By Lori McNeill

I recently took a trip to the mountains of Austria. My destination was a beautiful ski resort and my goal was to learn how to ski. In order to accomplish this goal, I enlisted the help of a talented ski instructor named Florian. What I eventually came to realize was the lessons I learned that week applied directly to change management.

On the first day, Florian and I worked at the very bottom of the mountain, as I learned the fundamentals of skiing. These were not hard concepts to learn, but it took practice and repetition to acquire the skills. After day 1 of practicing fundamentals on the bunny slope, we got on the lift to make our climb to my first challenge.

Looking down from the top of the lift, the incline appeared to be too steep for my ability. If I am completely honest, I will admit that tears were streaming down my face and I felt a sense of dread and defeat before we even started our descent. Read More