Ned story

Let me tell you about one occasion that made the challenges of this work worthwhile. I was facilitating a ‘change team’ for a large organisation, around 90,000 staff. The team (which I’ll call ‘Ned’s team’) comprised some 24 people from various functions and levels in the organisation, but they were all from a large district within the organisation.

That district was under the rule of one iron-fisted manager, who I’ll call Sam.
I was responsible for 16 teams at the time. All up there were approximately 130 teams, facilitated by eight consultants. Each team had a senior manager or executive as a mentor. The mentor usually attended the team workshops, which in this case were held around every six weeks.

Every workshop was designed during the previous six weeks so that we could integrate feedback and match the pace of the local change initiatives.

The participants were what we called ‘key influencers’ — people who were respected by their colleagues at work — and my task was to facilitate the team through any blocks and problems, and provide them with change skills that they could use back at their workplace.

To do that, I asked them a lot of process questions, designed for them to work out their own issues and learn from their own experience as far as possible.

On about the third workshop for Ned’s team, the mentor was not present for some reason. The first hour or two of the workshop was generally allocated to dealing with any issues that the team had in the workplace — resistance to change and so on. On this occasion, one of the participants, Ned, was agitated. He finally spoke up and expressed his anger at the way his company treated its suppliers, one of whom was constructing a building for his company.

The builder had been harassing Ned over late payment of invoices. He had complained to Ned’s company, but had been ignored. It seemed that the company generally took several months or more to pay suppliers. However, it had plenty of cash and resources so there was no obvious excuse for not paying.
Ned complained to me and the team that the ‘new values’ of honesty and integrity in business dealings were a load of crap, and he didn’t want to remain in the program. (This often happens in the early stages of a change initiative, as the old culture meets the new. It’s always a good opportunity to make a leap.)

Ned threatened to back out of the change program unless I fixed the problem. His consciousness was contracted and he was withdrawing, disengaging. I was there to help Ned implement change, not to fix problems for him, so I declined and told him he could leave if he wanted to do so, but I then challenged him with some questions that went to his responsibility and power to deal with the problem.

Ned’s answers indicated that he wanted to do something about it, but that he was a mere technician a thousand kilometres from state head office where he believed these decisions were made. Ned was gradually raising his level of courage. Ned’s team agreed that the company’s behaviour needed to change.

With a few more questions, he was able to see the possibility that he might be able to access the decision makers through his team’s network. Finally, with the offers of assistance from his team, Ned accepted the challenge to solve the issue and come to the next workshop with his solution.

During this exchange, Sam, the iron-fisted manager, came to the door and watched the proceedings. Just when Ned said that he would take on the issue, Sam called out, ‘Ned is out of line. Policy is policy and it’s been around for 20 years because it’s a good policy. If you try to change it, you’ll disrupt the entire business’.

Great timing. It was like bursting a balloon. The team felt defeated. Sam had effectively contracted their awareness and shrunk their souls. The energy in the room dropped. The team had been wondering whether I’d let Ned off the hook, and had been observing how to rebuild someone’s confidence and commitment. Now the whole group was affected.

Sam glared at me. I knew I had just one shot to take this team forward, and only a few seconds to do it before the opportunity was lost and the team would take months to recover. I had to shift from facilitator to leader for a moment. I turned to the group and asked questions that expand awareness — fast. ‘Is that good enough? What is important to you? Do you want to be part of the culture that you’ve been part of for years, or do you want to make this a better company, a great company?’ I paused. You could hear a pin drop. Then I added, ‘If you choose to make this company what you believe it really could be, I’ll back you to the hilt, but you’ll have to be prepared to do what it takes’.

I knew that the change initiative was fully supported by the company’s leaders, but I wanted the team to make the decision based on their own beliefs. This was a choice point for the team. Values operate at the point of choice, moment by moment.

The team realised that I had the courage to stand up to Sam’s intimidation. Almost as one, they said, ‘Yes, we’ll do it’.

Sam stormed out of the room. He returned half an hour later and said that he’d phoned national head office and that the payment system was, ‘Fixed policy, which could not be changed’.

By now the team was certain of what they wanted. I asked them, ‘Do you want to change your mind, or do what you believe is right?’ I give them full points for courage. They risked incurring Sam’s wrath, but they didn’t hesitate choosing to change the system, if possible. Consciousness rose again to optimism and hopefulness.

I said to Sam, ‘Sorry, Sam, but this is important to the team and the company’. Sam pointed to me and said, ‘You’re dead, son’. I don’t think he meant it literally, but the team was concerned about what might happen to me. Sam probably wanted to remove me from the project.

