I was sitting in traffic a few days ago, deliberately not going through the light toward the left-turn lane, which was backed up. You know, “don’t block the box.” The person behind me wasn’t happy about it. There’s a common saying that “integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching.” Which is valid, of course. But I …
Workaround Superheroes part II
I wrote last week about Workaround Superheroes, and the resistance they can feel to any change that threatens that identity. Technology is an obvious example: you’ve got a tech system that’s been in place for a while, it’s got glitches, and there are one or two people who are uncannily brilliant at figuring out how to make things work despite …
Gotta love a workaround!
People love their workarounds. They put time and effort into figuring out how to “work around” a system glitch, a policy problem, a road block. And they’re proud of having figured it out. Now leadership has arrived with a change initiative: a brand new system, a revised policy, a road-block-removal team. And they – leadership – are wondering why people are …
Who are you?
Who are you? It’s one of those existential things that many – myself included – grapple with. My husband has been known to frown in introspective perplexity and say, “I don’t even know who I am!” I’m sure that’s something most of us can identify with – again, myself included. Especially post-pandemic, when we all questioned a lot of things …
Culture, identity, and change
All change is culture change. And all culture includes identity. Two simple statements with a lot to consider. Let’s unpack them. All change is culture change This one is fairly simple to explain, though not so simple in practice. Any time you change how something is done – whether it’s a systems change, a process change, a reorganization, new technology, …
The power of identity to influence change
There’s an often-overlooked factor that significantly influences how change works. Identity We all have a sense of identity – that’s not new news. But it’s not just us as individuals; it’s also teams, departments, and entire corporations, even very large and very small corporations. This sense of identity is a powerful factor in how we – individually or as an …