Change is coming. Pass it on.

Change is inevitable. Life moves onward and if you don’t flow with it, you’ll stagnate, and opportunities will pass right by. I’m teaching “Executing Strategic Change” as part of Northwestern University’s master’s program in Learning and Organizational Change (LOC). I’m thrilled to return to my alma mater where I earned my master of science in LOC and serve as a board member for the Chicago alumni chapter. It’s exciting to be able to take my own Northwestern education and combine it with my life and career experiences to motivate business leaders.

And it’s encouraging to see a class filled with business professionals who are stepping up to invest the time and energy to both understand and learn how to best navigate strategic change for the benefit of the groups they lead. Too often, people become reactive to a shift. The knee-jerk response compromises their leadership and creates chaos where there should be order.

Change is abundant in organizations across all industries, geographies, sizes, and functions. Because so much is expected of the employees who are the “recipients” of these changes, it is a leadership challenge to ensure that the changes you are introducing are sequenced–or ordered—in a way that helps employees understand and embrace the change. If you don’t bring the people along with you, the chances of a change “sticking” are slim to none. I see this firsthand with my clients on a regular basis—millions of dollars spent on a new technology system or business strategy, then no clear plan to educate, engage, and empower employees to bring these new ideas to life.

When my students complete this course, they should be more effectively equipped to support, guide, and lead change efforts. I hope they will have gained a better understanding of the challenges and complexity of incorporating significant change at the individual and organizational levels. My biggest wish is that I have served up a change for the better.