Hello all! We are in a series called What does Pickleball have to do with change management? In this series, I’m sharing some of the lessons I’ve learned from playing pickleball that have direct application to my work as a change management practitioner. I took a break last week. Last week’s post was It’s about more than the score. This week’s lesson is….

People have a lot going on in their lives

One of the cool things about playing pickleball is the community. It didn’t take me long to get to know the people I saw regularly at the courts. Soon we were going out for a meal or drink after playing. I started to get to know who my pickleball friends were in the rest of their lives, personal highs and lows, relationship ups and down, family joy and sorrow. Gosh, people have a lot going on in their lives!

This is such a good lesson for change management work. It would benefit us as practitioners if we remembered that the change we’re working on isn’t the only change going on in people’s work lives, let alone all the changes people are experiencing in their personal lives and in society in general. At a minimum, this should remind us to give people grace and not be so quick to label them as resistant. At best, factoring this in might change how we approach a change roll out. Also, it can help us remember that with so much change going on people need to know that not everything is changing.

With so much change going on people need to know that not everything is changing.

Closing thoughts

I want to hear from you! How have you addressed the amount of change people have going on in their lives?

Please post your thoughts and comments below. Let’s help each other become the best change management practitioners and enthusiasts we can be!

Thank you for reading. Until next time, take care and keep up the good work!