Building and maintaining healthy relationships is the foundation to successful change.

Over and over, people visit with me about the world of change. They struggle with it. They feel overwhelmed by it. And they feel confused by it.

Some authors suggest we need to suck it up and just get on board with change. Others tell us to focus on the results and the metrics. Finally, there are some authors who tell us that change is the constant and that it is normal to struggle.

I have listened to all of it, and I have watched the rise and passing of many best-seller books about the subject. Each in their own way has offered interesting tools and perspectives about how to lead, manage and move through this complicated and complex world of change.

For me, I always come back to the following perspective: Make friends before you need them. After decades and decades of working with people and companies, I have come to the conclusion that when we as leaders and as people build and maintain healthy relationships with others, successful change takes place.

Successful does not mean it will not be hard and challenging. Successful does not mean it will be less complicated or complex. Successful means, in the end, that when people support each other in healthy ways, they have the capacity to rise to their challenges, process the difficulties, and ultimately make a difference in spite of their challenges.  

When we feel cared for, respected and supported, we realize that we are stronger than we thought. And when this happens within the context of a team, a family or a community, we can walk through the trough of chaos, a sideways cyclone, the valley of bewilderment, or a pit of despair and come out on the other side stronger and more determined than ever. 

Just remember that best-seller books come and they go. People, however, who build and maintain a circle of support and perspective around themselves plus have a guiding purpose, can be the constant in the world of change. They can be the difference that is needed in the world and in the lives of others.

This week, spend time building new and meaningful relationships with people. And take care of the relationships you already have. Then, when push becomes shove in the world of change, you will have all you need to make it through to the next opportunity.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257