Learning from the nuances of Autumn

Two weeks ago the smaller tree in the foreground was ablaze as its leaves had turned a bright and deep red. Now, as you can see, almost all of those leaves have fallen, but in the meantime the leaves on the larger tree behind it have now turned a lustrous gold, reflecting the bright sun.

Having lived the vast majority of my adult life in Cayman and so without a noticeable Autumn, I sometimes forget that within the big changes from Summer to Autumn to Winter there are many nuances in Autumn. Some trees have their leaves change colour at different times, some plants and flowers actually blossom in Autumn and even Winter (this was new to me, I thought this was only a spring and summer thing to flower!).

Musing on this, and back to the picture, for weeks I had walked past that smaller tree with the blazing red leaves and never noticed the bigger tree behind it while it still had the usual green leaves. However, earlier this week I was almost stopped in my tracks by the beauty of that large tree and the golden sheen of its leaves.

Thinking now of conversations recently with clients and others, one theme that has been coming up is that sometimes subtle and even tiny changes can make a real impact. I love big, brave, transformative change, both for individuals and businesses. However, it is also important for me, when deeply listening, to understand when the change, the shift that is needed in any particular situation, time, moment is in fact a much more nuanced change.

A few examples from recent conversations:

• One person has made a small shift in their focus and emphasis between two roles they hold at work. This has both energised them and had multiple positive impacts for them, their team, their clients. I was a little surprised at this, as I’ve known this person for a long time and they have made several bold and big changes in their life and work over that time. However, at this time, they are simply making subtle adjustments and that is working perfectly for them.
• Another was feeling overwhelm due to the success and growth of their business. This client has been and continues to be investing significant time throughout the business on strategic initiatives to bring long term value. However, though dividends are being felt from this in many ways, including an onrush of clients, the combination of allocating resource to onboarding new clients, existing client work, as well as the strategic improvements, has all created a sense of overwhelm. Talking it through, all that was needed is a temporary shift to pause strategic improvements and focus on the here and now, a subtle shift that instantly changed the feelings and energy in the business.
• I’ve also recently spoke with two people who have career advancement opportunities they are being asked to consider. In both cases what I found was that the opportunity was “now”, yet for the individual they felt conflicted around either a) the timing not being right for them, or b) whether the opportunity was the right one for them. Each situation was very different, yet the solution to each was simple, it was to first listen, then to help them separate the timing from the role. In one case, it was about timing, so the person asked if they could defer it for two years (knowing this would work). In another, it was about the role (a potential promotion) not being something they truly wanted, so not about timing (though initially it had seemed a timing issue until we discussed it deeply). That person then is now in discussion about what this may mean, as the organisation had simply assumed that they would leap at the chance.

All of these cases came to mind when I saw that nuanced change in the Autumn leaves on my walk.

Sometimes change can be big, sometimes nuanced.