Day 21: Time

Between the parallels

Following on from yesterday’s lunch, my perception of time has been playing on my mind, and how we can all view a transformation in different ways based on many facets that play into our life narrative. I am attempting to link my 30-day commitment to that of a one-year company movement and have been able to find many key parallels. Often in organisations, the support and agreement of these projects sit within the corporate strategy and fit into the 3, 5 or 10-year plan of transformation, all the while the employees in the front line sit waiting for something to happen: awaiting the promise of positive change to manifest itself into their daily lives. When chatting to the waiter yesterday, I had an epiphany when he mentioned that he had been going to the gym for ages – since he was 17. The bold tone of this statement indicated that is was as far back as he could remember and something that had completed embedded into his life. On further questioning he was 20 years of age, however 3 years to him was statistically a significant part of his life. The same time it takes many organisations to just complete the meetings on what a transformation programme could look like and secure funding. All the while, employees are living in real-time; not strategy time. I appreciate that it is a balancing act, but what I have become more aware of is the importance of communication and the differential to the way we all view time and transformation.