It serves leaders well to see organisational change as a process.

A process is never a static event, never a once-off. It is continuous, always moving in a forward motion. All of life is a process, everything is becoming more of what it is meant to be. In every process inherent potential is released to express the true nature of being.

All living systems, whether individuals, families or our organisations are constantly in a state of change and becoming. No change initiated is done ‘from scratch’. Wherever you are today in your organisation, you are part of a varied number of processes going on in and around you. Of some you are the Initiator and of others you are a constant Participant.

It is a reality that everything happens around you – or me. This is no statement of arrogance or self-centeredness. This is a statement of truth. I am truly and genuinely the only one that can interpret my reality. The same could be said of you. All of life truly happens in and around you – or me.

This being the case, all the processes you can identify, you are part of. Either as an Observer or as a Participant. None of those processes are completely new. Not because King Solomon said there is nothing new on earth, but because all today’s processes came forth from yesterday’s. What happens today is a continuation of yesterdays happenings. Life unfolds onto itself and it is projected forward from itself. There is always a context for todays happenings and the context came from our yesterdays.  Every great achievement, every great breakthrough, every great discovery, every great process of change facilitated has a history that precedes it.

All today’s greatness was born from a process that brought it to where it is today. There are no vacuums surrounding the birth of greatness. As all systems are inter-connected, so are all time connected.

As the wise man proclaimed, ‘No man is an island’.

The parts and whole of your organisation.

It is imperative in our understanding of organisational change to recognise the parts of a system, the relationship of the parts with one another and how those parts constitute the whole. A paradigm that understands inter-connectedness can help organisational leaders recognise how different parts or sub-systems of their organisations fit together and relate to one another to form the whole.

The whole.

Some people have a preference for seeing the whole, ‘big picture’ first. Great leaders always consider the whole. This movement of thinking is inductive, moving from seeing the whole first, then the parts. Intuitive leaders have the ability to see the ‘big picture’ sooner than most.

The parts.

Some people have a preference for seeing the parts, the ‘detail’ first. Great leaders also consider the parts. This movement of thinking is deductive, moving from understanding the interaction of the parts first, then the whole. The ‘hands-on’ manager has a great ability to work the detail that serve the whole.

See the whole, because in seeing it you will be able to construct the overall strategy of your organisation. In the same ‘breath’ see the parts, because they reveal how the overall strategy can be executed.

One word of advice to leaders. Refrain from ever thinking realities in your organisation are ‘either…or’. Your contributions are much more valuable and your decision-making more relevant when you think in terms of ‘both…and more’.