When we ask for Change … and Change asks for us

CHANGE HAS A SEASON, and for many of us, that season has always been Christmas. We are about sixteen days away, and most homes have already been stripped down. Everything turned up, preparing for the grand rearranging. As a child, this was the part I dreaded. I loved Christmas morning. But the days before? That was hard labour.

Scrubbing rugs until our fingers wrinkled. Wrestling tight cushion covers back onto seats we weren’t allowed to sit on. Pulling dusty Ju-c bottles out of the shed and scrubbing off a year’s worth of cobwebs.

It was uncomfortable and messy. But it was necessary.

Because before beauty, there is disruption. Before order, there is upheaval.

Before growth, there is discomfort. And as our nation steps into a new season, I cannot help but wonder: Do we truly understand what we asked for when we asked for change?

The dust has barely settled after the general elections, and the people have asked for change. But the reality is, the curtain must come down, and the cushions must come off, the room of our nation must be turned upside down in preparation for rearranging. The real question emerges: Are we prepared for the discomfort that change brings? Or will we behave like children who only want the magic of Christmas morning without enduring the work of Christmas Eve?

The reality is, sometimes the very people who cry out for change are the first to resist it when change starts demanding something of them. Change interrupts us. Change inconveniences us.

Change holds up a mirror we did not ask to look into.

Because change is not an event. Change is a mechanism. A vehicle powered by many moving parts, systems, culture, leadership, processes, patience, accountability. And, like priming a pump, you cannot expect water to flow just because you changed the person doing the pumping.

Something must be poured in. Systems must be rebuilt. Culture must be revived. Alignment must be restored. Otherwise, you are simply rearranging dry parts and hoping for wet results.

Having worked for almost two decades in Human Resource Management, let me tell you what I know from experience: Sometimes leaders have the best intentions, but time, urgency, and pressure tempt them to cut corners. Take recruitment. A wise manager knows that selecting the right person requires thorough assessment, not just qualifications, but soft skills, temperament, cultural fit, and emotional intelligence. Yet when positions must be filled quickly, we skip steps. We pick someone from the existing staff because they are “there,” not because they are right. We fill the seat, but we do not advance the mission.

And later, when disappointment comes, we say, “This is not what I meant when I asked for change.”

But, if change is not thorough, it will not hold.

If change is not communicated, it will not be trusted. If change is not managed, it will be resisted. Because when people do not know what is happening, they start assuming. When they start assuming, rumours grow roots. When rumours grow, confidence collapses. And soon enough, the same people who shouted for transformation begin whispering against the very process meant to bring it.

I have a dream, several, in fact. I dream of a society where productivity is culture, not coincidence.

Where employees arrive before customers.Where urgency is normal, not extraordinary. Where customer service carries dignity, pride, and excellence.

I dream of people rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, honouring the work they are paid to do, valuing the organisations they represent, and respecting the people they serve.

Because leaders set the vision…but people carry it. And without people who honour their role, no organisation, and no nation, can thrive.

So, as leaders, are you preparing people for the discomfort of change, or leaving them to guess?

Are you building systems that support transformation, not just demand it?

Are you choosing thoroughness over speed, and accountability over assumptions? As employees and citizens, are you ready to participate in the change you prayed for? Are you willing to embrace discomfort as part of growth?

Are you honouring your role, your responsibility, and your contribution to a better future?

Because change does not begin in Parliament, change does not start in the boardroom.

Change begins in the mirror. And if we can hold that mirror steady, with honesty, humility, and hope, then yes…the change we asked for will become the change we are willing to become.