Here is a brief excerpt from an article by Ken Perlman for Forbes magazine. He is a devoted father of two girls and believes that many of the lessons learned in fatherhood apply, on a certain level, to teaching clients change leadership. Here he shares the parallels between building a complex LEGO set with his daughters and coaching a client through transformational change.
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As my daughters and I tackled a three-day LEGO project, I realized that what makes these projects so much fun and satisfying are the same as what helps my clients love leading change in their organizations.
Now, we all know “love” and “change” don’t get used in the same sentence very often, but some of the same principles that made for a wonderful, LEGO-filled weekend with my girls are also at work with my clients. These principles are present with my larger clients (thousands of employees around the globe) as well as my smaller ones (a few hundred employees in one location).
So here they are – [the first of five] lessons in leadership courtesy of LEGO.
Lesson #1: Start with what success looks like. LEGO provides a complete – and exciting – picture of the final product right there on the box. It always looks AWESOME. There is little mention of the number of bags, number of pieces, number of steps, and so on (which would only deflate your excitement). You fall in love with the end result before you even buy. After buying the set, you feel that the finished project is just a few steps away because you already know what success looks like – and it looks AWESOME. Many times, executives outline the daunting and time-consuming strategies required to get from today to tomorrow – deflating excitement – rather than building momentum around the picture of the finished product. Most fail to paint or show a clear (AWESOME) picture of what success looks like. It’s this picture that makes people fall in love with the idea; that makes them eager to spend their time putting all the pieces together to make it a happen.
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To read the complete article, please click here.
Ken Perlman is an engagement leader at Kotter International, a firm that helps leaders accelerate strategy implementation in their organizations. Follow Kotter International on Twitter @KotterIntl, on Facebook, or on LinkedIn. Also, you can sign up for the Kotter International Newsletter by clicking here.