Change is Hard. Why do it?
December 19, 2024 | By David M. Wagner
Thousands of dollars. 8 hours of trudging up and down several floors. Exhaustion, pain, and hunger.
All to move 3 blocks.
That pretty much sums up my day yesterday.
It may seem like a lot of effort for a fairly small move, and it was.
But the payoff is huge.
Lower rent. Space that’s better suited to my needs. Avoiding the headache who is my now-former landlord.
Still, change is costly.
Sometimes that cost is financial. Almost always, change comes at the expense of your energy as a leader – getting everyone on the same page, overcoming resistance, and managing change plans.
How do you know if it will be worth it?
If you’re contemplating changes for your team or organization, here are three clues that it may be time to make the shift.
You’ve been talking about change for a while
A client shared their appreciation that, by facilitating their strategic planning process, I had helped move their team from talk to action.
Their stakeholders had been discussing these ideas for a long time.
One might interpret their lack of movement as a sign that those changes weren’t all that important.
Instead, it turned out the organization was hungry for change.
They just needed some help figuring out how to make it happen.
If you or your stakeholders have been debating adjustments for a while, that might be a sign that the real question is not “if,” but “how.”
The cost of keeping the status quo is too high
A nonprofit director I worked with had difficulty with one of their middle managers.
They provided feedback. They set clear expectations. They offered coaching.
The employee’s behavior improved, just not enough to cancel out the harm they were causing.
The director let that employee go because that harm was greater than the cost and difficulty of firing them.
Whether it’s dealing a problematic employee or some other thorn in your organization’s side, recognize when you’ve exhausted your other options and change is not just warranted, but necessary.
The opportunity presented by change is too great
I led a strategic assessment for the dynamic new director of a well-established nonprofit.
Things at the organization were…fine.
The status quo was not dire. They had successful programs and enough money in the bank to continue their work.
Yet, this director and the board suspected – and my assessment confirmed – that they could do so, so much more.
Fulfilling that opportunity to increase their impact would require many changes, some of the complex, risky, and time-consuming.
Yet faced with the chance to accomplish even more good, this organization felt they had no real choice but to dive in.
What opportunities might be too good for you to pass up?
Change can be daunting. But it may also be necessary, or too beneficial to ignore. If you’re ready for a change, set a free consultation to discuss how a consultant or coach can help get you there.