I had the pleasure of talking to a highly successful project leader today – the sort of guy who takes multi-million pound projects of frightening complexity in his stride and still looks around for a challenge. He’d found exactly that in his new appointment – taking over the leadership of a global transformation team – but to his surprise was finding it harder going than he expected and not a lot of fun.

Inventing your own game?

“I’m so used to playing on my own pitch” he mused ” I was so familiar with how things were with my old team but now I’m having to fit in with this new lot”. He was right at the start of his own change process, feeling the discomfort and uncertainty of change.

This got me thinking about what it takes to be playing your own game rather than someone else’s. For some it is about picking their own team, for others it is about throwing out the existing agenda and bringing in their own. Others never get there and are forever dancing to someone else’s tune… never a great place to operate from.