Pompeii

Some of you may have heard the lyrics of the song Pompeii by Bastille:

"But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?

But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like you've been here before?

How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

This resonates very well with most peoples experiences of large organisations and change.  The more you try to change things, the more you run into obstacles.  These obstacles might be structural, in that the rules don't permit the change needed, or they might be soft people issues.  The structural issues (rules) are generally easier to deal with as most organisation have defined protocol for the review of internal regulation.  The soft people issues are another matter entirely.

People resist change, and especially management imposed change, for a number of reasons.  Most of these reasons devolve down to a fear of the ramifications of change - What if I don't understand the changes? What if the changes take away my (real or perceived) power? Or worse what if it empowers me and makes me RESPONSIBLE?

Of course there is also the ostrich response of ignoring the change - I will keep doing it the old way and eventually the enthusiasm of the change champions will wear away and I will be left alone.

So as the leader how will you deal with these responses? How do you take the fear away and drive the team so that after the "change" has taken place you don't only notice how much the new is the same as the old.

Well, for starters, you need people to understand and be privy to the process.  When they understand the need to the change something, be it a rule or a process, it makes ignoring it or being fearful of the consequences harder to to justify to themselves.  Allied with that you need to be prepared to make the hard decision of pruning the branches that refuse to realign with the changes.  This is a challenge, as many times the people who want to ignore the change are the stalwarts of the organisation, those people without whom you simple cannot cope, or at least that's what they would like to believe. And yet if they are keeping you from moving for the benefit of the organisation you have little choice but to act or else abandon the change.

So next time you plan to change something in your organisation, be it from the bottom up or the top down make sure you are willing to carry it through - or anticipate a sense of Deja Vu.

Get out now!

When I look back at my days growing up in the scouting organisation I realise that while I learnt many technical skills in the Friday night meetings, the real life skills and growth experiences came when I was out in the bush, camping and hiking.

I can remember the nights under the starry African skies sitting around a fire as it burnt down talking and listening to others talk about life and their experiences.  There is something about a fire in the outdoors that encourages people to share their thoughts and lives in a way few other settings do. 

And in the rough and tumble of being away from home and the "restrictions" and excuses of modern snivelization we learnt how to stand up for ourselves, what mattered to us and what we actually were capable of - many's the kilometer I hiked when I was convinced in the morning I could walk another step. 

We also learnt independence and the strength of working as a team and how to balance them. And none of these lessons were learnt sitting being lectured to, they were learnt by getting dirty doing things and by emulating the role models we had.  Much of my personality today, and the parts I like, reflect elements that remind me of some of them especially the Rob Millard and Peter Wintermeyers of the world.

I often wonder how to recreate that openness to learn and safe place to experiment and grow in the workplace. What comes so naturally to children seems sometimes to be such a challenge to adults who are overly conscious of others' opinions.

As as the world grows and seems to be busier and faster, I wonder what our scouts (and more so other young people not fortunate enough to be involved) miss out on as we see less and less people making the time to get out camping and into the great outdoors. 

Whatever you do don't deprive your kids (and scouts) of this opportunity.  Make the time to give them the memories of smoke drifting up from a dying campfire between the leaves into a star speckled sky as you talk in hushed voices.  Those will be memories and lessons they will treasure all their days.