We all have to start somewhere!
Nov 05, 2024
Hello everyone,
I am not even quite sure how to start a blog, but the title says it all! I have been contemplating this first post for a while (and I will likely sleep on this and make further edits in the morning).
Scrappy!
Let me start by telling you who I am. I am "scrappy" business leader, who is not afraid to take on challenges, teach myself anything, and then deliver. And honestly, this is how I found my passion for Change Management. I had proven myself to be a critical thinker who could work well with all types of people and deliver results (without offending or alienating anyone). Based on this demonstrated behavior, I was asked to help with major technology implementation. My title at the time was Training, but I did a little bit of counseling, coordinating, a lot of communicating, recruiting, recognizing, and employee morale(ing). So I was asked to help with training (of course) and maybe some communications. Turns out that I had so much to learn, so I set out to learn it!
Grown up?
I learned it from books, speakers, conferences, and I even went back to school again to learn about Change Management from an academic lens (I also like to go back to school, it is my "safe space", either that or I just like debt...). At that point in my life, I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do when "I grew up". As I was digging in and learning everything I could about Change Management, I had an interaction that made an impact on me. As I was learning more and more about leadership, organizational development, psychology and change management, I realized just HOW MUCH I DID NOT KNOW.
I was experiencing imposter syndrome. Here I was with the title of Vice President and I am realizing that there was so much more to learn. I heard a woman speak at a workshop I was attending and she had some amazing ideas. I went up to her at break and was discussing her ideas and how she put them into practice. It was a great conversation, I felt like we had a good rapport. I asked her, "Do you ever feel like you don't know enough?" Unlike what I imagine would happen today, she looked at me like I had two heads and promptly said, "NO". I was upset by the rebuff, but it made enough of an impact that I started paying attention to other leaders and experts to see if I could pick up on any insights to that question. I found some answers from leaders, women, experts, and thankfully, those conversations taught me two very important lessons:
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An expert can recognize that she does not know everything. Maintaining an open mind allows all of us to grow our knowledge and experience.
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Connecting with another human over an area of concern is a sacred gift.
I was encouraged to grow and give back when I unpacked these lessons.
Navigation Partners
Navigation Partners was founded because as I worked in a large consulting firm providing services to Fortune 500 and even Fortune 100 clients, I realized that what I was able to share with these organizations was needed in more settings than could afford the consulting firm's hourly rate. I wanted to be able to share my knowledge and experience in order to connect with other humans (and organizations) to guide them through organizational changes.
So what is change management anyway?
Great question! It depends... It depends on who you ask and what perspective they are coming from, but for me, Change Management is about people. It is about investing the time to know what their experience is within their specific organization (not a one size fits all theoretical organization) and how the change is going to mess with their world. Is it going to be a small influence that they will barely notice such as a new color in a logo or is it going to significantly impact HOW, WHERE, and WHAT they do for their livelihood? These are two very different situations that will require very different approaches to change management.
Bottom line - understand your people, ask them how they feel, meet them where they are, and then do everything in your power to take care of them and make the transition as easy as possible for them.
The foundation of this blog is to break all of this down as much as possible and start a discussion on different ways to look at change and working through it. I have practices that have worked for me, but because change is about people, there will always be different ways of doing things, so share, challenge, question and in the end, we will all benefit and grow together.
Welcome to the Navigation Partners community! I am glad you are here and I look forward to seeing you again next week.
Be well,
Christy
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