The Shower Thought That Changes Everything About Change

You’re standing in your shower this morning, shampooing your hair, when BAM – you have what you think is a brilliant idea.

By lunch, you’re telling your colleague about it. By next week, they’re like, “You know what? You were right. The world is changing.” Fast forward three months, and suddenly you’re sending out a company-wide email about a “new strategic direction.”

Sound familiar?

Here’s the plot twist: This is exactly why everyone freaks out about change at work.

We’ve Been Getting Fear All Wrong

Let me blow your mind for a second. Your people don’t actually fear change. No, seriously, they don’t.

Think about it – they planned their last vacation, right? That was a change. They were excited about it. They probably spent weeks looking forward to it, researching restaurants, and planning what to pack. Change? Yes. Scary? Hell no.

What they actually fear is sudden change. What they fear is uncertainty. What they fear is being blindsided by decisions that affect their lives while they’re just trying to eat their Tuesday sandwich in peace.

Your Kids Already Know You’re Lying

Here’s something that’ll hit you right in the gut: You know how when you’re stressed out of your mind, but you tell your kids “everything’s fine”?

They know you’re lying.

And it doesn’t make them feel better. It makes them feel worse. Because now they’re not just worried about whatever’s wrong, they’re worried about why mom or dad won’t tell them the truth. What’s so bad that even the grown-ups are scared to talk about it?

You do this exact same thing at work. Every. Single. Day.

And how you probably handle change. It’s like a months-long game of telephone, but with power suits and way higher stakes.

• Month 1: You have that shower thought.
• Month 1.5: “You know, I was thinking about that idea I mentioned…”
• Month 2: “What if we actually did something about this?”
• Month 3: “This could be our new strategy!”
• Month 4: You drop the company-wide announcement like a bomb

Meanwhile, everyone else is sitting there like, “WHERE THE HELL DID THIS COME FROM?”

But here’s the wild part – it didn’t feel sudden to you. You’ve been living with this idea for months. You’ve had time to fall in love with it, poke holes in it, refine it, and get excited about it. You’ve been on the whole journey.
Everyone else just got shoved onto a moving train.

What If You Did Something Crazy… Like Tell The Truth?

Stay with me here, because this is going to sound revolutionary:

What if you actually brought your people along for the ride?

What if, instead of keeping that shower thought secret, you said something like:

“Hey team, I had this weird thought this morning. The world around us seems to be shifting in ways that might affect us. I don’t know what it means yet, and I definitely don’t know what we should do about it, but I wanted you to know I’m thinking about it.”

Crazy, right? Actually telling people what’s on your mind before you’ve figured everything out?

The Magic of “I Don’t Know Yet”

Here’s where it gets really interesting. When you include people in the uncertainty – when you say “we’re not sure what this means, but here’s what we’re seeing” – something magical happens.

By the time you get to the actual decision, people aren’t shocked. They’re nodding along, going, “Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes total sense. Of course, we’re going in this direction. I can see how we got here.”

It’s like the difference between suddenly grabbing someone’s hand and dragging them somewhere, versus saying, “Want to take a walk with me? I’m not sure where we’re going, but I have some ideas…”

The Real Fear Hiding Behind the Fear

Here’s the truth bomb you probably don’t realize: Most of the time, when your people resist change, it’s not because they think your idea is stupid.

They’re terrified about what it means for them.

• Will I still have a job?
• Will I be good at whatever new thing we’re doing?
• Will my role disappear?
• Will I have to learn entirely new skills at age 45?
• Will the things I’m good at suddenly not matter anymore?

These are completely human, completely reasonable fears. But when you drop change on people suddenly, they don’t get a chance to voice these concerns or work through them. They just sit there, silently panicking.
And then you wonder why there’s so much “resistance to change.”

Your Shower Thought Revolution

So here’s my shower thought for you: What if you revolutionized change by making it… not sudden?
What if you shared your half-formed ideas? What if you admitted when you don’t know something yet? What if you brought people along on the messy, uncertain journey instead of just presenting them with the polished final destination?

Yes, it’s messier. Yes, it takes longer. Yes, you’ll have to have uncomfortable conversations and admit you don’t have all the answers.

But you know what you’ll get in return? People who trust you. People who feel heard. People who’ve had time to process and prepare and ask questions and raise concerns.

People who, when you finally announce the change, are already on board because they helped steer the ship.

The Bottom Line (But Make It Personal)

Look, I get it. You’re under pressure to have answers. You’re supposed to be the one with the vision, the plan, the confidence. Admitting uncertainty feels vulnerable.

But here’s what I’ve learned: Your people can handle uncertainty way better than they can handle surprises. They can handle “I don’t know yet” way better than they can handle “Here’s a massive change that came out of nowhere.”

Change doesn’t suck. Surprise sucks. Being left out of decisions that affect your life sucks. Feeling like you’re just along for someone else’s ride sucks.

But being part of the conversation? Being trusted with uncertainty? Having your concerns heard before they turn into fears?

That doesn’t suck. That actually feels pretty good.
So next time you have a shower thought that might change everything, maybe – just maybe – share it before it turns into a four-month secret strategy session.

Your people will thank you. And they might even have some pretty good ideas to add to it.
Trust me on this one.

Dejan Majkic
www.whatisscrum.org

P.S. – I’m curious: What’s the most sudden change you’ve ever had to announce? How did your team react? And looking back, how do you think you could have handled it differently? I love a good leadership learning story.