How good are you at coping with change? It's a question many management consultants have built careers on and one that dominates business thinking and writing. While change is as hardy as organisational perennials get, it has taken on a whole new meaning in recent months.
Change thrives on uncertainty and it's no surprise the age of austerity is witnessing a flowering of change management. But the biggest shift is needed in the public sector and there is no budget for consultants to tell the government how to do things differently. Witness the plan to "crowdsource" ideas for cuts. In the short term, "change" really means cuts.
As the spending review looms ever larger, uncertainty about its impact is growing. In this febrile atmosphere, two things are certain: massive job losses in the public sector and industrial action. Even moderate voices are predicting a winter of discontent, while the bleakest pundits hint at riots.
Either way it will be a test for the partnerships at the heart of the coalition. And it will be a huge test for the man on this month's cover, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber. As the leading union rep in the country, Barber understands the importance of strong partnerships between employers and their workforce. His is one of the more moderate voices in the union movement—he recently earned praise from BA chief executive Willie Walsh—and understands that a strike counts as a failure in industrial relations.
Of course, not everything Barber says resonates with those running businesses, not least his claim that there aren't enough employment tribunals in the UK. But if we are to get through the next two years without shredding the economy, employers will need to listen to, understand and engage with moderate union voices. The structural changes to the UK economy that are needed will be painful and tough, and effective partnerships will be crucial to their success.
Let's hope that reason prevails and that the worst of the ideological excesses on either side of the forthcoming debate are held in check. Should this occur and if partnership and well-balanced compromise become the new norm (what else is this era of "new politics" meant to be about?) then it will be a national gain worth the pain.
Richard Cree