To Ponder: Shaping Your New Year
Let’s talk cultural messaging. In particular - what are you doing this month to set the tone for your next 6?
Hopefully not this…
The organisation of a client of mine has been facing budget pressures for several months now. Projects were being shutdown, and everyone knew that resourcing was under review months ago. (Yes, I’m sure you can see where this is going) - guess when they decided to give notice to all those no longer needed staff members?
2 weeks before Christmas.
Oh and good luck finding a new gig anytime before late-Feb due to scheduled Christmas shutdowns.
It’s the classic: “Merry Christmas, don’t come back in the new year”.
Or as Kevin McCallister would say: “Merry Christmas You Filthy Animal”
These leaders prioritised their own end-of-year peace of mind over that of their staffs’.
There is of course an alternative here.
I’ve been collectively working with many leaders in my network on how to boost change leadership across their teams in the new year. January brings with it a renewed sense of purpose and a clean mental slate. It’s a great time to shape the actions that you need to drive your next change successfully.
So this week, reflect:
What actions are you taking now to set the tone for your new year?
To Action: Rainbow Kangaroos & Dopamine
Earlier this week my daughter lifted the blind to my backyard and shouted “Dad, there’s a rainbow!” and then, with even more excitement, “…And a Kangaroo!” The result of which were these fantastic (and very amateur) snaps.
Of course, I promptly shared it around. Friends, family and even with strangers on Reddit. …On which it took off! With almost 1000 ‘upvotes’ as I write - social sharing is a funny thing. I can tell you, my dopamine was peaked checking each time that ‘upvote’ number grew. From 10 to 50 to 300 and now 1000.
We all know how the dopamine reward loop works. Doing something that feels good makes us want to do that thing again. It’s the basis of so many things we do as humans: exercise, social media, chocolate, roller coasters, video games.
Yet - I’m always blown away by how little I see change leaders consciously consider it as a genuine driver of action in an organisational setting. Excitement is as real an emotion as frustration - yet our workplaces seems to accept more of the latter.
So here’s this week’s action:
Find one simple way to add more regular excitement (and correspondingly more dopamine loops) into your change teams.
I subscribe firmly to the notion that professionalism should never preclude fun.
To Reflect: Echo Mines
Chatting with my wife this week, we were reflecting on the dangerous nature of social media. There are concerning anecdotal studies of brand new TikTok accounts being served up Nazi propaganda videos after just a few hours of browsing. My wife and I have both seen similar concerning trends towards logic-lapsed madness in people across own networks.
Social media is often accused of being an ‘echo chamber’. But it’s not.
It’s worse.
It’s an echo mine.
It’s not just a single chamber, rather, for many it is a slow ‘boil the frog’ style descent into deep, echo filled caverns. One after the other.
This week’s reflection is not one of change leadership. It’s one of concern.
Be careful out there. Content algorithms don’t care what you consume, or how deep you fall.
…Just as long as you consume it.
As for me - my wife and I are turning our phones and computers off later tonight and not booting them back up till Monday.
As always, I hope you have a great weekend. You deserve it.
If anything you read this week resonated with you, or even just had you take a moment to reflect - then please do share the love.
See you next week,
BB