BUFFER THE IMPACT

Several years ago, I was hired by an organization to ensure the quality of educational services provided to young children. Imagine my shock when a member of the executive team said, “welcome to the crisis management team.” My immediate thought was “this is not what I signed-up for!”

In hindsight, I understand now that the intent was to express the urgency of the work that we did in ensuring that children (in this case, at-risk children) were provided with the kind of experience that would change the trajectory of their lives and it needed to be treated with the same fervor of any emergency.

At this point in our careers, many of us may be questioning what we signed up for. The terms of most service jobs has changed. And if you haven’t figured it out… all education agencies and non-profit organizations are service careers. The landscape of the work may have changed but the mission is still the same.  The question is how will you manage the changes? And what will you do to ensure that your team doesn’t become victim to change fatigue?

Even when change is for the better, there is a cost of some sort (financially, mentally, physically, emotionally).  If you don’t have a strategy to buffer the impact, the cost may be more than you able to pay.  So plan well, ensure your systems are built to withstand the change, revisit your structure and be mindful of the organization's climate…even if this isn’t what you signed up for.