Frodo in Lord of the Rings was far from the perfect hero. He was small, weak, vulnerable and downright nearly failed in executing his mission- to throw the ring into the fires of Moordoor. In fact, had it not been for various magical feats of Gandolf the Wizard, the skills and persistence of the prince, Elf, Dwarf and friends, and courage and determination of his sidekick, the honourable and humble Sam, Frodo would never have made it through his journey to become the hero of the show.
What does Frodo’s journey teach us about living through organisational transformation?
Well, for a start its often really hard. There may be smeegels, orgs and demons and other challenges as processes, systems, structures and leaders change, that will test your spirit and perseverance. It will feel chaotic and even trecherous at times, as fear mounts from uncertainty, higher workloads and poor behaviours from distressed colleagues. You will need allies, helpers, leaders who are wise and team members that you can trust. In your toughest times you will need a vision of success- the better world promised from change. Without this, you may not have enough strength and fortitude to make it through.
Its little wonder that only 12% of organisational transformation is successful.
However, in the same way that Frodo was the only person that could deliver the change for his world, managing transformation successfully will not happen without your personal commitment. Its going to be up to you to build the reliance necessary to fight to the bitter end.
You do this by following a number of critical steps that are summarised in WarriorOne (due April 2019). Here is a preview of suggestions from the book/program:
Maintain your health: A healthy diet, excercise, sleep, sunlight and regular fresh air is vital to maintaining your feel-good hormones. Try quitting the caffeine and alcohol, which elevate stress-creating cortisol and going to be at a reasonable time each night for best effects.
Understand your stress triggers: There are a number of personality profiling tools that can help you understand how you think and feel and your likely stress triggers. I use the enneagram and recommend that you begin by taking this test:https://enneagramacademy.com/enneagram-test/
Make Love not Fear: Your behaviours impact the people around you. One of the highest sources of distress for colleagues are poor behaviours that break up team dynamics ( eg bullying, not taking responsibility, scattered panic). remember there that all our behaviors are governed by one of only two emotions- love ( affiliation)and fear. Try to model those behaviours that are affiliation based, not fear based. Not only will this help the people around you but you will feel much happier.
Become mindful: Numerous studies prove that mindfulness leads to happiness. Learning to become mindful and live more in the moment can be achieved by building practices such as meditation, yoga and thai chi into everyday life.
Refer to your fun list: There is no point in doing anything if it isn’t going to lead to happiness. The happiness doesn’t have to be immediate- in fact setting and achieving long term goals will create the most satisfying and happy experiences in your life. The key is to understand what makes you happy – how you have fun- and build a list to refer to in times of distress. Sometimes you will need short term fun- like taking a break to pat your dog, stretch or have a cup of tea. Other times you will need to remind yourself of your long term fun- your personal goals. For example, when work is really getting you down, picture yourself achieving your long term fun objectives- perhaps on the holiday that you are saving for or with your well adjusted a successful adult children, all grown up.
’Co’ will always make you feel better than ‘I’. Co. is a pre-fix meaning together/we. There is now evidence to suggest that depression and anxiety can actually be cured when people switch their mindset and objectives away from themselves ( I want to be happy) to a collective group ( happiness comes from my tribe being happy). This is a practice that many Asian cultures- with much lower incidents of depression- have known and followed for centuries. Next time you are feeling distressed, try shifting your focus away from you and on to your colleagues.
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