Are you in Flow?
If you’ve been feeling stuck lately, consider Bruce Lee’s zen-like advice…
Thanks to Tim Merriman for reminding me of this cheeky-but-hypnotic display of the teachings of Bruce Lee’s philosophies and teachings.
If you’ve been feeling stuck lately, consider Bruce Lee’s zen-like advice…
Thanks to Tim Merriman for reminding me of this cheeky-but-hypnotic display of the teachings of Bruce Lee’s philosophies and teachings.
Special thanks to Cindy McCahon and Susan Jacobs for introducing me to this mind-flipping snippet presented by Team Builders Plus.
Your turn: Please click here to share one word that describes your reaction to this video.
Storytelling has long been a vehicle for creating a journey of the imagination, a journey in which a transformation happens. In his March 2012 Fast Company article, “Using Great Storytelling To Grow Your Business,” Kaihan Krippendorff writes about how to use effective storytelling to drive change and growth in an organization. He references a tool called a Story Spine, which is a simple bunch of sentence stems that provide the skeleton for building a story. The Story Spine is a tool developed by Kenn Adams as a way for improvisers (actors who work without a script) to build a classic story.
Once there was…
And every day…
Until one day…
And because of that…
And because of that…
And because of that…
Until finally…
And so…
Optional ending line: The moral of the story is…
Sound familiar? Many fairy tales and children’s stories, as well as novels and movies, fit in this story structure. Elegant & easy! So, what if we could use story spines to map out a vision for changing ourselves? Simple genius! Here’s a great Harvard Business Review article that guides us on using Story Spines to craft a vision for changing our own circumstances: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/07/a_simple_exercise_to_help_you.html.
There are hundreds of possible Story Spine variations, and here’s one:
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Now, how will you use a Story Spine to create change in your own life? Share your thoughts in a comment here!
People experience different emotions when faced with change. Change can be viewed as a grieving process of sorts. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross described five stages of grief in her seminal work, ‘On Death and Dying’ in 1969.
The five stages include:
Kubler-Ross described the experiences of terminally ill patients and the psychological stages they go through when coming to terms with their condition. Her work on grieving process can be adapted to help us understand that individuals go through these same stages when faced with any big change, including changes at work.
Different people move through the stages at different speeds, and there may be some overlap between the stages. It is important for leaders to recognize this individual process. A person’s history, the organization’s history, the type of change and the consequence of change also impact an individual’s response to change and movement through the stages.
When people start trying to bargain, ask them to give the new dispensation a chance. A lot of bargaining is done while people are still angry. Once the anger dissipates, so does much of the bargaining.
Moving On
Empower individuals to take the ball and run with it. Let them find ways of using the new set up to create stretch goals and encourage them to push performance.
Let employees innovate and take risks within the new set-up. Let them not only see ways of making the new system work in their favor but put those into practice.
For the individuals who really are taking the ball and running with it, reward them and promote them. Use them to show others what is possible. Having a fellow colleague really driving performance forward using the changes is worth far more than managers telling people things are/will be better. Once people can see it working for a colleague they will be far more receptive to the change.
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Your turn:
What “stage” of change are you leading through right now? Add your comments here.
Everything can be taken from a man or woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. – Victor E. Frankl
noun \ri-ˈzil-yən(t)s\
Throughout my adult life, for various reasons, I have been told that I am resilient. But my story isn’t relevant today. Oh, believe me, I’d like for you to know all the joys and challenges, triumphs and struggles I’ve experienced. But when I’m practicing resilience, sometimes that means casting aside wounds, wonders, worries and woes in order to allow the simplicity of a message to shine through. So in the spirit of simplicity, all I will say right now about my discovery of the power of resilience is that I believe it is important to cast light, every day.
By shining our inner light outward toward the world, we brighten all that we see. So if you are reading this, it is because you were willing to let this light be cast upon you for a moment.
How will you cast your light? Post a comment here to share how you will demonstrate your resilience today.