Reframing How We See Change

A few days ago, I decided to change a photograph that’s been on display for the last several years in one of the picture frames that currently grace my desk. The photograph was a picture I had taken of my girls several years ago on one of those summery days we tend to look back on fondly through a soft-focus lens. Of course, in the time since that photograph, my girls have grown up and it seemed overdue that this photograph be replaced by a more recent memory of our time together.

Although the act of replacing this photograph was fairly mundane, I still found myself being much more aware of this picture frame’s presence on my desk. Naturally, my first assumption was that this was simply a result of a new image staring out at me from that frame. However, what I realized was that this greater sense of awareness regarding this picture frame on my desk had less to do with the image itself and more to do with the fact that it had changed from something familiar and consistent, to something new and different.

What’s also interesting is how something that I took for granted as being a part of my work environment is now within my sphere of attention, even though the change itself wasn’t something dramatic like removing the picture frame and replacing it with something else. In this case, the reason why it’s now in my area of focus is simply because I took the time to notice it, recognize the need to change it and now that it’s been updated, I am able to appreciate how its presence impacts my work environment.

Of course, change has become the latest buzzword in the business world, with many touting change as ‘the new reality’ of this upcoming decade. The reality, though, is that change has always played a front-and-centre role in all manners of human activity, be it business, politics or social mores. As such, it’s not so much that we need to accept change as some new form of reality; instead, it’s more a matter of reassessing our perception of change and in particular, how we choose to manage it.

When we look at change in terms of our business or organization, we often present this notion that it has to be large-scale both in its visibility and overall impact; that if the change is not significant or dramatic, it won’t be noticed or make any real difference. This is also why many companies and business owners shy away from making any changes because they fear that it means having to completely rework their existing processes or how they conduct their business.

And yet, the reality is that while these grand efforts might make those big splashes that we can revolve major presentations around or organize a comprehensive roll-out to announce its arrival, many times the changes that we need to do to make our businesses operate more effectively are small ones, ones that tend to exist within the daily moments of our workday lives.

In looking ahead, we need to remind ourselves that change needn’t be overly complicated or painful in order for us to be able to see our world – and with it our business – in a whole new light.

Indeed, sometimes that insight can be gained through an action that is as simple as changing a picture in a frame.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

1. Finding Some Perspective in The Cosmos
2. Will Businesses See The Elephant In The Bigger Picture?
3. Helping Others Embrace Change
4. Learning From Your Mistakes – 4 Steps To Turn Failure Into Success
5. Why Employers Need To Engage With A Purpose
6. 4 Questions To Help You Figure Out If It’s Time To Move On

posted on March 25th, 2010 | 1 Comment » | Tags: awareness, change, expectations, fear, focus, perception, perspective, work environment |