Change Management Storytelling: Story of Now Matters?
Anjali Sharma
Director of Narrative
Published Date
April 13, 2017
In Change Management Storytelling talking about how is the current situation is very important.
Today, whilst working on Change Management Storytelling Project I was having a casual conversation with some of the leaders to gain some insights on the project. During this conversation, one of the leader asked me " why are you so fussed about knowing how are we working now? Isn't change all about the future and how bright it could be ?
One might think that this wouldn't be needed because everybody already knows how the organization currently operates. However much of this knowledge is tacit: it exists in the unspoken attitudes and assumptions that are like the water that fish swim in. These attitudes assumptions are so ever-present that they are no longer visible. They are so much part of perceived reality that it is impossible to imagine the world in any other way.
So unless you can describe it and remind people of set of explicit assumptions and attitudes, and in effect drag from the tacit to the explicit, there is no way to get a handle on it. It will keep undermining any change effort.
At this stage I needed to give the leader an example of another change project I had recently executed. In this case I was working with a telecommunications firm that was going to change a 20 year old system. Now, a lot of people did not really understand the importance of change until I put something like this in front of them
The point I highlight through this visual is that 20 years ago telecommunications fulfilled a certain type of need and now it is perhaps the most advanced industry in the world. We literally live our life via a telecommunication device and to be able to keep up with this change we evolved our team support from 5 departments to 10 departments in 20 years.
However, the system that we work on is still 20 years old which was not designed to cater to such a need and that to at such a rapid growth.
So, what do you think? Does the system need to change?
The moment I put this in front of the teams they see the need to make the change effort.
As we try to change organizational structures, we are actually trying to change the tacit as well as the explicit, and the trouble with tacit knowledge is that it is almost impossible to get hold of it, reflect on it, and work with it unless you put it in front of them and then you get that ahhhhhhhh
OurChange Management StorytellingProgram is designed to not just teach you how to deliver a change story but also to equip you with Change Story that is strategically curated.
PS: The speech bubble in the image says" Hey Bro, Saturday Makan Confirm " which is a very local Singaporean way of talking.The literal meaning is, " Hey buddy, is our meal on Saturday together confirmed?"
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