The Penny and the Freight Train

November 21, 2008 By Heather Stagl Leave a Comment

One of the most common metaphors for the status quo organization is the runaway freight train. Without anything that can stop it, the train simply continues to barrel forward along its tracks. Unfortunately, the desired destination is not at the end of those tracks, but the sunny green pasture off to the side.

Enter the penny. Mythical for sure, it is thought that a single 2.5 gram penny, when placed strategically on the tracks, can derail a freight train. Just a small blip in the track and the train is launched off its otherwise inevitable path.

Inquiry: What is your penny?

Now you might be thinking that the end result of the above scenario is either a squished penny or a mangled mess of flaming steel. If so, instead of seeing the penny as a catalyst of change, you see it as a precursor of destruction.

Inquiry: What lies at the end of the tracks?

Filed Under: Organizational Change Tagged With: status quo

Continuous imperceptible change

November 14, 2008 By Heather Stagl Leave a Comment

Last week I was in San Diego for 4 days. Upon my return to Atlanta, I crept into my 7-month-old daughter’s room during her nap. In less than a week, she had grown and changed enough that I could perceive the difference. To anyone else, the subtle transformation would have been imperceptible; however as her mother, she was noticeably 4 days older.

Later, I started to think of how this experience related to organizational change. I had two different thoughts:

1. As living organisms, organizations change continuously and not discretely. In order to show improvement over time, it is important to measure important features at different points in time. Without having data to show that improvement occurred, it might be impossible to prove that it did. Just like with my daughter, you may not perceive a change unless you look (i.e. measure) at different points in time.

2. The transformation of my daughter over such a short period of time would probably only be perceptible to me as her mother, whereas other people would need a longer time between observations to distinguish a difference. Because her exact image is imprinted on me every time I see her, the minor changes were obvious, although indescribable. As a change agent, it is important to observe and be aware of your organization, so that tiny changes are noticeable. That way, you can celebrate smaller wins earlier or make course corrections sooner.

Inquiry: Where might you look for imperceptible change?

For more information about how to use inquiries, please view the post: The power of inquiry.

Filed Under: Organizational Change

The Power of Inquiry

November 10, 2008 By Heather Stagl Leave a Comment

I want to introduce the concept of an inquiry, because I would like to publish more of them, and I think you’ll get more use out of them (and won’t think I’m quite so nutty) if I explain what they are and how to use them.

In coaching, an Inquiry is a powerful, open-ended question that is given as “homework” for the client to think about between coaching conversations. The aim is discovery and personal learning. The best use is to set aside some quiet time to journal a response to the question, and to follow all the roads down which your mind travels. As part of the coaching toolkit, the inquiry is usually specific to your personal situation stemming from the immediate conversation; however, I believe that a somewhat random question can be equally enlightening if you choose to make the best of it. At any rate, setting some time aside to use your brain differently is a worthwhile investment.

During the course of my days, I frequently have an experience that later I try to link back to organizational change and leadership – although most of the time the link is not obvious. In the spirit of creativity, I write about the possible implications and then pose an inquiry to the readers to take the learning further for themselves. For examples, please see these posts.

So, when you see me post an inquiry, I invite you to step away from your task list and spend 5-10 minutes pondering or journaling about how you might answer the question. Many new ideas come by looking at things from a whole new perspective. I hope one of my questions might provide that breakthrough for you.