To those who like to plan the way, to work back through every step of a journey to ensure that they arrive on time, the way in which some people can discount the journey from the planning process is totally alien. True, those who practice the ‘to leave is to arrive’ method of travel are invariably late, but they do pack their lives with activity and are generally late because they have crammed ‘just one more thing’ in to their day before they set off on the journey.
Interestingly, the people who tend to discount physical journey times are not necessarily the same people who in a work situation will rush from idea to expected deliverance without taking the time to follow a structured definition and integration pathway. In fact, I know of one project manager who is invariably late for events but whose project and transformation planning is meticulous and detailed. But the idea that it is the arrival which is important, with the journey being discounted, is a mindset which those seeking to transform organisational culture cannot afford to indulge in.
Knowing where you start from, understanding your destination and then stepping through the transformational journey is vitally important if you are to overcome barriers to change and transform hearts and minds so that they engage with the new culture. It’s a journey which is at the forefront of our forthcoming book* and it is a journey which I will take a more in-depth look at in my next blog.