Creating a roadmap

This morning I once again passed through a new traffic pattern at the corner of my office. Two years ago construction began on the extremely congested intersection of two major roads. Over this time buildings, parking lots, and grassy knolls have been disappearing while new roads, traffic lights and bridges have gone up. Recently the traffic pattern has been changing every month. While I do get a heightened sense of curiosity every time we switch directions, for the most part I feel tired of the constant disruption and uneasiness in not knowing exactly which way I need to go to get to work. There is just too much change.



Tapping into my curious self, I wondered why this change bothered me so much. I love change. I get bored when everything is status quo. So I thought about what is making this experience different. It's the lack of a roadmap.

I believe people have a high tolerance for change if they understand the rationale and direction of the change. I and my fellow commuters have been flying blind for the past two years. We wake up one morning and the road is literally going in another direction and we don't have a clue why. Two years later, I cannot figure out the end game -- things seem to change in counterintuitive ways. I use this road construction as the supreme example of change leadership. I am fully confident that the urban planners who are the root of this construction have a master plan. They know what the road will look like in the end, why the new pattern will be better for traffic, and the winding path to get to the end is carefully laid out step by step. All this knowledge on their part is wonderful , but it doesn't help me. I am lost to the whims of their changes.

When we want to enhance our companies/ organizations/ programs, we set goals and steps to get us there. We usually include all the strategic thinkers in the decision-making. Sometimes that is the senior management, sometimes the board of directors, sometimes a group of committed volunteers. We cannot forget step two - to disseminate the what, why, how - to the people affected by the change. And as the shampoo bottle says - rinse and repeat. Constant awareness of the goal and direction of the changes is paramount to everyone. Who knows? maybe someone will have a suggestion that will make the plan even better.