I recently got a cat. Pebbles – a funny grey-brown British Shorthair. And as he shares my office with me (along with so many other things) I can’t help but observe him and, of course, learn from him.

Like many other domestic cats, he has a good life from my human perspective. He is loved, cared for, cuddled, played with and gets everything we humans think he needs (and probably a bit more).

Pebbles is quite headstrong when it comes to closeness and he makes this very clear. However, he also knows exactly when a cuddle warms our hearts and when he can use it to organise accommodation for his wishes.

He has learnt to manipulate and is quite professional at it.

Organisations in adaption

I can’t help but compare him with people in organisations. People who are placed in a certain situation and don’t feel they can change much because they are subject to certain external or internal constraints.

They adapt and try to influence the organisation so that it suits them better.

We were a family that adopted a cat. Now we are a cat family.

Is that automatically a bad thing? Certainly not. We here all know that the little guy with his gentle meow and sweet plate eyes has us all under control. We have adapted to him and he has adapted to us.

People in organisations change them and as long as the organisation consciously allows this, it can be a good and healthy thing. New people in the organisation bring new impulses, new needs and the organisation has to adapt, just like the people. Moving towards each other is a good way of organisational development.

The cat’s previous owner had very similar approaches to pet care to ours, so it was easy for us and the cat to get used to each other. The same rules, times, family setting.

People often don’t fare so well.

Letting go of the old

Some people consciously look for a different organisation, a community that consciously follows different rules and a different concept of itself than the previous one. And that can also be successful. But it only works really well if the “otherness” that the individual brings with them is welcome and if they have consciously left the old behind and reflected on it.

A dear colleague recently told me, when I shared a project cancellation that was still on my mind, that I should take the time to grieve and then be open to another project. And indeed, that’s what I had to do.

Like our cat, who seemed very quiet and introverted for about four days when he arrived. And only then slowly approached us.

In the meantime, I’ve cleared out my windowsill because he loves looking at the clouds and birds and I’ve cleared a corner of my desk for him where he has everything under control during video calls.

Symbiotic is probably a good word for it – also for an organisation in transformation, in fact.

Have a great week, Ulrike (now ‘crazy cat lady’)