Yesterday, I was working with an excellent leadership team for the day. I have been an executive coach supporting the CEO of this company for several years, actually more than several, for four years. We hold a leadership day as needed.
Here is what became super evident, as we plowed into looking for the next steps for organizational change. The company is growing and even in this economy, this year will see at least seven to ten new employees joining the ranks.
It was most fascinating to watch the leaders make decisions about adding another person to their esteemed executive ranks. There was, as is natural, some reluctance since they have all been together for three years and work well together.
Change always means that moving parts are repackaged and reformed.
When it is comfortable, we all want to resist making it different. When we know our roles, we can wake up in the morning and feel secure about the day, well, sort of.
There is always the moments of sudden change that come along and slam us to the ground: an unfortunate accident, an act of weather, something falling from the sky.
There is little choice; we must make change happen.
Then, like yesterday, there is the type of change that comes from decisions we make. As I watched and guided the leadership team through this seemingly conscious and determined change, I knew that on a subconscious level the resistance was about safety.
Would their jobs be as safe if another came to be part of this high level team? Would the CEO change the way he interacted if another “outsider” joined their inner party?
Think about how you react to change.
It took much of the day for this team to make the decision to move over for a new teammate. It would be someone who would be hired from outside the organization. Now the next level of change was ready to occur; each would have to look at both the observable qualifications candidates bring and the invisible personality “quirks” that would make the new member a fit. Not easy, yet, as they really looked at their own individual resistance to anybody joining them, they realized this is deeply wired into the human psyche.
Change is good and change is complex.
Think about the varying levels of complexity next time you are ready to bring someone to your team. We are wired to resist change and yet, that is really the only constant there is!
