Inconvenient Change
"There's nothing to do in Edmonton! All they have is a mall." It is a sad but fairly common dig at Alberta's capital. Those words are usually spoken by someone who lives in one of the other big five Canadian cities. I'm prepared to admit that maybe this was true thirty years ago, but there is little to no relevance to that comment today. It's simply a comment from someone who's chosen the path of least resistance and isn't interested in exploring the current reality. Edmonton is a diverse and entrepreneurial city where you can have incredible experiences from the start of your day until the stars come out at night. Edmonton is an ever-changing city. It's convenient for its critics to believe that nothing has changed.
It's one thing to talk about cities, but what about people? Have I ever let myself come to a place where my perception of someone has become permanent? For me, the unchanged person is a convenience. They are convenient because they don't push me to make a choice about whether or not I want to change how I feel about them.
Sometimes, it's easier to have someone remain a villain. False clarity makes conflict convenient. For good reason, we think of redemption as a great lofty concept, but it's easy to forget that it comes with a set of inconveniences. Basically, a redeemed villain requires me to rewire how I think and respond to that person. This isn't comfortable at all because it means I need to change.
This idea can also apply to those we love. Good relationships survive by accepting that people change. Allowing those we love to escape the framework we have built for them is an act of grace and hospitality. The people I love most will change over time, and I have to accept that. My job in all of this is to do my best to support them as they do.
When I sit down for a performance review with a team member, I make it abundantly clear that I want to explore options with them. Those options may include a change in role, a change in status, or even helping them move on to their next job. All of these changes represent a measured amount of inconvenience for me. If I promote them, I'll need to retrain someone else and go through a whole process of helping them become comfortable in their new role.
"The yearning for progress is part of the human condition. To be human is to be curious and creative. Birds do not appear to wrestle with the problem of being birds; they don't seem to struggle to break free of bird-hood and arrive at some higher place, their nests stuffed with material things gathered in the hope of their own betterment." -Kester Brewin
Our world is wired for transformation. We all want to become more than we are. Change is powerful, but we all have a part to play. We need to pay more than lip service for it; we need to put real skin in the game. Let's make it happen!