Change That Matters

I don't remember exactly what year it was when I spoke with someone at an agile open space who told me she quit her job and pursued her passion based on a conversation we had a couple of years earlier at another event.

That pattern seems to have followed me around because as I spent more time working as an agile coach, I noticed that the early adopters, or movers as I call them, tended to be the first people to leave their organization. They either left to do the same job in a better environment, or they completely changed their career path, or they went to a different organization that make a positive impact in the world. In a few rare cases, sometimes the work environment actually got better and they decided to stay.

I recently tweeted out how I was having a hard time writing these days. I have over 20 blogs posts just sitting there but in a world where google knows everything and the same content keeps getting recycled over and over again, what else needs to be said?

I started seeing more typical easy-answer nonsense like "leadership is the key to successful change!!!", "you can't do agile, you have to bd agile!!!", "successful change is based on clear communication!!", "you have to fail in order to learn!!". Yeah, I get why that stuff exists and there's obviously more to it than that, but FFS, simplifying complex situations in order snag a few likes and retweets just really irks me, which is why I engage less and less in social media as each day passes.

After I tweeted how I was stuck, a handful of people replied with some encouragement that it's my stories and experiences that are valuable more than anything else so here's a story for you!

I've chatted with plenty of people over the last few years about how we change agents could use our talents for a higher purpose as opposed to helping yet another multi-national organization coerce their people into 'being more agile'. In fact, I stopped embedded consulting many years ago after being inside an organization that treated their people so terribly that people were going on sick leave. Yeah that's right, people writing software going on sick leave because the environment is so bad. I told the leaders there what I saw and given their surprised and blaming-ridden reaction, I followed up with a "you should feel ashamed of yourselves for letting this happen".

After that event, I decided to change my trajectory and kept talking with people who were in a similar spot of wanting to align their talents toward a higher purpose. That lead to a conversation with fellow Spark the Change organizer, Sarika Kharbanda and eventually a long-titled event called "I don't know what I don't know, but together we know", which she coined.

We decided we wanted to run a different online event where people bring challenges and we help them get unstuck.

It didn't matter what the challenge was, we'd do what we could to help that person get unstuck.

We ran our first one a couple of weeks ago and here's what one of our attendees said:

I went in very weary, if not a tad skeptical, yet open with nothing to lose. W.O.W. In 12 mins I got a load of ideas, ones that I did not even expect. And get this: From complete strangers who were willing to help. Incredible. The openness. The raw honesty. The vulnerability. All paired with a forward thinking solutions driven approach. No BS beating around the bush or mulling over the seemingly mountain of an issue. Most effective and efficient 1.5hrs for a while!!! Love the approach. Love the idea. So much gratitude. Thank you.

We had no idea if anyone would sign up, but both events were full so we're doing more. The premise is simple:

• 8 people max
• 75 minutes
• 2 coaches
• everyone gets help with where they're stuck
• we followup with each person a couple of weeks later
• the small registration fee covers paying the coaches and Sarika and I are holding space for free

Maybe one day I'll publish a few of those 20+ blog posts that are just sitting there, but in typical fashion, I'd rather use my talents to help people get unstuck because it's infinitely more rewarding, and it's making a difference for people. I still have my day jobs with LCM and Spero so if Together We Know grows, who knows, maybe it'll inspire people in the change world wanting more to nudge their trajectory into an orbit about meaningful change.

If you're interested, check out the upcoming events here. Obviously we can't promise to solve the worlds problems in 75 minutes, but we do guarantee you'll take away a handful of actions, a lifetime of connections and a small community that'll support you.