Change is good. It's not always easy and it's not always welcome but, one way or another, the need for change will present itself in ways that you cannot avoid, ignore or explain away.

Embrace it, it's here and it's long overdue.

So, what's this all about? I promise you it's not as grandiose as you may think. I am adding leadership staff to my HR department. I am turning over the reins. Not all the reins and not all at once - it's simply not in my nature - but it will be done.

The facility has expanded dramatically in size and complexity and the HR staff of seven I started with over nine years ago has blossomed to over 16. Supervisors, managers and senior leaders support me to no end. My staff is a-m-a-z-i-n-g and they do whatever it takes to deliver quality HR services every day - even when I am there but not available to them.

They deserve more and I expect more from myself.

I know the kind of leader I want to be and I haven't been delivering. Not even close. We've expanded past the point that I can lead staff, manage delivery of HR services, facilitate change and respond to the myriad needs of our supervisor, managers and leaders well on my own.

Despite encouragement to add leadership staff, I struggled to get past the idea that "I can do it with the resources I have." Once I faced reality that I was not delivering, the rest was easy. I set out to find skilled professionals I could trust with my vision and my people. I found them.

My new Lead Labor Relations guy joins my new Assistant Chief tomorrow. Health care system supervisors, managers and HR staff will have ready access to two more HR leaders, I will share my workload (it's all about me, remember?) and we will build on new ideas, expertise and perspective to take the department to new heights.

I get giddy (yes, I just said giddy) when I think about the possibilities.

No matter how much I resist, I am always better off when I step out of my comfort zone.

Let's take a few conferences I recently attended. The sessions were valuable but, by far, the greatest benefits came outside of the sessions. The greatest benefits always come through interactions with others.

They come:

at dinner in Chinatown when you realize you haven't been playing as big as you could.
at the Big Bar when you are introduced by one Canadian HR powerhouse to another and know you've just met the real deal.
in the lobby of the hotel looking for the evolution and meet two other women looking for the same.
in conversation with an amazing couple over wine and risotto.
over pannenkuchen in Rochester, Minnesota.
in meeting an email connection in real life right before a conference session.

It's all about making a difference yet the times of greatest benefit also present the greatest challenges for me. Introversion is the yin to my social media yang.

After the initial rush of seeing friends and the new conference high wear off, it is painfully clear to me that I really am a small group kind of girl. Walking into a large social event, even when I know many of the people there, freaks me out. When the momentum stops and I am given pause, I am looking for the door as fast as I can.

It's crazy. And I've let it define my path, my choices and what I see as my options. The more I try to change, the more firmly planted I become. I tend to surround myself with card-carrying extroverts because I am drawn to them and really, how else would I ever get out of the house? Try as they might (or maybe they don't see it to try), they don't understand. Even those closest to me don't always understand.

Sometimes, neither do I.

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Change: A Day in the Life Sunday

Lisa Rosendahl