It acknowledged in a very transparent way the fact that they were indeed very different: they spoke different languages, they lived in different cities, they serviced different clients with very different needs, for which they developed different solutions. I had an idea to write an article, called “We are so different Myth Bust”. While visiting all the offices, the thing I heard most often was “We are so different”. In addition to the scope of each separate project, the transformation agenda also listed “cultural turnaround”, aiming at breaking down silos and addressing biases driven by language, geography, business unit, type of product, and the list went on and on and on. A few years ago, I was working for a company going through a series of changes. Try to get the best understanding possible regarding the different containers you need to fill, and pour accordingly.ģ. Our different experiences drive different lenses of judgment towards what we hear. We are different even in regards to the quantities of liquid we can contain. The lesson for Change Management here is that we all have our own container, therefore the same “liquid” will end up shaped in different forms. The container gives shape to the liquid in the same way that the listening gives shape to the story”. I find this small bit particularly insightful: “Listening may be likened to a container, and story may be likened to the liquid that is poured into the container. “Powered by Storytelling” written by Murray Nossel, PhD, has an amazing chapter dedicated to obstacles to listening. Tell them the stories they are ready to listen to. You can also learn a lot about people based on what makes them laugh.Ģ. But they get the point every single time. It is a story about a cartoon with singing and dancing penguins, so it makes people laugh. After a series of adventures and some life-and-death situation induced mindset change inside his colony, all is good. He eventually gets rejected by his colony. The cartoon is about a dancing penguin born into a colony of singing penguins, and he gets teased and looked down on. When pushed by his father to forget dancing and become good at singing to be able to fit in and get accepted, Mumble replies: “Don’t ask me to change, Pa. Very openly and honestly, I tell the others that Mumble Happy Feet is my favorite movie, because it teaches people a valuable Change Management lesson: how some people (some of you might say “most” people) react to something different. This rings so true to me! Among the questions for the ice breaker for workshops or meetings, there is always the classic “your favorite movie”. Writer Eva Hoffman, also an editor and writer with the New York Times, said: “There is nothing like a gleam of humor to reassure you that a fellow human being is ticking inside a strange face”. And this is the moment when I remember the precious lesson from Mumble Happy Feet on how people can react to something/ somebody being different.Īnd, as promised, I am sharing it now, as one of the ways in which I have been trying to help people deal with their perception of something or somebody being “different, differenter, differentest”.ġ. And then, without exception, this question pops up: “How much different? Like a lot different or not so much different?”. Sometimes, I try to say “It is going to be different, just different”. Most of the conversations around change end up sooner or later in a “comparison” phase – how is this “new” going to be a “more or less in some way” version of the current situation. Sometimes, I try to slice the answer up in three parts: things people need to stop doing, things they need to start doing differently, and new things they need to learn how to do. I often think about this perspective, and can find some merit in it. By referring to or making comparisons between “as is” and “to be”, the author said, we keep things anchored in the past, and take the focus away from the future state. Then we start discussing what this focus might be about.Ī few years ago, I came across an article that advocated for (almost complete) removal of mentioning previous/ current ways of working in communication and training content when going through a change. One quote that I like to use in my Change Management workshops says: “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” I also mention that it is attributed to “Socrates”.
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