Today, All of Us Are George Lucas

“I had a good thing going!” my friend exclaimed. “Now this happens, and I have rip up the script. I have to figure out what I’m going to do.”

My friend is “all of us” here in March of 2020 – a month when most individuals and organizations experienced unique upheaval with the arrival of the COVID-19 virus. Agility and improvisation are valuable skills, but today I want to explore the importance of establishing the valuable, robust “new normal.”

My friend has to change her script. All of us must. To some degree, your organization needs to change its script. Your customers, your family, your employees, your co-workers all demand it. It’s one thing to approach this pivot left-brained. Seriousness is in order. But what can differentiate you is a right-brained approach to rewriting your script. That right-brained approach can feel like theater. We have a heavy situation, but we are human, and we don’t completely stop appreciating the light-hearted, playful aspect of life. Adopting a mindset of theater and movies, you can and should embrace the fun and excitement of writing the next blockbuster.

George Lucas is on the phone. He wants you to help execute the next Star Wars movie.

Whether your skills are in the script room, on the movie set, in promotions, or in the theater, you need to get your hands dirty with your team. With your team, you need to refine your script. Just using this term will facilitate focus, alignment, and accountability. To succeed in all these, I dig into 3 topics: transparency, listening, and Change Management.

Execution’s two best friends are simplicity and transparency. In the script room, the team needs to have the script in front of them, visually, on paper, on the screen. Direct ideas and friction at the content, not the people. This is the time to foster task conflict and neutralize personality conflict. Disagreeing is ok. Demonizing is not ok. We are here to modify the Customer Experience, not here for anyone to monopolize the process of shaping the new normal.

As always, our listening skills matter. Our team members don’t need to have their way, but they need to be heard. Leaders listen, weigh tradeoffs, delegate the right decisions, delegate the right tasks, make a decision, and move on. Listening requires vulnerability, it requires trust in everyone’s unique expertise, and it requires courage to pivot when the team learns something new. The collaboration gives your confidence that you minimize your blind spots and are doing the right thing.

Finally, execute your Change Management fundamentals. Mobilize your team to deliver the 5 phases of Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement. To refer to Spencer Johnson’s 1998 book, “Who Moved My Cheese?” tell everyone you are moving the cheese, evangelize the why, and educate and empower on how to find the cheese.

These are serious times. Bring the serious. But also, bring the playful. Bring the courage and the humility to rewrite your new normal – your script. Timidness will result in under-reacting. Poor listening and vulnerability will result in suppressing the best ideas. Don’t write a B movie when George Lucas calls you. Channel your inner creative and collaborative genius to write, build, and deliver a breath-taking movie and experience for your customers. They deserve it. Your team deserves it. Your higher calling deserves it.