I think we approach change falsely. So many people tell us about the barriers to change, its difficulties and the various strategies to overcome them. I’ve seen people grouped into those who oppose change, those on the fence, and those who champion it. Maybe. But then again, maybe not.

I told an audience recently about my River theme and method. I made a point that strikes me as highly relevant here–on a river, change and continuity interlock. You can’t separate them because they’re happening together, simultaneously, all the time. They don’t always reinforce each other, but they sure do co-exist together.

We should adopt more of this change/continuity interlock as part of our understanding of change in our organizations today. To run around and shout that change is everywhere, we must change now, change or die is to miss the point. Change changes while continuity continues. That’s what happens on the river and that’s what happens in our lives. They co-exist. Efforts to pretend otherwise are doomed to either failure or dissipation.