I am seated in the airport on a windy, rainy afternoon in Atlanta - on my way back from several very enlightening days at Training Magazine's - Training Summit 2009. An adventure that I have undertaken primarily due to the new culture shift management assignment that I have been recently writing about - you know the drill, share our early approach with hundreds of content and process experts and see how much of it appears to be on-track and realistic.... oh, and steal a couple dozen good to great ideas in the process!
Mission accomplished.
(and yes, we are so ahead of the industry curve. This has been a great validation)
I admit, it has only been several weeks (and one post ago), that I shared a personal sidebar example of what I had been calling the continuum theory of employee investment (see previous blog post on organizational change and culture for that detailed rant)
Confession Time....
So yesterday afternoon, I am sitting in a workshop being facilitated by a former Monk and his colleague CEO of a large multi-national energy/utility corporation (sounds like the first line to a bad joke). Listening to them tell their very compelling story of culture change, the former Monk shared a very powerful (multi-dimensional) employee empowerment model that completely tweaked my perception - honestly, it blew my previous perspective right out of the Red Sea.
In short, his model (called the 4 room apartment - originally conceived by Claes Janssen: The Four Rooms of Change Theory) basically argues that within any group or organization - heck, when any group of people come together, they exist in one of four "rooms" with regard to their behaviors, attitudes toward their work, work culture, and the like. Each of these rooms have a single door and the door to each room opens into the next room (in a counter clockwise direction) and in only ONE direction. (see graphic insert)
The rooms are pretty self explanatory:
- Contentment
- Denial
- Confusion
- Renewal
In the contentment "room" people are happy with the status quo and happy with where they are within the group or organization. In the Denial room, people are resistant and afraid of change. Likewise, in the Confusion room, people are anxiety ridden and lack self confidence, and, in the Renewal room people are in what amounts to a personal growth space - independent, creative and spontaneous.
The points being made resonated loudly with me:
ALL OF US ARE DESTINE TO OCCUPY ONE OR ALL OF THESE ROOMS OVER TIME!
The reoccurring message reminding me of the quote from John A Simone Sr. who said "If you're in a bad situation, don't worry, it'll change. If you are in a good situation, don't worry, it'll change."
Basically, people move from one room to the next when:
1. They are ready;
2. (when) Life invites them;
3. (when) Reality kicks them.
The former Monk pointed to his 20 years of corporate experience and shared with example after example that people are more willing to move (from one room to another) when we keep the doors open and we do this by letting go of our need to fix, judge or condemn them... which is basically what I was doing in my misinformed prior posting.
So, while I have learned lots about the positive course our culture change strategy seems to be taking during this best practice jaunt - I have also learned even more about my own (limited) perception of individuals within the machine.
I am officially trashing my one dimensional construct and looking forward to developing and deploying an appreciation for the more dynamic and fluent four room model. I guess what it really boils down to is actively shifting from a mandate or compliance stance to an invitation based, commitment seeking approach - which, in the longer term will most certainly prove far more long lasting and systemic.
Patience is a virtue, however, I am no Monk, so this will be an interesting new direction for me to explore and discover... a divine invitation, indeed.
Cheers!
