Shaking the Tree

As an engineer, and a reluctant DIY ‘enthusiast’, I used to live by the maxim ‘If it’s not broke, don’t fix it’. Today as a coach I’ve come to realise that a degree of subversion may be required to effect change. I’m not thinking Earthquake so much as Oyster sand, but both cases cause irritation. It is said that new ideas are assimilated in three phases – • First they are ridiculed • Then they are strongly opposed • Finally they are accepted as self-evident The degree of ridicule and opposition encountered is directly proportional to the amount of money and prestige involved. Care should be taken when approaching a nation’s crown jewels like the NHS, Bio-tech industries, Pharmaceutical giants, Food Manufacturers, Big Agriculture and Defence. I learned long ago how gardening too close to a wasp’s nest was painful. The experience taught me that to deliberately poke a hornet’s nest is not a good idea. Today I like to think of myself as more of a benevolent bee-keeper. The golden honey made by the bees is a miracle of nature. We need no deep knowledge of the complexities of their processes but instead intervene systemically to nurture their growth and improve their productivity. There are many trees with hanging bags alive with flying defenders. With experience we learn which we are appropriately clothed to approach, even shake, and how best to do so. What do we do if we see real dangers in the proposed directions of the executives we coach, or real opportunities in alternative directions that are not yet on their radar? To what extent can we inform without directing? At what point do our well-intentioned interventions appear meddlesome or subversive? How much ridicule and opposition should we invite? As an engineer I learned how to make the levers others would pull. As a marketer I got to pull some of those levers and define new ones. Now as a maturing human being, when I can foresee some of the consequences of pulling certain levers, and I believe other choices better serve humanity, the coach and change agent in me says – ‘it’s not broke – so fix it’, but do so carefully!