I had a daydream about a change meeting the other day that went like this. Heaven knows what manager would let me do this but it would be intriguing to see it play out.
The scene: Meeting room with a team whose manager has asked me to mentor on changing culture.
The actors: Myself, team manager, fifteen team members
Good morning. My name is Joe. I’m a change agent. Manager Bob has asked me to help create a culture more adept at creating and dealing with change.
I know you’re thinking “Oh great, another consultant come to tell us how to do our jobs.” Fair enough. And in some ways that is true. But in most ways it is not.
Think of me as an architect helping you build your house. You brought me in because you want me to help you design a really cool house. I am not here to tell you what kind of house to build. I’m not here to tell you how many rooms you need. I’m not going to tell you what amenities you should have. That’s not my job. That’s your job. Because frankly, I don’t know.
What I am here to do is help you make decisions, to learn new ways to make decisions. As an architect I might help bring issues like physical limitations or repercussions. You may want to have a pool above the garage. My job is to tell you that might require different engineering and a different budget. Oh, you want a four season porch. It’s my job to talk about the different heating options you may not know about. Or to probe about how you will use it so the design can reflect that.
You see it’s my job to introduce you to methods or approaches or attitudes about work that needs to get done that may be new to you. And not just to you but to Bob as well. So not only are you going to be introduced to unfamiliar things so is Bob. Because if you are going to change the way you work and approach work so will Bob need to change.
But at the end of the day what I want is for you to learn new methods and approaches and acquires a new attitude about change so you don’t need me. I want you to think in a new way. We want the culture itself to change and that is all about you.
The key to achieving that is attitude. Change is about attitude. It’s about belief that change can happen. It’s about desire to learn how to control that change.
Here is the deal. If you don’t think things need to get better. If you don’t think things can or will change. If you think this is a waste of time. If you are just going to go through the motions. Then I don’t need to be here. A lot of time will be wasted and no one wants that.
That’s not to say you can’t be cynical. That’s not to say you can’t question. That’s not to say you can’t offer alternatives.
So what we’re going to do is vote. Voting will be anonymous and majority rules. Manager Bob will count the votes. You just have to answer this question Yes or No.
Do you think things can get better?
If more than fifty percent believe we can change, we’ll get to work.
If more than fifty percent believe we can’t, I’m out of here.
Thank you.
Once More Unto the Change 