NIMBY !

Not in my back yard ! Its a term which refers to people who want overall development but nothing that affects their own backyard. The way I understand this is, there are people who want #change but dont want to be part of the #change.

Picture above is at an Ashram in the Himalayas with friends having the honest "Crucial conversations with myself"

I experienced NIMBY in different ways in my career. It manifests in different ways. Client blames the services team for a botched implementation, the services team blames the sales team for promises that cannot be delivered, the sales team blames the product management team for letting them down and it goes around. In private all want things to change but no one wants to change things in their own backyard.

I recently was speaking to a senior leader in a MNC who was sharing in private about how his team was having issues managing the expectations of multiple stakeholders and all were so frustrated with the monumental issues on some complex engagements they wanted to just leave. My simple questions to him which set him thinking-

1. What is that change you want to see and what have you done about it?
2. How often do you have crucial conversations with your people on issues other than metrics on a project or Business?
3. What are their real fears that are preventing them from taking timely actions?(Note not challenges !)
4. How much of their anxiety is real?

Amy Cuddy in her book Presence puts it nicely."When we are deciding on whether or not to do something critical, we focus on either the possible benefits or the costs. If we are focused on the potential benefits then we take action and we focus on the costs, we are more likely not to act"

If we can have crucial conversations around their fears and anxiety you will potentially have your people stand up to the challenges and BRING ABOUT THE CHANGE. Bring about that change in your backyard .

Nagabhushana Urala K