Coach Dan's Blog

  We've Always Done It That Way... I heard that phrase this week.... "We've always done it that way." It was interesting, in an academic way, to observe the group I was with in the aftermath of those words.  I could actually see the body language of people change; people looking off screen, slumped shoulders, leaning back in their chairs.  One sentence unintentionally stifled discussion and disempowered the team from being curious and creative. Something to consider... I share the following story with new teams and leaders sometimes....  A scientist conducted an experiment in which they locked 5 monkeys in a room with a ladder.  On the top of that ladder the scientist placed fresh bunch of bananas.  Now every single time a monkey touched that ladder (because who wouldn't climb a ladder for a delicious bananas?) the scientist would spray all 5 monkeys with ice-cold water. After a while the monkeys learned their lesson and left the bananas alone! Not long aft...

I've often wondered if one of the reasons transformations fail to meet expectations, is because so many organizations misuse the word "transformation."   Let's start with a couple of simple definitions. trans·for·ma·tion /ˌtran(t)sfərˈmāSH(ə)n/ noun a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance. trans·form /tran(t)sˈfôrm/ verb make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of. By these definitions, one would assume that any organization is going through a really fundamental change.  Something that will impact even the character of the organization.  That sounds like a BIG DEAL! If you were to look under the covers of what most organizations call "transformations," I suspect you'll find something somewhat different.  You see, when an organization claims to transform, the change is often limited to the addition of some new tools, or a migration to a different process or framework (way of working.)  Of c...