Taking your time and managing change with a new vision

In general, people hate to change.

Changing the big picture, and then changing the fundamentals of what they are doing and why, is something you want to do only occasionally, and usually only in ways that in some way relate to your previous directions.

Change infrequently, or you’ll confuse everyone

You want people to see a logical progression, so that they can understand where you’re going and help you get there. If you routinely change the big direction, hopping from fad to fad and vision to vision, you’ll come across not as visionary but as reactionary and unable to think on your own. Your organization will fill with resentment of your inability to settle on a course, and they will eventually lock up and resist any further change.

The result is logjam.

It takes time to get it right

Remember, we talked about this?

It took me almost two years to come up with the fully formed image of how I wanted things to be. Even now there are corners that are fuzzy, and that’s the case even with my picture from ten thousand feet.

My vision process

I started with some individual goals, projects that seemed interesting and good ideas that I felt we should consider. Over time it became clear to me that the things I cared most about were related, but it wasn’t clear how. I kept paying attention to patterns in my reactions to new ideas and technologies, and kept examining the picture as it was handed down to me, searching for what was slightly wrong about it.

Then, slowly, the core of my vision took shape. Once this was clear I was able to spend some quality time refining it, and two years later started implementing.

2 years? Wasn’t that wasted time!?!

Is this a long time? Maybe.

During those two years we still started the projects that made sense. We made improvements in the way we provide our services and conduct our business. It’s not as if we were just sitting still. We addressed many operating deficiencies, and even now the center is better equipped for the future than when I came. A successful start, and definitely not time wasted.

Also during this time, the team became familiar with me, my core values, and the way in which I make decisions. They became considerably more empowered than when I took the position. And when I was ready with the vision, with the basics out of the way we were all ready to go to the next level and start working on something big.

Maybe a long time. But, no, definitely not wasted time.