This Is Just the Way It Is. Right Now.

Monday morning yoga served me a lesson I apparently needed before I had even finished my caffine.

“This is just the way it is, right now.”

That was the reminder. Not that this is the way it will always be. Not that I should be further along by now. Not that I need to hurry up and fix something. Just that this is the way it is right now.

And damn, if that isn’t harder to accept than it sounds.

We spend so much of our lives in the future. We think about what we need to get done, what needs to change, what happens next, what we’re working toward, what we’re worried might happen and what we hope will happen.

I am especially good at this. Give me a situation and I can have seventeen possible future scenarios mapped out before breakfast. Some are exciting. Some are mildly concerning. At least three will probably never happen, but apparently my brain would still like to prepare for them, thank you very much.

There’s nothing wrong with thinking about the future. We need goals. We need plans. We need something to move toward. The problem is when we spend so much time thinking about what comes next that we forget to actually be where we are.

We Treat Right Now Like a Waiting Room

I think we sometimes approach the present as though it is just the inconvenient space between where we were and where we want to be. Once this happens, then I can relax. Once I figure this out, then I’ll feel better. Once the uncertainty is gone, then I’ll be okay. Once the decision gets made, the deal closes, the kids are settled, the project launches, the new system is implemented or I finally know what happens next, then everything will be better.

Except there is almost always another “then.”

That’s why those words in yoga stuck with me. This is just the way it is, right now. There is something incredibly freeing about the last two words. Right now leaves room for things to change without requiring them to change this second.

Acceptance can feel a little like giving up, and I think that’s why some of us fight it. If I accept the situation, am I saying I’m okay with it? Am I supposed to stop trying to change it? Do I have to like it?

No. Acceptance just means you stop arguing with the fact that the current reality exists.

You can want something to change and still acknowledge where you are. You can be uncomfortable without immediately trying to escape the discomfort. You can be uncertain without manufacturing certainty that doesn’t exist. You can say, “I don’t love this. I don’t know how this ends. I may actively be working to change it. But this is where I am right now.”

There’s a surprising amount of power in that because once you stop spending all your energy fighting the current reality, you can start figuring out what it requires from you.

And the more I thought about that Monday morning yoga lesson, the more I realized organizations could stand to hear it too.

Organizations Have a Future Problem

We love the future in organizational change. In fact, we have an entire language built around it. We talk about the future state, target operating models, implementation dates, efficiencies, synergies, transformation roadmaps and projected ROI. We build beautiful PowerPoint slides showing what the organization will look like when we get to the other side.

By the time a major change is announced, senior leaders may have been thinking about that future for months or even years. They’ve debated it, modeled it, questioned it, refined it and eventually decided it is the right path forward. Mentally, they are already living there.

Then we introduce the change to everyone else and wonder why they aren’t there with us.

The problem is that employees don’t live in the future state. They live right now.

Right now, they may not understand what the change means for their job. Their manager may be telling them something different from what they heard at the town hall. They may have completed the training and still have absolutely no idea how they’re going to do this in real life. They may be trying to learn a new process while keeping up with all the work they already had. They may still be recovering from the last transformation that was supposed to make everything easier.

And while all of that is happening, leadership is often standing several miles down the road yelling back, “Come on! It’s great over here!”

That may be an exaggeration, but only slightly.

You Can't Lead People From Where You Wish They Were

This is where I think change leadership gets really interesting.

We have a tendency to look at the gap between where people are and where we want them to be as a problem. We call it resistance. Lack of buy-in. Poor adoption. Change fatigue. Sometimes we decide employees “just don’t understand” the vision, so we explain it again.

But what if we stopped for a minute and simply acknowledged what is true?

Maybe people are confused right now. Maybe they don’t believe the change is going to work. Maybe they don’t trust leadership. Maybe they are exhausted. Maybe the new process actually is harder right now. Maybe there are legitimate problems with the implementation that need to be addressed.

