It made me think ...

Those of us mums who have children may have enjoyed a little extra time with them on Sunday making our "Mothers Day" special. Part of our celebration and ceremony involved my children making toast for me to enjoy with a piping cup of my favourite brew - Watching the process from my comfy chair, I was amuzed to see that, as soon as the pieces of bread popped out of the toaster, my children carefully placed the two hot slices of bread into "wigwam position" on the bread board. Now some people may prefer their toast hot with butter melting but, for myself, I prefer cold butter, cool toast and have encouraged my children to see the benefit of making it this way. A simple story to illustrate how the behaviour of a person in power or of high trust can encourage and influence others to imitate their actions. It made me think about the process of Viral ChangeTM and how key individuals really can create impactful and sustainable change, relatively easily and quickly.

It is easy to see how the behaviour of us, as parents, has a direct influence on the way in which our children behave. I believe it is up to us as managers and leaders within our own companies and organisations to harness the power of key, well connected and trusted individuals to help us create the changes necessary to the success and future of our companies. You can try telling/dictating to a child what to do - will they really listen? They may perhaps do it your way for a short time but will soon revert to their original ways. But if you show them; do it that way yourself, and they understand and appreciate the benefit of doing it a different way - then surely they are more likely to change. Aren't adults children with more years under their belts ?!