An Exchange on Managing Change

The Talent Foundation www.talentfoundation.com is a not for profit, networking organisation developing new thinking, undertaking practical research and creating business tools to enable businesses and individuals to adapt, grow and thrive in a world of change.
Gary’s just been to their Summer Networking Event on 11 June 2008 at the Centre for Excellence and Leadership. They use a simple approach that works – a few short inputs on the issue from a range of perspectives followed by an opportunity to give your own views and hear the views of others. The theme for this last event focused on ‘Managing Change’ and it was intriguing to see the different (or are they just the same old…) reactions to the use of the word ‘change’ and what issues/associations and opportunities this raise for people!
We were all asked to bring some change related quotes that resonated for us or represented what managing change meant for us and then in small groups we were encouraged to dialogue around one or two that stood out for our particular group.What became apparent was that actually it’s the use of the word ‘change’ itself that can often cause the most distress or problems! Which got us to reflecting on is this still the right word to use or is there something more ‘palatable’ that might help alleviate some of the people centred change issues we can face?