Our IT staff recently upgraded me to the new version of Microsoft Office. The 2016 version isn’t so different from the 2013, so it is pretty easy to find my way around, but there definitely are some changes.
For instance, including attachments in emails works a bit differently, and there are some changes in locations of menu items (I still wonder why the “save” icon is a floppy disk. . . more and more people don’t know what that is these days!). The funny thing about a new version of something is that we have to attune ourselves to welcoming the changes, while using the similarities to help us learn and grow.
It is pretty rare that we encounter something that is totally new. Instead, there are often small (or large) changes that accompany similar ideas. The best leaders are able to take those changes in stride, by utilizing what remains the same to remap a tool, a process, or a situation.
While this software upgrade is incredibly small in scope, it caused me to reflect a bit on why change is often best accomplished when what changes is surrounded by things that remain the same.