Changing Like A River: The Introduction, by Becky Spears

As I tested this river metaphor with colleagues, the most frequent question was whether it referred to:

• Navigating a river, or
• Being the river?

Either, and both! Like many who lived before us, we are living in ambiguous, uncertain times. Sometimes we are navigating the river, sometimes we are the river, and sometimes we are in the river.

That Change Word
The second question was about the word change in the title -- does this mean this blog is about change management?

Not exactly, but change has been the number one factor that business leaders have been grappling with throughout my career. Changes in the business environment due to technology advances, emergent competition, maturing industries, globalization, rise of knowledge workers -- the list is very long. Changes that resulted in a need to scale up or down, a need for a new strategy, a need to reorganize resources, a need for new leadership competencies -- this list is also very long. It is not a surprise that the oxymoron -- managing change -- has become so pervasive.

The times are more powerful than our brains.

Pandolfo Petrucci, Lord of Siena, Italy, ruled 1500-1512,

as quoted by Niccolo Machiavelli, Legations, 1494

as quoted by Eamonn Kelly, Powerful Times, 2005

As I've studied history, I've imagined how frightening it would have been to live through so many uncertain times. It seems to me that one huge difference today is the instantaneous global information flow that makes it possible to know almost anything at any time. Events that 100 years ago would take months for us to learn about are known within minutes, providing global opportunity and guidance for those who are listening and poised to act. Yet the information can be an overwhelming flood. Which way to turn? What tactics work best now? How to mobilize the people who are the crown jewels of most businesses today?

At different points in the river we may be swept downstream, stranded, ride the flow, or even select which eddies or currents will further our direction and let us surge ahead of others. There are those who try to dam or divert rivers, and there are rivers that break through their levees.

When you touch something, you change it.

When you change something, it changes you.

Octavia Butler

What does it mean to change like a river?
Rivers adapt to their environs and they change them as well. Similar to the business world, it's a complex system. As a river I may not be able to see around the bend, but there are noticeable indicators that the currents are changing. Identifying those indicators requires filtering, so I can see and focus on the most relevant and critical, and it requires adaptability -- how quickly can I respond?

For a business, changing like a river means that the business has built and developed adaptive human capital -- as individuals, leaders, teams, and organizations. That business then continually adapts to its environs, and changes the environs as they change their course.

The River as Community
This blog is a place for people who share a common interest in figuring out how to navigate through the changing human capital and organization development arenas today. These people range from those who are new to these topics, to those who are experts providing consultation, to those who are leaders employing some of these practices.

This blog will include relevant contributions from those who share this same journey down the river, sharing what they see, what they think, and what they've done. The perspectives about this river, that we're all in together, create this community.

Please feel free to post comments and argue with us. If you have a burning topic and a desire to create a post, contact one of the authors.

Formed from many streams
Sometimes a post will entertain, sometimes inform, sometimes an author will share a tool, sometimes an author will reveal a potential trend, sometimes one of us has read an interesting or informative book, and sometimes one of us will be standing on a soapbox about something we strongly believe.

Our blog is formed from many streams, and we hope you find value in navigating our river.

Thanks for listening, and if we trigger something you want to share, please join the discussion.

Becky Spears,
Editor and Contributor