I told the team I’d work it out during the break and we continued with the workshop. I’d faced more difficult situations than Sam. 

During the break I called two mentors who were stationed in the same region. They headed Sam off at the pass and told him that they would back the team.
At the next workshop approximately 6 weeks later, Ned was beaming. He wanted to be first up to tell his story.

He’d networked his way by phone to state head office, which was as far as his team’s contacts went. He then managed to locate the person in national head office who handled policy on financial matters. He explained the problem and what his concerns were, and the impact on suppliers.

It turned out that the ‘policy’ was simply a guideline that had been around for many years and no-one had bothered to review it. In six weeks Ned had managed to have the guidelines reviewed and changed to a more equitable arrangement.

His quiet excitement was obvious. The energy in the room was extraordinary as Ned told his story. On that day, the team’s dynamic changed and Ned’s story became one of the legends that was told around the company.

From that time on, Ned’s team didn’t hold anything back. They truly became extraordinary; a fantastic role model for other teams. The builder was happy and the team was happy.

It rubbed off on other people with whom they interacted, and anyone who doubted the change program began to have second thoughts. Corporate consciousness was expanding.

At the next workshop, Ned’s team came up with six significant local change projects that they had identified and instigated on their own initiative. They’d done all the work for planning and gaining approvals and were already implementing the initiatives, much of it in their own time, and involving colleagues from their workplace.

One team member who worked on installations in remote areas sat down with his mates at lunchtime and asked them what they’d change if they could. They said that they’d fix a problem they’d experienced with some of their specialised machinery over a number of years. The engineers at the overseas manufacturer hadn’t solved the problem and it was costing time and money, and caused them difficulties in their work. They played around with ideas and drew some designs for an attachment to the machine — drawing in the dirt under a tree, using a stick.

They came up with an idea and, on the weekend during his time off, the team member drove 400 kilometres to the nearest small city and engaged two team-mates — one to draft the design and the other to manufacture the part from steel. It was a simple device. Then he drove 400 kilometres back and, with his mates, fitted the device and ran the equipment. The device worked!

Bit by bit the awareness was spreading, with very practical applications to the vision and values. Some of those projects included developing innovations to solve service delivery issues. Another team designed a switchboard that they estimated would generate revenue of $5 million. The teams began exchanging information to solve broader issues; they sought help from mentors and team members in different functions, and broke down the internal barriers. Pretty soon, other teams were taking up similar challenges. Consciousness was rising across the organisation.

The best part came three months later. Sam had been promoted to state head office. He entered the workshop and a hush fell over the room. Most of the people had not seen Sam since his last visit. Sam asked if he could introduce his successor. The team agreed, but seemed cautious.

Sam made the introductions then said, ‘Before I go, I want to say this. A couple of months ago I tried to stop you changing something when I didn’t agree with you. I give you my absolute apology. I never believed that you could achieve all that you have done in the past few months. I’m immensely impressed. You’ve changed my beliefs and faith in people, and I want you to know that in my new role, I’ll be there to support you in whatever way I can. Best of luck. It’s been an honour to have learned from you’.

There was a brief silence. Then the team stood and broke into spontaneous applause. Many thanked Sam, and all the anxiety from his previous aggressive style dissipated. He had the courage to accept his faults and he forgave himself and others (including me). Consciousness rose again.

The team just kept growing and growing in confidence. A couple of months later they asked me if I could suspend the planned training session and teach them how to facilitate by using questions. Now they were starting to work with higher awareness. That was the beginning of the MasterProcess™, which I later developed into one of the most effective and empowering processes that I’ve seen anywhere in the world. Without a process like this, which enables people at all levels and functions in the company to move mountains, most change initiatives will struggle.

Ned’s story has so much to teach — ordinary people becoming extraordinary, empowerment, innovation, leadership, vision, values, choice, the power of language to expand, contract, direct and focus awareness, the power of the human spirit, and how consciousness flows in companies and in us all.

The lessons are there for us every day, in every moment. Once these change processes gain traction, the change can accelerate rapidly. It is important to have flexible, organic processes in place that can maintain and channel the inspiration and energy, not hold it back.

In these change initiatives, energy is directed to implementing the vision and strategy, improving the business, and creating the desired culture, supporting structures, systems and processes. Training is directed at adding those skills (including leadership style) to enable people to step up to the task. The change initiatives are focused on practical matters that add value to the business and the culture. In most cases, those initiatives are integrated into the usual activities of business. And, as Ned's team's example has shown, people will also go out of their way to make it work if they are passionate about the possibilities, and receive the acknowledgement.