On uncertainty, preparation, vision, and the discipline of sustaining change
We like the idea of change, at least when we imagine its benefits. We want better systems, more efficient processes, bigger opportunities, and organizations that are ready for the future. What we are less enthusiastic about is everything that comes with getting there: the inconvenience, the uncertainty, the resistance, and the possibility that things might not work out as planned.
This is one of the fundamental challenges of change management. People may welcome the promise of a better future while resisting the disruption required to achieve it.
Perhaps the metamorphosis of a butterfly offers a useful way to understand this dilemma.
From Egg to Butterfly
A butterfly’s transformation begins with an egg. At this stage, the potential for something different already exists, even though the final form is not yet visible. In an organization, this is the stage of vision and initiation. Leaders identify what needs to change, define the desired future, and establish a direction.
But a vision, no matter how compelling, is not enough.
The egg develops into a caterpillar, which spends its time feeding and growing. This is the stage of preparation and capability-building. Before an organization can operate differently, its people must develop the knowledge, skills, and habits that the new reality demands. Training, coaching, collaboration, and experimentation are not distractions from the change process. They are part of the process itself.
Then comes the chrysalis, the stage in which transformation takes place. It is a useful metaphor for organizations navigating significant change, although the biological process is more complex than the familiar image of a caterpillar simply becoming a butterfly. What matters for our purposes is the idea of transformation: the old state cannot simply be preserved if a genuinely new one is to emerge.
Finally, the butterfly appears. The potential has become visible, and the organization begins to experience the results of its efforts. New opportunities open up, new relationships develop, and the organization becomes capable of doing things that were previously beyond its reach.
Yet even this final stage raises an important question: Is achieving the goal the same as sustaining it?
The butterfly gives us a framework for thinking about change. More importantly, it points to four lessons that leaders should not overlook.
1. Uncertainty Is Part of the Process
We live in a culture that prizes convenience. We want things to work smoothly, problems to be resolved quickly, and outcomes to be predictable. Unfortunately, organizational change rarely follows such a comfortable path.
When an organization builds a new facility, expands its operations, or introduces a new way of working, questions inevitably arise. Will customers respond positively? Will the new development attract enough tenants? Will employees adapt? Will the investment deliver the expected results?
These questions cannot always be answered in advance.
Uncertainty, or hindi kasiguraduhan, can be particularly unsettling because it leaves people without the assurance that their efforts will lead to the desired outcome. Some may question the decision to change. Others may worry about additional responsibilities, unfamiliar procedures, or the possibility of failure.
The temptation is to interpret resistance as a problem to eliminate. But resistance may also reveal legitimate concerns that leaders need to understand and address.
The task of leadership, therefore, is not to promise that everything will go smoothly. It is to help people navigate difficulties without losing sight of the objective.
Change inevitably involves inconvenience. The challenge is to distinguish between unnecessary difficulties that should be removed and necessary discomforts that accompany growth.
Sometimes, moving forward means accepting that not everything can be settled before the journey begins.
2. Preparation Is Not Separate from Progress
A caterpillar spends much of its life feeding and growing. It does not become a butterfly through determination alone. It must undergo the development necessary for its next stage.
Organizations are no different.
We sometimes expect people to embrace new responsibilities or implement new strategies simply because management has announced a new direction. But asking people to change without equipping them for change is an exercise in wishful thinking.
A new strategy may require different technical skills, better communication, stronger coordination, or a different understanding of customers. A new organizational structure may demand that managers learn to delegate rather than do everything themselves. A growing business may need people who can make decisions beyond the limits of their previous roles.
These capabilities do not emerge automatically when a new policy is introduced.
This is why continuous learning must be part of change management. Training and development prepare people for responsibilities they may not yet be fully equipped to handle. They also help build the confidence needed to work through unfamiliar situations.
For managers and supervisors, this is especially important. They are often the people responsible for translating top management’s strategies into everyday action. They must understand the direction of the organization while helping their teams develop the competence to move toward it.
Preparation is not a delay in the change process. It is progress that may not yet be visible in the final results.
3. People Need to Understand the Destination
Imagine a caterpillar that somehow understood what it was becoming. Would that knowledge change how it experienced its present stage?
The comparison is imperfect, of course, but it raises an important question for organizational life: How do people make sense of the difficulties they are being asked to endure?
A clear vision helps answer that question.
When employees understand why an organization is changing, they can begin to connect their present efforts with a larger purpose. The additional work, unfamiliar procedures, and temporary disruptions become easier to understand when people see how these contribute to a meaningful objective.
