Engaging opener for eDayz
Over here in Adelaide, at “eDayz”, where three of the Community Engagement projects are presenting, keynote speaker Bruce Sullivan opened the proceedings with a very enthusiastic and heartfelt session, reminding us to focus on the outcomes, not the “time and effort”.
“If you really want something, you’ll do whatever it takes to achieve your outcome,” Bruce assured us. Knowledge workers need a lot of mental space; however, if you focus on the time, the effort, the difficulty and the distractions, you’ll find your energy drained away. One of his mottoes was “Do things poorly, until you (learn to) do them well.”
His follow up workshop gave some strategies for managing transitions, tackling relationship and environment, when you deal with people’s resistance to change. People often acknowledge the physical aspects of transition, but fail to notice or attend to the emotional side of things. When you plan your transitions, plan to manage the emotional transition too.
Because of the emotional response, resistant behaviours are normal, Bruce assured us, when change processes hit. When people resist or sabotage change processes, “don’t tackle their behaviour”. Bruce urged us to focus on improving relationships and the work environment, as well as the ‘bright future’ of your hoped-for outcomes.
