December 17th: What A Bright Time ??
During breakfast, Santa and Mrs. Claus discussed the speech that he was going to give later that day. They both knew that it was the best and perhaps his only opportunity to make the entire staff realize the need for change.
“But mind you,” Mrs. Claus said. “We don’t want them to change out of fear, because fearful people often find employment somewhere else. And even though it will be difficult for most of them to find other employment I’m sure our staff will try to, you know, with all these equal opportunity for minorities CSR policies. No, instead we must make them endorse change by helping them envision a better future by staying with us.”
“So, no burning platform?” asked Santa skeptically.
“No, absolutely not. We don’t want them to choose between two evils, like burning up or drowning. We want them to choose a new direction because they long to be part of a better future. That’s why a burning desire is much better than a burning platform, don’t you agree?”
“Absolutely!” said Santa who had never really thought of that before, but it made sense.
Two hours later, Santa stood in front of the entire staff plus Dr. Abacus McKinley in the banquet hall. He was really excited, but—he had to admit—also a little bit afraid. Did he have what it took to make the staff want to change? Mrs. Claus had persuaded him that he was the only one who could start the change process. But at the same time, she had also convinced him that if it got off to a good start, the staff would create the change themselves; he wouldn’t have to do that. In fact, it was better if he didn’t, because the staff should implement the changes.
“Friends, we are only one week away from Christmas and we are all quite busy, as usual. And yet things are not quite what they used to be. We haven’t really noticed it because the changes over the years have been small, but adding it all up over the last decade or so, we must accept that we are weaker than before. Dr. Abacus McKinley showed us the facts a few days ago: Fewer children send us letters and an increasing proportion of their wishes can’t be fulfilled by the toys we produce in the workshop. At the same time, we get more complaints about our freelance Santas, who either behave worse than before or the parents are perceiving it that way. These two trends have been going on for years, but we haven’t really taken notice of them. But my friends, I’m telling you, we must, otherwise we will soon be in serious trouble.”
Mrs. Claus coughed loudly, interrupting Santa. Instantly he got the message: “Don’t scare people into change, make them envision a bright future instead!”
“Of course,” Santa continued with a smile, “we must never fear the future. Instead, we must create our own glorious future and I have no doubt in my mind that we can do just that.”
“But how, Santa?” one of the Pixie girls asked. “I’m just reading letters. What can I do?”
“Great question, and I wish I could answer it, but I can’t. Or perhaps it’s better to say that I don’t want to answer it. We must all search our hearts and find a way to reach our mutual goal. And let me tell you all that there is no such thing as ‘just reading letters’ or ‘just operating the lathe in the workshop’ or ‘just being seventh reindeer in the reindeer team’. No, you must all see yourselves as part of something bigger, an important and integral part of creating a true Christmas spirit around the world.”
“That’s all great, Santa, but you still need to tell us what to do,” said one the elves.
“No, Danno, I’m sorry to say, but you’re wrong about that. We must find a way together. Yes, of course I’m the top guy around here and I’m the one that all the children and parents see as the symbol of Christmas, but we must all work together to reach our shared goal.”
“And which goal is that exactly?” asked Danno, who was still confused.
“That question, Danno, I’m able to answer with pleasure. Like I said before, our goal is to improve Christmas spirit. This will never change. And what is this Christmas spirit, you may ask. Well, it’s about making all people, irrespective of age and race and religion and all those things that unfortunately often distinguish us, less selfish and more caring. Or to put it in another way, Christmas spirit abounds when people use the words we and us more than I and me. That’s what we must accomplish and we must act fast. We must seize the day.”
Danno looked at Santa. “I’m with you, but can we wait until tomorrow to seize the day? I’m quite busy today.”
“Yes and no. There is no time to waste, but having said that, I have already arranged for all of us to meet again tomorrow morning to find ways to improve Christmas spirit. We must get it back on track, so what I really want from you tomorrow is to find a bold and innovative way to do everything exactly the way we have been doing it for the last few centuries.”
Main take-aways:
?? A burning desire is a much better motivator than a burning platform for making change
?? It’s important that all employees, high and low, see themselves as part of something bigger
?? The employees must be deeply involved in both deciding the goal and the route to get there
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