I have yet to meet one person that doesn’t go all googly and cozy and happy when they smell fresh baked bread!?Any bread and all kinds of bread have the same impact.?My father was a baker and ran the test bakery for Agriculture Canada while I was growing up.?We had the opportunity to learn all about the breads of the world – to sample them (of course!), to learn how wheat flour and other flours had a role in their production, and what some of the tricks of the trade were.?
I recall him telling us about a trip he made to the Philippines and when working with some of their bakers, found that their bread wasn’t rising as high as it might.?They determined that the water being used with the yeast was too warm, so their solution was to put some ice into it to cool it down and voila – problem solved!?So simple, right?!
So, as I make my own bread, mashed potato bread being a family favorite, I often reflect on what I learned from my father about the process and the things you learn through experience.?The yeast story has been cemented in my mind so I’m super cautious about the temperature of the water I use.?Kneading the dough is another piece – it takes time, you need to do some pulling and stretching, and you might need to make adjustments until the dough “feels right”, which is something that you just can’t document!?And then, how do you know when it’s done – you have to look at it, you smell it, and then you have to listen as you tap the bottom of the bread to make sure you are hearing that hollow sound that you need.?And then the outcome – you have to wait until the bread has cooled to warm to get a slice or two.
Pulling all this together, what does it mean for us as consultants and change managers??Here are some of my thoughts:
- Change comes in various forms – When we hear that a client or organization is going through change, our reference point becomes that what we know and what we’ve experienced.?But change varies in terms of the size, number of people impacted, duration and organizational culture.?Like bread, the output can vary and the approach to helping our clients travel the change journey is dependent on many factors.
- Small things matter – Only a few ice cubes made a big difference in the product that my father and the bakers in the Philippines were making.?Similarly, knowing and understanding the people in an organization that are being impacted by the change can result in defining the key pain points that need to be addressed to make them feel comfortable in moving ahead with the change journey.?It could mean a conversation with a trusted individual or colleague that is working on the change.?It could be a demonstration of a new solution that solves a never-ending problem.?Or it could be a manager speaking individually with an employee to find out what the change means to them.?Overall, you need to make the change experience meaningful on a personal level and for many, it’s the small things that matter.
- When do you know that you’ve arrived? - ?Although there are many ways to measure successful change, ultimately one of the more nebulous is a cultural one – knowing that it feels right, and that people and the organization have accepted new ways of doing things.?Like kneading bread dough and checking if it’s done, often the best way to understanding when the change journey has arrived at its logical destination, is to use your observational skills – what are you seeing? what are you hearing? are people behaving differently?
- The waiting is the hardest part – As a change consultant, you bring skills, assets, artifacts and ways of working to help your client to travel the change journey, but ultimately, seeing the outcome of your collaboration and interventions takes time:?time for people and organizations to become aware of the change and to understand what it means to them, time to let go of what exists today and start to understand what tomorrow will be, and time to start working and behaving in new ways.?Like waiting to taste some fresh bread, you need to focus on the work that you have done and the rewards that are ahead.?
So that’s my bread story for today.?Perhaps you can share a nibble of your own baking experiences with me and how you rose to the occasion.
