My Parents’ Wisdom About Change Management

My parents are the quintessence of change advocacy. As immigrants to the United States over 40 years ago, they assimilated into a part of the world that was enduring immense social, political, and economic transformation. Through the ebb and flow of these transformative elements, my parents found elegantly simple and effective ways to handle them.

I have captured their perspectives about change through two posts: Mom’s Wisdom about Change Management and Dad’s Wisdom about Change Management. Since one of the posts generated more hits than the other, I wanted to consolidate their perspectives: Change that we endure, or have endured, is to instill hope, confidence, and strength in others.

In accordance with my mom’s perspective, change becomes a part of history, establishing a foundation to help others to attain personal and professional goals. Many organizations use “inside-out” planning to drive their operations, making very quick and objective decisions about the future without carefully evaluating how they have shaped the hearts and minds of their stakeholders. It’s always important for organizations to develop and discuss case studies of deployed strategic initiatives. The successful implementation of change involves a thorough review of historical decisions and a compelling vision for the future.

My father’s perspective about the inevitability about change focuses on the future. “Inside-out” planning, while potentially improved with a thorough review of historical decisions and a compelling vision for the future, is always subject to external change. This can be an incredibly unnerving reality unless organizations centralize planning and engagement around stakeholders — employees, investors, customers, distributors, policymakers, educators, and anyone else who may be able to anticipate external changes that “inside-out” planners can’t anticipate. Although change is inevitable, we have opportunities to build and cultivate multiple coalitions to handle transition.

Change that we desire for ourselves should primarily benefit the needs and preferences for others. That means that we should put the hope, confidence, and strength of others well ahead of our own. It’s one of the many, many lessons that I learned from my favorite change advocates. Thank you, Mom and Dad!