Change Insights

The saying goes something like this…

“Give a man a fish
and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish
and he’ll eat for a lifetime.”

This concept was used to great effect in the iconic Oxfam Advert in the 1990s.

The message was simple, yet brilliant… the starving people in Africa didn’t need a charitable handout that kept them one step away from the poverty line for the rest of their lives, dependent on foreign handouts forever. What they needed was the skills and training to work themselves out of poverty.

Few people can disagree with the idea that equipping an African man (or woman, or child) with the ability and the equipment to fish is far more beneficial in the short, medium and long term than just throwing ‘fish’ at them. It is sustainable. It is scalable. And it very quickly pays for itself.

And yet so many times, we ignore this learning when it comes to managing change in business.

Organisations large and small, from start-up to blue-chip, deal with change every day. In fact, we think you would be very hard-pressed to find any business anywhere in the world that is not undergoing change right now. They may be implementing a new IT system to cope with modern technological demands. They could be restructuring an organisation to deal with a changing marketplace. Or perhaps they are executing a strategy to drive growth in a new territory. The list goes on and on, because change is unavoidable.

In business, change is more often on the company agenda.

But how do we manage it? Too often, we just ‘throw fish’ at it. The change gets bull-dozed in, staff may get a bit of cobbled-together training (but maybe not), and when the dust has settled, they are left to get on with it.

No buy-in. No engagement. No ongoing support. Just lots of dissatisfaction, resentment and ‘hunger’ for a different way.

The new system may well be the most amazing piece of IT. The restructure could be destined to revolutionise the way the business works. And the growth strategy may have the potential to treble sales. But unless the change happens with, and through employees, all those benefits will go unrealised.

Without the tools, the skills and the buy-in, from the leaders at the top to the front-line staff at the bottom, the desired change simply won’t happen. And even worse, the next time a big change is talked about, the default reaction will be fear, resistance and stepping back, rather than excitement, enthusiasm and stepping forward!.

Change without people isn’t really change at all.

Change management is an art and a science. At its best, it equips organisations with the skills and the mindset to positively embrace change, rather than running away from it in fear. This basic mindset continues to serve individuals long after the first change is complete. And the second. And the third…

It is sustainable. It is scalable. And it very quickly pays for itself.

Teaching people to fish saves lives. Teaching people to change saves businesses.