Embracing Organisational Change

By Mary Ann Augustin

In this, her second anthology, Mary Ann has again demonstrated her uncanny ability to capture her experiences in prose. She has a knack of being able to translate complex emotions into word pictures that reveal the depth of her understanding of the events and people who shaped them. It is a privilege to work with Mary Ann and to support her on this part of her journey of discovery.
— Steven McInnes, Director, Human Capital International

Thank you Mary Ann for sharing another collection of your wonderful poems. I feel the trepidation, curiosity, wonder, gratitude and tension of your journey in these poems. Most importantly I feel the learning to be at ease with risk….powerful.
— Sharyn Morton, Senior Human Resources Advisor, CSIRO

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781365408298

Book preview

Embracing Organisational Change

Embracing Organisational Change

An Anthology

Emotions on the Road to a New Beginning

Mary Ann Augustin

To Cheng Liak, Joanne and Christine

Foreword

This is Mary Ann’s second instalment of an outpouring of poems that have been triggered by developments unfolding in her organisation.

In her role as a respected leader and accomplished scientist, she has witnessed and been in the midst of significant organisation change and its many challenges.

As organisational transformations are designed to deliver impact, people are affected as well. Mary Ann has captured her insights on this impact through these poems.

What is astonishing is that these poems seem to emerge spontaneously from within her and demand to be written down.

They are an expression of her reflections and feelings in response to the people and situations around her, and her connection to these events.  She shows great courage and vulnerability in sharing her innermost emotions through this personal journey of change.

I’m sure you will feel and appreciate the raw emotion as you read this collection.

Steven McInnes

Director, Human Capital International

Preface

We live in a rapidly changing world. Organisations need to be agile and responsive to the environment and signals from the external world in order to remain competitive.

Where there have been major structural changes in an organisation with new leadership teams and altered strategic directions, there are many challenges for individuals and teams as they strive to adapt to the change. Staff look to leaders to help them transition to the changed organisation and re-build a collegiate culture based on a shared vision and values.

This anthology is a sequence to my original anthology The Turmoil of Change which I wrote over the period May – December 2014 in the months after a major organisation reform. In this anthology Embracing Organisational Change, I reflect on my journey during the period January – December 2015. I have had to consider how best it was for me to navigate the challenges of leading teams and influencing research in the changing workplace. As was the case for my first anthology The Turmoil of Change, the observations that I have made in this new collection are mine alone. I have no intent other than to share the emotions I felt  in a changing workplace with people who may be living through similar experiences.

Learning to adapt and embrace change in a positive way is not always easy. I was fortunate to have people around me who were interested in my journey, generous with their time and willing to listen and help me reflect objectively on my intentions and actions. I am grateful to many people who have helped me embrace the changes following the organisation reform. There are too many to mention. However, I would like to acknowledge and thank my mentors, Steven McInnes (Director, Human Capital International) and Sharyn Morton (Senior Human Resources Advisor, CSIRO), for their continued unfailing support and valuable advice through my journey of change. On a personal level, I became more conscious of the impact of the choices I make on people and the organisation. I am learning to make more considered choices and lead from my inner space, wherever the future may take me.

Lastly but not least, I would like to thank my sister Caroline in Canada, who inspires me in so many ways and who has also been on this journey with me.

Mary Ann Augustin, PhD, FTSE

25 April 2016

"People will forget what you said,

people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget

how