Occasionally I have cause to facilitate training around the challenges of managing change in an organization.

There is an activity I love doing with participants, because it beautifully illustrates why so many of us are inclined to resist change. It exposes the core of what we fear and, in turn, helps explain why many organizations (and people) choose stagnation above the hard work of change and innovation.

The activity requires two people to stand back to back. I ask each person to change something about their appearance and then to turn back around and try figuring out what is different about their partner. During the first round people are obliging my request, having fun, and even laughing.

Then I ask them to turn back around and change three more things.

And then in the final round, change five more things.

By round three, the fun is over. People are sighing and rolling their eyes, all while sliding off shoes, pulling off rings, hiding belts, taking off their already reversed shoes, and removing name tags.

The point of the activity is to illustrate the inherent connection that so many of us make between undergoing change and losing something. A surprising number of us are wired to think that change inevitably leads to loss. Loss of power. Loss of position. Loss of rights. Loss of relationships. And of course, loss of the familiar and the comfortable.

Add to it a pervasive belief that loss is bad and suddenly you can see why so many people shudder at the mention of change.

So, if I tell you that our standard format at the House of Shine - the one you have come to know and have gotten comfortable with - is about to change, will you automatically assume it means loss?

And, what if I even tell you that part of the change means no more Saturday posts? Will you convince yourself that I have done the very thing you are most fearful of - taken something away?

Can I convince you that change in this instance actually means growth, not loss, and that moving the Yellow Envelope Project to Mondays is actually great, not just good?

You, like the participants in my workshops, will have to trust that change in this instance does not mean loss, but in fact, means growth.

Beginning this week the House of Shine will feature blog posts Monday through Friday, freeing up my sixth day to launch a new initiative. As for the new initiative? Grant me the next five or six Saturdays to put on the finishing touches and then I will gladly share how my work is growing.

And...

Instead of featuring the winner of our Yellow Envelope Project on Saturday's - the day we attract the least amount of traffic - our winner will be spotlighted on Mondays. This simple scheduling change will allow more people to use their work week to write an anonymous letter of gratitude, instead of the weekend when so many of you are not near computers.

I will always chose the hard work that is required to change and innovate over the path of fear and stagnation. I hope you will join me.

Shining off until tomorrow...