“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand
fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic
threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”
― Herman Melville
― Herman Melville
I had a tremendously humbling experience this week that
reminds me exactly of the underlying nature of what our MSLD program is about…connectivity
with others and what impacts our connections have, just as our TED video with
Seth Godin demonstrated this week.
I received a phone call late Friday afternoon from my
mentor, Matt Earnhardt to discuss my upcoming semester, as I had previously
emotionally vomited to him regarding my skepticism and sincere ability to
flourish in his upcoming class offering this October.
Again, connection…Matt gets me…and if I was the type of
student who was just taking these classes to take them, I wouldn’t have batted
an eye when reading his rigorous syllabus; but I crave personal growth,
connection, and life meaning to the work we do at ERAU.
I had the privilege of connecting with Matt in my very
first class with ERAU and haven’t skipped a beat learning from him, even when I
have been on this journey with other professors. The same is now true and can
be said about Daryl; I used to think that unicorns are one-in-a-million…dare I now
say I have found two of them roaming the same pasture…and I couldn’t be more disappointed
that I am so far along in the program, that my actual time will be limited with
as I approach the conclusion of this journey. Then it dawned on me late last
night; Matt and Daryl aren’t the type of people that just drift in and out of
someone’s life…they are there for life, and I am so completely enamored by both
of them and their perspectives that I can assure you…I have drank every last
drop of the MSLD Kool-Aid!
This program has awaken a giant in me; I obsess every
day about knocking down the barriers that bind us towards living with the
status quo…as well as try to encourage myself with being keenly aware of the
weaknesses I still have time to overcome. See, what people don’t realize is
that we all have things that drive us, that give us momentum, that propel us to
that next level…and for me I have discovered that mine lies in what connections
I find that fill my heart and encourage me through life. Daryl, in just a short
time, you do this for me as well – and I feel beyond blessed that you and I have
connected over the past six weeks. Your encouragement, your shared perspectives,
and your ability to find positivity in daily life, has allowed me…invited me
actually…to connect with you as a student and professional…and I am so lucky to
have seen the OD world through your eyes. Both you, as well as Matt, are the
reason I have wanted to become a better person and a more inspirational leader;
not so much just for myself, but because the power of influence and
connectivity is so incredibly important throughout life…and for a while there, I
think I tended to forget that. Thank you for the push and reminder back in that
direction.
This week I would have to say was most impactful; I am
still repeating to myself what we learned from NASA last week…and I have been
working towards retraining my perspective to guide me to thinking “…yes, if…”
instead of “…no, because…” (OKeefe, 2004). Although we uncovered everything
from the discussion of how globalization can affect a business of any size, all
the way to ensuring you have a definitive direction and well communicated
vision of change from our case study, my favorite portion of this module is identifying
and finding effective ways of removing the barriers that are in place
preventing our desire to embrace change. And I believe that it comes full
circle to the importance of connectivity.
For example, Daryl gave us a dazzling Prezi
presentation that literally showed us about 50 ways in which we state why we
cannot make a change (Watkins, 2011) and the one I hear
most often in my organization tends to be, “that is the way it has always been
done”, which truth be known, drives me absolutely bonkers bananas. Often times
when I ask someone, “well, why do we do it that way” and they give me that
answer, I now instantly know it is because they do not see the connection of
their work to the overall operations of the department and the company…but
sadly, also because they have not found an intimate connection to what they do,
why they do it, and why it is important to them. That is the part as a leader
that worries me most.
As Godin discusses, there are cycles that ebb and flow,
but constant change and desire to improve, will (or at least should be) a part
of the equation. However, as we listen to his points, reflect on Daryl’s 50
ways, and reinforce our readings this week, it is apparent that there is a life
cycle of resistance to change that we can expect to encounter as leaders. And
the pull (not push) of a group of people coming together in unison with a
common vision of change is exactly what is needed to turn a change into a
movement (Godin, 2009) . To me, and my
current position in life, is all about finding “my tribe…my vibe” and that
mostly is because who we tend to surround ourselves with often times becomes
our life and our journey. If we can find others that share the same mission or
vision, doesn’t that make our connection to them more concrete and worthwhile?
Some of the ideas that Godin shares makes complete
sense; as leaders we should frequently ask “…who are you upsetting?” (Godin, 2009) , as this allows us
to take pause and identify complacency while simultaneously driving more
questions and changes. Additionally, his rules of the road for challenging the
status quo are implicitly perfection; what we have to do is “…build a culture…”
that refuses to accept the status quo (Godin, 2009) and find others that
connect to our meaning. We have to be willing to put ourselves out there so
that we can drive curiosity that resonates with others that may share the same
vision or beliefs (Godin, 2009) in order to begin to
essentially build our tribe. Leadership is far more profound and effective when
you have one person that shares meaningfulness that resonates with others,
rather than trying to reach everyone individually; our message, our vision, and
our actions should be visible exponentially to build our army of change agents.
And when they share our stories, our visions, and our actions, we begin to grow
again and again, never letting the status quo mentality breed again.
When we think of change, part of being able to
successfully implement change comes from embracing the resistance to it. I
again, beating a dead horse, come back to the importance of connectivity. If we
are connected to our people, we are able to introduce change, identify the
forces that are resisting it, find stabilizing elements that can reduce
conflicts caused by implementing change, as well as connect to employees which allow
us to share “greater understanding…” which may “…lessen the perceived threat…of
change” (Brown, 2011) .
As a leader, going forward, the best chance I have of
building my tribe that refuses to accept the status quo, or any of the 50-plus
reasons we can find to avoid change, is to build connections with my followers
so that I can help them embrace change, just as Matt has taught me over the
past years. And although it may not be as easy as Daryl makes it seem, constantly
work towards finding the rainbow after the storm, and embrace those positive
outcomes as often as possible, and share those stories to help spread the power
of positivism to enact lasting change with my peeps! Instead of finding 50 reasons not to change, I challenge all of us to find 50 reasons why we should...
Until we blog again!
References
Brown, D. R. (2011). An
Experiential Approach to Organizational Development, Eight Edition. Upper
Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
Godin, S. (2009, February).
The tribes we lead. Retrieved from TED.com:
http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead/transcript?language=en
OKeefe, S. (2004, April
13). NASA Cultural Changes. Retrieved from c-span.org:
http://www.c-span.org/video/?181348-1/nasa-cultural-changes%20
Watkins, D. (2011, August
24). 50 Reasons Not to Change. Retrieved from Prezi.com:
https://prezi.com/z2v2cvo4t9tc/50-reasons-not-to-change/
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