All organizations - big or small, corporation or family - are essentially just a collection of people that are in relationship. Duh, you might think. But let's really take a look at this definition.
Relationships can be the obvious interpersonal relationship I have with another person. However, I also have a relationship with my job and with my work process. I have relationships with where I sit, where my parking place is, and the time that I take lunch. I also have a relationship with my sense of identity as a member of the organization that includes my "place" as well as what I and others deem as appropriate behaviors that I can exhibit. EVERYTHING that I encounter in an organization is defined by my relationship with it.
Where this gets interesting is when we begin to look at the impact of change on an organization. The difficulty with change is NOT the obvious disruption that change often causes. The problem with change is the impact it has on relationships. Far too much time is spent by managers and leaders trying to "manage change." Change just is...and it can't be managed!
What can be managed are the relationships I have that are impacted by change. What I can't manage are someone else's relationships! People don't resist change. They resist the consequences of the change to their relationships and they rightfully resent any attempt by others to manage those relationships for them. They resist not being allowed to come to terms with the change to their relationships.
What can be managed by managers and leaders is how change is positioned and presented - how it is communicated. As the psychologist Virginia Satir once said, "...communication is simply the ways we work out common meaning with one another." Communication is a relational activity that requires all parties be engaged in working out common meaning. It's a process of attending to existing relationships and helping to create new relationships.
An organization is simply a collection of people in relationship. If we can learn to pay attention to this fact, and learn to be compassionate in the face of the loss of one relationship as a new one is being born, we create the opportunity to thrive and we create the likelihood of ongoing success.
