A little over ten years ago, when the Internet was still fairly young, I wrote an article for an online journal originating in the theatre department of a prominent university in Australia.

At that time, I applied gestalt therapy theory to the challenge of performance on the stage. It was not much of a leap. Some of my colleagues in New York were using gestalt to help their clients who performed on the operatic stage or in the concert halls.

The article was published, and I remember how pleased I was about that. Then, time went by, and I forgot about it.

The other day I was surfing the web and I found that complete article reproduced at some other venue focused on performance, drama and the theatre. The previous group had gone offline some time ago, but here was my article, resurfaced among a new community.

This whole thing reminded me of other situations in which a person will move along and find him or herself in a new community, among a new group of people, in another place at another time. My article, in a new context, receives a new reading by a different set of eyes, and the impact it has differs according to what is happening with those people in that place.

When people move around like that, they do not remain unchanged; it's not just that others are different and so read them variously; it is also that the context itself shapes and reforms, affecting the way these people think, the way they feel, their attitudes, speech and what they value. This was the conclusion of Michael Lewis, in his book 'Altering Fate, Why the Past Does Not Predict the Future'.

We have a saying at Benedict Associates, where I do organisational consulting and provide psychological services: "Change is not a four-letter word".

Doing things differently is not a bad thing. Everyone knows that a pond that does not have fresh water flowing in and a way for stale water to flow out will grow stagnant and become useless. However, change is difficult, and it often comes with pain. In fact, it is often the case that pain and suffering are aspects that motivate change. Change is uncomfortable and inconvenient. Thorough and lasting change is often messy and inefficient.

In a religious context change is often associated with revival, and I'm reminded of something my pastor used to say: "Be careful when you pray for revival, because revival is unpredictable, uncontrollable and chaotic."

When thought of in such ways, perhaps it is understandable that some people would view change as bad and seek to avoid it. Such people have found a way of life, a method in their management, a routine, a fixed pattern of relating to others and handling life's demands and they really don't feel like "recreating the wheel".

If you bring up the idea of change, of doing something differently, they will scuttle it immediately, and they may disparage you in the process so as to strengthen their resistance. While success in the world — whether that is in business, dramatic performance, or interpersonal relationships — depends on the ability to adjust to novel experiences and to think with courageous creativity, these people seem to have lost their hungry edge.

Perhaps it's that they have actually never risked living on such an edge to begin with. Maybe they wanted, all along, just to find a safe harbour because life seemed too demanding, stormy or dangerous. Such a person will not dare sail outside the reef. For them, change is, indeed, a four-letter word.

In organisational settings change is a necessary element of staying alive. People come and go within the organisation (one of my colleagues specialises in coaching executive leadership who typically move around within the global structure of a corporation every two or three years). The organisation must constantly compete within the shifting market. Environmental, cultural, and societal influences vary over time, requiring organisations to remain alert and keep pace.

In such contexts, change is definitely not a four-letter word; in fact, those who cannot understand the necessity of change succumb to their resistances and pass off the stage.

When organisations are pathological and dysfunctional in their rigidity, including the means they utilise to reinforce it, they often chew people up — good people, and the quality of performance declines.

Just as individuals who suffer dysfunction can find help to change through psychotherapy, organisations of all types can find help through working with an organisational consultant or coach. Whether you are talking about performing in a dramatic theatre production or pursuing excellence in organisational performance, change for individuals and organisations can be a good thing.