Permanent Change

I have attended courses at work where we have delved deep into situations that require Change Management and various scenarios and spoken at length on what works and doesn't. While in theory this works beautifully and we can think calm and even out of the box in reality it's a tough ask. This morning’s events as simple as it seems when I started writing it had so many life lessons to offer.

After eighteen plus months of being at home forgetting how the school even looked the excitement was palpable when finally the schools decided to reopen for all grades in a staggered manner. We heard of roll number bifurcation and marked calenders on all days the kids will be in school.The enthusiasm and energy that followed in getting things ready almost made me nostalgic. The kids had meticulous planned every thing including the once upon a time bought lunch boxes and water bottles that I had even forgot existed. The day arrives and of course kids are ready ahead of time. Not surprising as usually they are prompt and today was a super special day. I am trying to be that mom finishing things early in the morning to drop my younger daughter at school and get a head start with my work. Here's how the rest of the hour unfolds.

 

The government has declared a rain holiday as always when it's bright and sunny and no one has a clue till we reach school. There is a line to get in and the cars are turning back. The mandate is clear that there is no school. Then we hear it’s no in-person school and kids can take the class online. The kids return home extremely disappointed that first day of in-person school never happened. Of course the fact that 18 months they did not do it and next week they can go again are logics that don’t make sense anymore. As simple as this sounds, the once in a while rain holiday that used to cause so much joy became the villain today. The kids were ok to be stuck in school in the rain or storm than take the online class again. A lot of fireworks before Deepavali and we got home for the online class. Then my house help shows up with her daughter as she had the exact similar plan of dropping her in school and coming to work, but well a rain holiday that was so common and fun once changed her day too.

 

Very important lesson learnt as we have seen that change is the only thing constant in the last 18 months and how much ever you coach your brain implementing it is no mean task. Yes, its improved by leaps and bounds for a person like me who likes things well planned but a simple morning has so many nuances involved. Extrapolate this to hybrid working model at office or starting offices in person. There is so much change management involved, mindset change and each now has the flexibility to choose. Even with all the rationale, you still are not equipped to make the decision. You ask folks to come to office, while a portion of the folks are excited for some its still the pandemic and set ways of working in their hometown that they won’t want to come back. You say WFH permanently, then the question of burnout, in-person interaction and commute comes into question. Hence the word HYBRID as we deal with this to give us a middle ground while we work it out to plan this change management. Of course, this is applicable not in all situations but when you have the luxury of taking that call and experimenting it out. This then leads to innovation and interesting solutions that you otherwise wouldn’t have thought of. Are we pushing the change to another day and think we are in control? You wish but the faster you adapt the better.