Who Moved My Litter Box? Change Seems Easier for Cats than Humans

A few years ago there was book written about change in the workplace called, “Who Moved My Cheese?” In the book mice were used as metaphorical workers in an office setting to illustrate the different ways humans react to change.

After six months of being in a new environment, our new home, we decided to move Sage’s litter box from the upstairs bathroom to the basement. A pretty big change in the life of a cat.  Sage now had to adjust to having her bathroom facilities two floors below its original location and on a floor in the home that is not regularly inhabited.

We made the move in a just a couple of days by closing the upstairs bathroom door and showing Sage the litter box in the basement.  After going away for a long weekend, keeping the upstairs bathroom door closed, Sage had fully made the transition by time we returned.

I got to thinking about it and realized Sage made the adjustment much easier than most adults make when faced with less significant changes in their workplace.  I think this is because few business leaders effectively manage the change.

From the perspective of my wife and I the change for Sage was simple but it could have been traumatic for a cat, as far as we know.  And, from what I’ve experienced in business, most business leaders invest as much time in incorporating change initiatives as we did in changing Sage’s litter box location.

Therein lies the problem. Humans are not cats and as such need a little more details and explanation as to the reasons for the changes and must be shown how the changes will positively impact their work experience. Employees don’t necessarilly need to have the change positively impact their experience on the job but they must understand the change process, what will be expected of them in the process and what the anticipated results from the change will do for the company they work for and how it will impact them.

Business leaders contemplating a change initiative must keep one thing in mind which is that one of the most dis-empowering and stressful emotions in the human psyche is ‘uncertainty.’ By investing time, energy and resources to limit the uncertainty employees when faced with change in their work environment, the smoother the change will be for all concerned.

For Sage it just took a couple of experiences seeing the litter box in the new area to know the option was available and once the primary option was no longer available she was able to adjust.  With a little communication at the beginning, and on-going updates change initiatives in the business world can go just as smoothly.

Adjusting to Change, Is It Easier for a Cat Than a Human?

I’m an indoor cat, have been my whole life. So you would think that unlike humans, a change in where I live wouldn’t make that much of a difference to me. That couldn’t be farther from the truth, which is why our recent move was so intriguing for me to watch unfold.

We moved to a new home a few months ago and I like our new home. It was an easy change for me, surprisingly. I wish I could say the same for Skip he seemed to have trouble adjusting to the change of environment, more on that later.

Skip & Anne were worried that i’d have trouble adjusting to the move and the change in environment. They were concerned because of my previous move, when I originally moved in with them last year. That move was traumatic, this move was a piece of cake. Let’s take a look at the differences and see if you humans can learn something from how a cat adapted to a changing environment in two different situations.

First move - a big change:
1) I was leaving the family and home I had lived in for the first 6 years of my life to go to a completely new environment;
2) I did not know the people who had taken me in;
3) I did not know where I was going or where I was, my entire world was turned upside down;
4) I did not know why this move was being made, was I just being cast aside because I had done something wrong or was there a real reason for why I had to go to a new home?

all of the above created for me tremendous fear, uncertainty and self-doubt.

Second move - not such a big change:
1) I was moving with my family and so there were no changes in the faces or the function in the new home;
2) Except for a few new pieces of furniture all my surroundings remained the same. The couch, chairs and bed I regularly lay on were still there although configured a little differently in the living room;
3) My litter pan and food and water dish were in the same rooms in the new house as they were in the former house, I didn’t have to guess where my new owners would put my necessities of life.

So, although in both instances I had to experience change in my life, there was big difference. The first move created tremendous fear, uncertainty and self-doubt because everything was new and nothing was familiar. The second move, although the physical structure was new, all of my surroundings and things/people I was familiar with was the same. So it was no big deal.

However, for Skip there were significant changes he felt he had to make that made him feel very uncomfortable in the new home for awhile. He didn’t like the fact that there were no carpets anywhere in the house, all hard wood floors. He didn’t like the fact that the driveway where he parks his car is on the complete opposite side of the main entrance to the house. He didn’t like the fact that he and Anne have to juggle cars because their three cars have to be parked single file in the narrow driveway, creating a daily traffic coordination.

So despite the fact that this life change, that he agreed to and made a conscious decision to move forward with, created stress and anxiety for him for months as he adjusted to the new environment.

I’ve learned a lot about how change affects all of us in these last two moves. The best way to alleviate the stress of change is to ensure there is proper and thorough communication upfront so that everyone knows what to expect. Make the change as smooth as possible by maintaining as much common bonds to the previous environment as possible and make the change gradually so that the adjustment necessary can happen slowly.

So the next change initiative your business undertakes remember that rapid change combined with lack of communication regarding the change is not healthy for humans or cats.

A Feline Perspective on Business Success

Hi, my name is Sage, Skip & Anne’s cat.

 Skip has asked me to post here on things from my perspective. Hopefully, I’ll be able to add to the discourse on this blog and provide value to all you blog visitors.  If something I write here trips your trigger feel free to leave a comment. Looking forward to the dialogue, I’ll try and keep it non-controverisial as I don’t want Skip to fire me.