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The big benefits I get from attending ASTD International Conference
& Exposition are exposure to new ideas, learning from HRD
thought leaders and practitioners from all over the world in formal
sessions and informal chitchats with fellow delegates, access to
service and product providers and freebies like books, magazines and
the all-time favorite ballpens of all sizes and colors.
At least once a year I get a copy of Training
Magazine. And the June 2008 issue had for an exclusive cover story
Harvard guru John Kotter’s penguin fable and on how to lead bold
change. This is a good article because it was a Q&A and not just
a review of the book. So I quote here some interesting parts of the
interview (Dr. Kotter’s answers) by writer Lorri Freifeld’s
equally interesting questions.
The other interesting features are: Keeping
Forced Ranking Out of Court (on deploying the system in
organizations effectively, consistently and fairly), Sara Boehle,
Across the Board (on how smart, seasoned executives and board
directors benefit from training) by Gail Dutton, Certify Me (Holly
Dolezalek), Meetings CPR (about compelling meetings) by Gail Dutton,
How Secure is Your Data? (help plug internal data leaks) by Kelly
Shermach, and many others. Get a copy of the magazine and the book.
Lorri wrote: “The fable, Our Iceberg is
Melting, is about an emperor penguin colony in Antartica. One day, a
curious bird discovers a potentially devastating problem threatening
their home (iceberg), but no one listens to him. The characters in
the story all can be found in organizations around the world. Their
tale is one of resistance to change and heroic action in the face of
seemingly intractable obstacles.
“Dr. Kotter: Change is an anxiety-producing
thing. We never cease to be amazed at the creative ways people
invent to jump ahead and develop better futures for small groups,
for large organizations, and for themselves personally. Humans can
[sometimes] be even more clever than penguins.
“Organizations have problems with all the
steps to successful change [increase urgency, build the guiding
team, get the vision right, communicate for buy-in, empower action,
create short-term wins, don’t let up and make it stick], but most
people often get it wrong at the beginning. They think they’ve
moved beyond the first step, which is urgency. People around them
seem to have it, but two levels down, they don’t. Or they see
people scrambling around—frenetic activity with meetings and
projects—and think they are accomplishing something. But all that
activity often is driven by anxiety or anger, not urgency. In
addition, people scampering around the building don’t see the
complacency in the organization.
“In smaller companies, the more change
programs can cover the whole organization—there’s a direct
analogy to the 250 penguins in the book. In global organizations,
it’s rare to move 42 million people in 72 countries a step to the
left. Instead, it tends to work in pieces. They get something
rolling and are noticed by other parts of the company. If you can
get different rates of change going, the whole thing starts to move.
“Fears hold people back. They’ve seen people
get whacked in the past or they think that things are working fine,
so why change? Find a way to purposely disarm the fears. Humor is
great for this.
“The point is there is no permanent iceberg.
Life is going to change, so just get used to it. It can be fun.
You’re going to be moving. You may end up living on something
other than an iceberg, but even that may turn into an iceberg. The
ultimate solution—nomadic existence in which the penguins move
from iceberg to iceberg—was an analogy that what sustains you is
going to change.
“My iceberg now is that when you get good at
something you are tempted to stay in that box forever. I’d like to
help the world get 100 million people to lead organizations and
their own lives better through the work we’re doing. Another of my
icebergs is convincing the people working with me to move forward
with me. Then you have to identify the people around you and match
them to characters.”
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www.learningandinnovation.com; innovationcamp@yahoo.com
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