Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy.
Paracelsus
Last night’s as-far-from-inclusive-as-possible speed vote (non-collocation can work just fine for inclusion- one state over or a world away)in Wisconsin has me thinking about change catalysts. Not the manufactured Kotter “urgency” form, but the REAL catalysts. Poke someone in the arm enough, steal from their lunchbox (and the wallet they need to fill it back up) to give to those who do not need it and you are likely to get a reaction. Judging from my social media browsing this morning, directly after the fact, when emotions from the arm poke are the strongest, two things are happening.
One is the side who hopes emotion will take over and make the other side look bad. Their change process is to eliminate resistance, cut off the biggest avenue for funding and ram through change. Sound familiar? Resistance fighting change management.
Two is the side full of emotion, calmly, but assertively, signaling to others to stop the bad change and transform (good change) in a peaceful, fair and democratic way. An organic upswelling of connection, collaboration and action always follows. Sound familiar? Organic Change Management. (disclaimer- I realize I do not usually give corporate organic change management enough credit- yesterdays events have me thinking in a new direction).
So you have one side (I have seen executives make this mistake) that is being blatantly provocative (and dishonest, which destroys trust, but when have provocateurs ever cared about trust…ah, but, when has change ever truly happened without it) hoping to radicalize the other side and render them powerless.
You have the other side working together, in a surprisingly inclusive manner, to call out facts, fairness and the bigger picture.
One side is makes sense change; the other side reactive black and white ideology. As with societal issues like this one (and I see this issue as a result of the huge transference of wealth upwards not necessarily union busting- and certainly NOTHING to do with budgets and deficits) corporations sometimes follow this two sided pattern- less extreme and less divisive, but similar in nature.
This is a huge catalyst. This is a time when urgency happens (and yes, makes sense, but in a smooth always progressively forward pace). This will be fascinating to watch, participate in and discuss. I personally have friends, peers and acquaintances from one end of the political color spectrum to the other. We will likely share cups of coffee and glasses of wine over this. We will quickly find solutions (what does that say about our politicians and representative process). In organizations the same process of discussion toward possible solutions happens too. Just not always with the right people present with the right amount of leverage.
Change moves fast and strong when it has a catalyst. Leverage turns change toward transformation. Transformation happens when action replaces planning. Both sides should be drawing the picture of an end state. One side appears to have done that. The other is just starting the change process. But, like typical change in corporate and organizational settings, the train has left the station- planning and action will have to coincide.