This is just the way it is, right now.

That doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. It means that is where you have to start.

You cannot lead people from where you wish they were. You have to lead them from where they actually are.

And you definitely cannot PowerPoint someone into the future state.

The People Stack Is Really About Right Now

This is one of the reasons I built the People Stack. Organizations are very good at measuring whether the project is moving. Are we on schedule? Are we on budget? Did we hit the milestone? Did the technology deploy successfully?

Those things matter, but they don’t necessarily tell you whether the people are moving.

The People Stack asks a different set of questions. Do people have clarity about what is happening and what it means for them? Are leaders actually aligned, not just in the steering committee meeting but in what employees are hearing and experiencing every day? Do people have the capability and confidence to work differently? Do they believe the change is worthwhile and that leadership will follow through? Are we reinforcing the behaviors we say we want so the change can actually stick?

And underneath all of those questions is trust.

What I realized after Monday’s yoga class is that every one of those questions is really asking the same thing: What is true right now?

Not what did we communicate. What do people understand?

Not did leaders attend the alignment meeting. Are they behaving in aligned ways?

Not did employees complete the training. Can they actually do the thing?

Not did we explain the business case. Do people believe it?

Not did we successfully go live. Are people continuing to work in the new way?

And not do we believe we’ve been transparent. Do people trust us?

That distinction matters because there can be a huge difference between what a project plan says should be happening and what people are actually experiencing.

The People Stack gives you a way to look at the latter.

Right Now Isn't a Verdict. It's Data.

This might be the part of the yoga lesson I like most when I apply it to change.

Right now is information.

If employees are confused, that’s information. If managers aren’t aligned, that’s information. If people completed training but still don’t feel capable, that’s information. If belief is low, that’s information. If everyone is quietly reverting to the old process three weeks after go-live, that is definitely information.

None of those things automatically mean the transformation is failing. They tell you where leadership is needed next.

There is an enormous difference between asking, “Why aren’t they there yet?” and asking, “What is true for them right now?”

The first question starts with judgment. The second starts with curiosity.

And curiosity gives you something you can actually work with.

Maybe people need more clarity. Maybe a leader needs to stop sending mixed messages. Maybe the training didn’t prepare people for the reality of the work. Maybe an old process or incentive is making the new behavior harder. Maybe people need more certainty about what happens next. Maybe they need more control over how they navigate the transition. Maybe trust has been damaged and no amount of additional communication is going to magically repair it.

You won’t know if you’re too busy staring at the future state to notice what is happening in the present.

Stop Trying to Skip the Middle

There will always be another future state. Another goal. Another transformation. Another milestone. Another version of ourselves or our organizations that we’re trying to become.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to get there. But maybe we don’t have to spend so much time trying to fast-forward through the middle.

Sometimes the most useful thing a leader can do is acknowledge what is true without immediately trying to spin it into something better. “This is harder than we expected.” “We don’t have that answer yet.” “People are struggling with this part.” “We need to adjust.” “I know you’re tired.”

Those statements don’t undermine confidence. When they are true, pretending otherwise does.

This is just the way it is, right now.

Not forever. Not a failure. Not the end of the story. Just the current reality.

Acceptance gives us a starting point. And whether you’re trying to hold a yoga pose, navigate a difficult season in your life or lead thousands of people through a transformation, you need an honest starting point before you can figure out the next move.

Have the vision. Build the roadmap. Get excited about what is possible.

Just don’t get so busy leading people toward the future that you forget to lead the people standing in front of you today.

The BGPD Rule

You can't lead people from where you wish they were. You have to lead them from where they actually are.

The future matters. But change happens right now.

Julie Ann Whitten is a change advisor, keynote speaker, and the author of The People Stack: Why Change Fails (and What Actually Fixes It), available now on Amazon. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience leading transformation, communications, and organizational change, she helps leaders understand the human side of adoption and build the trust required to make change stick.