changing the language of change (agile+beyond 2014)
TRANSCRIPT
Changing
the
Language of Change
Andrew Annett
@akannett
PLEASE NOTE SLIDES ≠ PRESENTATION
• These slides are designed to be viewed in
conjunction with a human being talking and
interacting with you.
• They will make little sense to you if you were not at
the live session.
Ex-roughneck
Ex-programmer
Ex-project/program manager
Life-long learner
Coach
Lean change advocate
Conversation partisan
(+Offshore sailor)
Who is Andrew?
Assumption #1
Change isn’t hard…
we do it all the time
Assumption #2
Resistance to change is an emotional response to a threat
(i.e., the unknown)
Metaphor:
describing and comprehending
one thing in terms of another
Metaphor is
a way of
thought
more
than a
way
with
words
Metaphor enables us
to navigate the
unknown
Metaphor
creates
meaning
and
common
understanding
Work is a machine
Work is cultivation
Work is construction
Work is a game
Work is war
Work is
art
Language matters !
“One of the most basic problems of modern management is that the mechanical way of thinking is so ingrained in our everyday conception of organisations that it is often difficult to organise in any other way.“ - Gareth Morgan
Exercise
In groups of three (or so): 1.Pick a metaphor card 2.Write a one or two sentence
mission statement that uses or reflects the metaphor (5 minutes)
3.We’ll read them out and discuss the impact (10 minutes)
Action
References Morgan, Gareth, Images of Organisation, Sage, 1986/1997. Morgan, Gareth, Imaginization, Sage, 1997. Lakoff, George & Johnson, Mark, Metaphors we Live By, University of Chicago Press, 1980. Geary, James, I is an Other, HarperCollins, 2011 Carse, James P., Finite and Infinite Games, MacMillan, 1986 Photos: Wikimedia (various) www.seriousplay.com www.flickr.com/photos/jackdorsey/170257936 The Banff Centre, Donald Lee
