One of the biggest transitions of my life was when I became owner of Robelle Solutions Technology. After having worked for the company for twelve years, I bought out Annabelle (the “belle” in Robelle). I became President and was responsible for all company administration, in addition to my CTO responsibilities.
For the same time period, Kerry Lathwell had worked for Robelle. As part of the transition she took over all of Annabelle’s administrative roles, including responsibility for all the administrative employees. The shift was a massive one for both of us. After working complimentary roles at Robelle for many years, I suddenly became Kerry’s boss.
In many ways I did not know Kerry. We had worked in separate offices and only had occasional times where we interacted directly. Shortly after the transition, I suggested to Kerry that given how big the change in company organization was, we should present the change in person to all of Robelle’s European distributors.
Later, Kerry was to tell me how uncomfortable she was, but she agreed to do a whirlwind trip of Europe with me. We visited five different countries in twice as many days. Sat in airplanes together. Listened to almost everyone around us speak a different language. Walked through cities together. Communicated together as we visited each distributor’s office. By the end of that trip we had truly connected with one another. On both a personal and professional level.
That connection saw us work together as a team for ten years. We achieved a lot and today we are still friends.
How do you connect during a transition?
