As I teach, so do I learn: 2

The right change tool for the job.

by Kate Siebert and Sharon Buck This week’s post is the second in a series of collaborative learning reflections from Grad Dip of Management that I am teaching at the moment. In this post two of the students get creative with the metaphor of DIY and renovations to create well, a Bunnings model of change! N.B for the US/UK readers - Bunnings is the Australian equivalent of Lowes/B&Q Have you ever walked into your local Bunning’s store on your Saturday, with the aim of completing that DIY task? You’re finally getting around to updating the shelving in the walk in robe, or updating the bathroom. You’ve thought this through, measured it all up and you’re sure of the task ahead. With a list in hand, and the saved images on your phone, you’re pretty sure to get in and out of Bunnings in a breeze.I recently walked into my local green behemoth, months after completing the task of manually stripping varnish from wood panelling walls of my deco home. I’d used a chemical stripper and steel wool for around six weeks to take the wall back to the wood. It was a horrible job. Months later, while walking through the aisles of Bunnings, I discovered a purpose designed tool for that very job. ‘Wow, Imagine the time I could get back if I knew this tool was around when I did my renovations?’ I thought to myself. ‘Was this even here when I brought by trusty list and Google images in that Saturday morning?’DIY shares many similarities with undertaking organisational change. The DIY is the change you need to make, and the world of change management is your local Bunnings Superstore. There are tools in Bunnings for every task imaginable; big or small. The same rule applies for Change Management.There are three step change processes, five step models for change and schematic change formulas and recipes. There are change tools for big jobs and change models for small tasks. Each of the tools will ultimately complete the task, but it will be the degree of wasted time, effort and personal pain that will vary.So often when we get those tools home from Bunnings, tools that we’ve spent hours selecting, talked to countless red t-shirt clad shop assistants, spent a king’s ransom on...we find that the situation we thought we had has changed and our tools are no longer the right ones.We used the plaster removing tool, yep, that one worked! But our original plan was to then install some insulation with our special installation-installing tool. But oh-oh, termites, dry rot, rodent activity, asbestos, a random unexpected game-changer confronts us. We no longer have the right tool for the job and our plans have to radically change. We couldn’t have known about these hidden elements when we first made our DIY project plans. The perfect-choice tools for the job we designed are no longer the ones we need. And it can be incredibly frustrating and time-consuming (time wasting?)With any linear change process, like DIY, if we go into it really expecting everything to go perfectly to plan and in the right order, I think we’ve got our blinkers on. Perhaps it is multi-function tools that we need to consider when we do our planning and shopping. Understanding that random unexpected redirectors happen will help minimise the frustration factor. Of course, it’s always going to be frustrating, we’re only human. But if we factor in the potential, use the plan as a guide and re-focus our efforts when the termites show up, our DIY project will eventually come together.Oh, those termites…what do you think? Can you relate to the metaphor?Related: As I teach so do I learn: 1