borderline impossible to me, and not just because math is involved! In addition to making me understand the saying “Being an adult is like folding a fitted sheet” on a deeper level, it also prompted me to make a promise to myself. If, by some twisted science-fiction development, humankind becomes required to iron bedding and fold fitted sheets, I will promptly open the door to the closest wardrobe. Not to take out the bedding to comply, but to run to Narnia!

Until next week, keep calm and think about what decisions and choices you can make differently before you get tired.