This is why communicating a vision involves more than presenting targets, timelines, and performance indicators. Leaders must explain the reason behind the change, the future they are working toward, and the contribution expected from each person.
An organization also needs a shared purpose—a battle cry, if you will—that gives its people a common point of reference.
Without this clarity, employees may comply with instructions without committing to the change. They may complete their assigned tasks while remaining uncertain about the direction of the organization. Worse, different departments may pursue competing interpretations of what success looks like.
A shared vision does not eliminate disagreement or uncertainty. Nor should it discourage people from raising legitimate concerns. Instead, it provides a common direction within which decisions can be made and problems resolved.
People do not need to know every detail of the future. They do need to understand why the journey matters.
4. Reaching the Goal Is Not the End
There is a tendency to celebrate the completion of a project as though it were the final destination.
A new building opens. A new system is launched. A restructuring is completed. The organization reaches its target, and everyone moves on to the next initiative.
But what happens afterward?
A newly opened mall still needs tenants, customers, maintenance, and effective management. A new system still requires people to use it properly. A newly formed team still needs to develop trust, clarify expectations, and learn how to work together.
The initial achievement is only the beginning of another responsibility: sustaining the change.
Organizations can invest considerable resources in introducing something new only to gradually return to familiar habits. People revert to old practices. Managers stop reinforcing new expectations. Improvements are not monitored, and lessons from implementation are forgotten.
The result is that a change may be completed on paper without becoming part of the organization’s everyday reality.
This is where discipline and perseverance matter. As St. Josemaría Escrivá expressed it, “To start is for everyone… but to sustain, to continue, is only for the saints.”
The quotation captures a truth about both personal and organizational development: beginning something requires initiative, but sustaining it requires consistency.
Leaders must continue to communicate expectations, monitor progress, recognize improvements, address setbacks, and invest in learning. They must ensure that the change does not remain a temporary project but becomes part of how the organization actually operates.
Success is not merely reaching a new state. It is learning how to live in it.
Change Happens Through People
Consider a practical example: the closure of a road that required coordination with the barangay and the owner of a parking lot.
What might initially appear to be a straightforward operational decision can become a significant challenge once it affects other people and their interests. Questions arise. Coordination becomes necessary. Responsibilities must be clarified, and solutions must be negotiated.
The situation can quickly become overwhelming, especially when several concerns have to be addressed at the same time.
Yet these are precisely the situations in which change management becomes real.
A plan that looks sensible in a meeting room must still work in the world outside it. That requires people who can communicate, coordinate, solve problems, and persevere when circumstances become inconvenient.
In this case, the team did not simply abandon the effort because it had become difficult. They worked through the problem, engaged the relevant stakeholders, and accepted the inconvenience involved in moving forward.
The experience illustrates an important point: organizational change is rarely accomplished by a single decision. It depends on many people making adjustments, responding to concerns, and coordinating their actions toward a common objective.
It also reminds us that stakeholders are not merely obstacles to be managed. They are people whose cooperation, concerns, and interests can affect the outcome. Effective leaders make the effort to understand these perspectives and work toward practical solutions.
The ability to manage change, therefore, is not just about managing projects. It is also about managing relationships.
Becoming What We Are Working Toward
The metamorphosis of a butterfly reminds us that transformation involves different stages, each with its own demands.
We need a vision before we can establish a direction. We need preparation before we can assume new responsibilities. We need communication to help people understand the purpose of their efforts. And we need perseverance to sustain what we have achieved.
None of these guarantees that the journey will be easy. There will be uncertainty, resistance, and moments when the outcome remains unclear. Leaders must learn to work through these realities rather than expect them to disappear.
Perhaps the most important lesson is that change is not simply about moving from one point to another. It is about developing the capacity to function in a different reality.
The organization that wants to grow must prepare its people to grow with it. The leader who wants others to embrace change must be willing to learn and adapt as well. And the team that wants lasting results must understand that reaching a milestone is not a reason to stop developing.
A butterfly cannot return to being a caterpillar and continue its life in quite the same way. Likewise, meaningful organizational change asks us to do more than adopt something new. It asks us to develop new capabilities, reconsider familiar practices, and become prepared for responsibilities we may not have been ready to assume before.
The question for leaders, then, is not merely whether their organizations are changing.
It is whether their people are becoming capable of sustaining the change—and whether the organization is prepared to keep growing long after the initial transformation is complete.
