Stephen Billing’s Blog

In which I claim change is not a journey but rather is a shifting in the patterning of human relating.

I have been hearing recently the common reference to change as a journey. I have written elsewhere about this, but organisational change is not a movement from a current state to a predetermined future state. If it were it might be more legitimate to talk about change as a journey.

Think about what organisational change actually is. It is change in the patterning of the human relating of those who constitute the organisation. From this perspective it makes no sense to talk about change as a journey.

The metaphor of organisational change as a journey is implies that the organisation can be moved by the coalition of the powerful from the current point to a predetermined future destination, B. When you understand organisations as the patterning of human relationships it makes no sense to think of these patterns as on a journey. They are shifting and changing as the relating between human beings changes, in response to aspects such as ideology, power, gossip, intentions and social expectations.

When people refer to the journey of change, they are often contrasting this with the destination, "where we want to be," or the where we are now, the current situation. Where we are now is not a point in time separating the past and the future, but is a story of the present moment, informed by our stories about the past and our expectations for the future.

The metaphor of the journey of change is referring to the processes of change. These processes are processes of human interaction. Processes of human interaction can hardly be said to be on a journey. I think it is relevant to talk about processes of change, but the metaphor of change as a journey is strictly limited and not at all accurate.