by John Brooker | Mar 5, 2012 | Innovate
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 65 If you quash valid discussion in the workplace, you run the risk of making sub-standard decisions… “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” Dale Carnegie, US Philanthropist Are you encouraging full discussion in your organisation? I love a good discussion. Recently, someone started talking to me about global warming and the impact people are having on the climate. I listened quietly to them and when they had finished I mentioned, quite light heartedly, that although I see great merit in recycling and reducing emissions, I am an agnostic on the topic of human affect on the climate, having read a lot of arguments both for and against. I waited for their response, instead their face set quite hard and not wishing to escalate discussion to argument, I quickly changed the subject. It struck me afterwards that in the “debate” about global warming there is a tendency for the opposing sides to try to stifle the debate. They ridicule commentators with opposing viewpoints or focus on their “hidden agendas” rather than the merits of their arguments; supporters of global warming theories are “scientists seeking more research funding” and detractors are “paid lackeys of the oil companies”. The only affect such criticism has is to stifle useful debate. So So what is your team or organisation’s equivalent of “global warming”? Are individual viewpoints stifled because they question the company’s strategy, policies or decisions or because the person has little political influence? Does argument descend into ridicule of the individual? I agree that at some point discussion must stop and action...
by John Brooker | Feb 28, 2012 | Facilitate meetings
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 58 When you communicate an important change message you must repeat it often to make it stick. “I expected…more.” Durza, character in Eragon Do you blame those who resist change? Do they resist deliberately or do they miss your message? Today I took the children to see the film Eragon, a tale of a young “dragon flyer”. I went with some trepidation, imagining it would be similar to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. These were films I watched without comprehending the plot (ok, I figured the ring had something to do with it), baffled by the characters (so whose army is this then?) and lip reading as I strained to hear their mumbled lines. With that in mind, Eragon was a pleasant surprise. The words were clear, they kept the plot simple and repeated the character names often enough so that even the older generation (i.e. me) could understand who was who. True, there was some dialogue to make you cringe towards the end (courtesy of the Dictionary of Clichéd Clichés) but it is a film aimed at children. Before Christmas I co-facilitated a workshop. The participants were a group of change managers involved in a serious piece of change management. They are experiencing strong resistance to their change efforts and so my colleague and I were asked to help them reflect on their efforts and provide guidance on good change management practice. We had them elicit their issues and it was no surprise that communication came up as one of them. Specifically there was a lack of a clear vision from senior...
