Today I attended my first Great Insiders event. I'd been very much looking forward to it for some considerable time - even more so because of recent events! I met some fantastic people, swapped ideas for how to avoid the common mistakes internal consultants make, and acquired fodder for further thought! (Phew!)
One thing that stuck with me was an expression that Jill and Liz from Suffolk came up with:-
"leading from behind"
The horse represents the company: the head where the vision and thinking goes on (!) could be senior managers or the board, the legs the "powerhouse" aka operational staff who carry the weight of the labour. The head is blinkered, only seeing straight ahead, oblivious to everything around, below and behind it. The legs are tired, possibly overburdened, but follow the head regardless.
The yoke represents the constraints that everybody in the system feels - "that'll never work here because of x, y, z". Regulation, legislation, lack of creativity. Too much conformity, control. (See how the horse frolicks playfully in the field when he has been un-tacked!)
So that leaves the farmer, walking along behind the horse, detached and guiding *ever so gently* via the reins. He is aligned to and can see clearly the direction where the horse is heading. He can also see the bigger picture and steer the horse away from the puddles and divots. The horse trusts the farmer to guide him through the field as they work together to sow the seeds of change (ok, that was probably taking the metaphor slightly too far - I'll leave it to your imagination to take this further......)
So, in case you haven't guessed it by now, Great Insiders are the farmer in this scenario. Here are some of the problems we share with the farmer (amongst countless others):
- The farmer doesn't hold the reins steady enough - dropping them, not applying enough pressure. This confuses the horse, potentially everything comes to a grinding halt.
- The horse becomes upset and kicks or bites the farmer in self-defence, hurting the poor farmer.
- The horse doesn't trust the farmer, and with a mind of its own wanders off, either stumbling on the rough ground and hurting himself, or tempted by juicy grass grazes to excess, which then leaves the horse bloated and regretful.
And my favourite one of all - The horse becomes frightened by loud bangs and runs off, pulling the farmer off balance and sending him flying face-down in the mud (thanks to Paul for this one!)
Have you ever had projects that have gone wrong and left you feeling, well, shit?
If you want to be a great farmer, sorry - insider - then download yourself a copy of the report - "7 mistakes... and how to avoid them" and come join us on LinkedIn. See you there! :o)
Thank you for this great metaphor - and a really nice sketch to accompany it.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a good metaphor that I think it's worth expanding upon in further posts For example, why is the farmer (the Great Insider) detached from the horse? Maybe because many organisations force them into that position? What if the farmer was able to it on the horse? Wouldn't she/he be even better able to guide it then? And by allowing the farmer to sit on the horse, the horse is allowing closer contact and showing greater trust. This is a rich vein of imagery Caroline - perhaps your chapter for the GI book?
Wow Caroline - and Bruce!
ReplyDeleteThis really has got my brain tingling this morning. And when you said "drawing", I didn't realise that you are actually superbly talented!
Which has me thinking - as well as your chapter for the book - what about if each chapter had an illustration to go with it? And, if you like that idea - can we commission you as the Tribe Artist? And/or can we/should we invite several tribe members to add illustrations... For example, I know we also have some amazing photographers in the tribe...
For some reason - as well as the horse farmer, I'm thinking about the plough. How heavy does it have to be so that it doesn't just bounce over the ground? How light does it have to be so that it doesn't sink into the soil and break the teeth of the plough.
And the sowing... Does the farmer keep the seeds in his pocket? If so, how does he distribute them evenly? Does it matter in the greater scheme of things? And how does he keep the horse steady with 'Business As Usual' while also reaching into his pocket to find the seeds for the change? And what would it be like if it wasn't a horse, but another person who had a choice? Would the farmer still choose the seeds to plant, or would they decide by committee?
Another thought in this analogy is about how the farmer decides when NOT to plough and sow. Sometimes he leaves fields 'fallow' to recover nutrients. Is part of the reason why "Change" is almost always a disaster in organisations because we start ploughing stuff up before it's grown - and don't realise that sometimes parts of organisations need to be left alone, just doing smallish continual improvement (fallow) rather than constantly being churned over and over again? Is this why the word "Restructure" almost always fills me with dread? The farmer can rip out hedges and move fences - but he is still tilling the same land and other 'stakeholders' (birds and other hedgerow creatures) can lose out - not be considered - and later we discover that they were actually a key part of the organisational ecosystem...
Anyway - "rich vein of imagery" as Bruce says!
Ems x
Thanks for your comments, Ems and Bruce. I think there is quite a bit of mileage in this metaphor, and Ems has pointed out more of where this line of thought could go. As I said, yesterday was inspirational. :o)
ReplyDeleteWhat if fellow farmers started sharing tips on how best to plough the field? Or other farmers started using machinery instead of horses - the horse had become outdated, slow and old, and the farmer looked jealously at his competitors' efficiency?
I'd be happy to change this into a story (and build more blog posts on it) as my contribution towards the Tribe's book. I'd also be happy to contribute artwork or photogaphy towards it - I don't do much sketching nowadays so it's a bit rusty, but it would give me a break from revision and a creative outlet!