Engine For Change

Metaphors yield a surplus of meaning.” – Paul Riceour, French philosopher of linguistics

When you driving change you’re often taking people to a place they’ve never been. As it often isn’t a physical place you’re taking them, you don’t have the crutch of photography to rely on.

What can you do to paint a picture of where they’ll end up if they drive the change with you?

You could call on a good metaphor (The team members were giants, unafraid of any challenge before them) or even a great simile (Tom unleashes his energy like a young racehorse overly eager for its next race).  Now admittedly the team members aren’t actual giants and Tom isn’t a young racehorse, but that doesn’t matter.  Now, you’ve got pictures in your head that vividly describe the team and Tom.  You’ll remember those pictures.

If I’d said instead that the team members are unafraid of challenges and Tom can’t control his energy, would you have remembered as much?

It seems to me that people don’t set out on journeys, physical or intellectual, without at least two ideas with them: 1. Some sense of where their first step should land, and 2. Some picture, even only a hazy thought, of their destination.

You can provide both these necessary (though I’ll admit maybe not sufficient) things by effectively using metaphor and simile (and stories too) to bridge the gap between where they are and where they could be. And, you’ll help them remember it too.

Why not try?

Seth Godin wrote today of Low Esteem and the Factory, of how many companies are still looking for employees they can categorize, command and dominate.  He writes:

If you want to raise your game and build an organization filled with people who will change everything, the first thing to look for is someone who hasn’t been brainwashed into believing that they’re not capable of great work.

I’ve worked with both the categorized, commanded and dominated and with those who believe they are capable of great work.  I’ve found both groups easy to understand and interact with while driving change.

The group that seems to give me the most trouble are those who’ve seen others doing great work, want to do great work themselves, but struggle with the journey to a place of confidence.  They’ll stick their hands up and volunteer for an exciting project, then linger along the edges of the meeting room, not wanting to push to the front too quickly.  They’ll wait weeks to ask a question, I’m assuming for fear of looking foolish for needing to ask.  I think they look foolish for wasting weeks on needless worry; so I tell them not to wait next time and nothing they ask is foolish.

To all of you reading this who are in that journeying middle–and really this goes out to anyone reading this blog–read Linchpin by Seth Godin.  Learn about art, the resistance and why you have an unprecedented opportunity to bring all of yourself to your work, to live your art and to be magnificent.

You can do great work.

You will do great work.

Why not try?

When Seth Godin tells you to offer your assumptions…

Instead of arguing for a course of action based on the status quo or your emotional gut, describe the theory of the case.

…he’s outlining the Model II portion of the research and teachings of Chris Argyris.

If you want to improve your change driving skills, studying Arygris is worth your time.  You must practice sharing your case in a way that opens your work up to the critique and participation of others.

When Seth Godin suggests you beware of the missing steps toward success…

PS if one of the steps is, “and then a miracle happens,” you probably need to work on your case a bit.

…I think of the Underpants Gnomes from South Park and their simple three step plan to corporate success.

Now show your work and drive change!

…we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” – Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence [July 4, 1776]

Maybe your change requires a commitment less than your sacred honor, but it still requires something.

You must align what you’re willing to pledge with what your change requires, be that a pledge to start your meetings on time or a commitment to spend the years necessary to build an organization that could change the world.

What will you pledge toward the change you’re driving?

Regularly I recharge my change driving batteries by sampling the delightful links my friends send me.

As I prepared for the long holiday weekend–Happy 4th of July by the way!–I thought, “Why not offer up some link fuel for my Engine for Change friends?”  Enjoy!

Charles Green reveals the silly secrets of strategy in You Too Can Be a Strategy Consultant.  Don’t get fooled by a strategy hack again. [Nancy - Thanks for the link.]

Rogue Polymath has been busy clarifying our minds with several Thinking Thursday posts.  Enjoy Murphy’s Law, Inductive and Deductive Reasoning,  Edward Tufte – Supergraphic and Abilene Paradox.

RSA Animate offers an excellent 10 minute video illustration of Daniel Pink‘s Drive.

If you can’t avoid using PowerPoint slides in your work Seth Godin offers his 200 Slide Solution, Toastmasters International’s magazine introduces us to Pecha Kucha in What is Pecha Kucha? and Captain Joe Bradley would tell you to improve your presentation using an Assertion and Evidence format (see my old professor Michael Alley’s Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides).  If you want to be great at presentations, PowerPoint or not, buy Tufte’s The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within. The booklet is only $7 and reading it will change the way you produce and absorb all PowerPoint presentations.

Well, I feel recharged.  Do you?