How a Simple Fisherman Story Highlights the Pitfalls of Change for Change's Sake in Management

Friends,

When I train for change management, I sometimes employ the following story to illustrate the fallacy of having change for change's sake and differences in perception of change. I have found it facilitates an enjoyable learning experience among the participants. Here's the story:

A management consultant, on holiday in an African fishing village, watched a little fishing boat dock at the quayside. Noting the quality of the fish, the consultant asked the fisherman how long it had taken to catch them.

"Not very long," answered the fisherman.

"Then why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the consultant.

The fisherman explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The consultant asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, have an afternoon's rest under a coconut tree. In the evenings, I go into the community hall to see my friends, have a few beers, play the drums, and sing a few songs... I have a full and happy life," replied the fisherman.

The consultant ventured, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you... You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat. With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have a large fleet. Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you can negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to a city here or maybe even in the United Kingdom, from where you can direct your huge enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the fisherman.

"Oh, ten, maybe twenty years," replied the consultant.

"And after that?" asked the fisherman.

"After that? That's when it gets really interesting," answered the consultant, laughing, "When your business gets really big, you can start selling shares in your company and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" pressed the fisherman.

"After that you'll be able to retire, move out to a small village by the sea, sleep in late every day, spend time with your family, go fishing, take afternoon naps under a coconut tree, and spend relaxing evenings having drinks with friends..."

"That's what I'm doing right now," said the fisherman and went his way.

Cheers!

Rajeev.V

Hi,

Since you have written about change management, can you help me in preparing a course on change management? Please advise on what all areas should be covered under the same.

Hi Rakhee,

Yes, I can help you with whatever you are planning to do on change management. In very general terms, you may design the course as follows:

1. Introduction to change, its relevance.
2. Resistance to change, psychological homeostasis, etc.
3. Process of change - the change mechanisms, cultural change, Kurt Lewin's Force field analysis and three-process theory, Participative and Directive change cycles of Hersey-Blanchard, John Kotter's eight-step model, etc.
4. Organization Development in the context of change management.
5. Selected OD interventions dealing with behavioral and attitudinal change.
6. Leadership and change - Transformational leadership.
7. Exercises, case discussions.

Please feel free to contact me for anything further.

Rajeev.V

Dear Rajiv,

My organization is also going through change management, but we don't have a structured way at the moment. What can you suggest, and if you have some training material that I can use, it would really be great.

We have hired outsourced consultants who are conducting workshops with the staff, but I feel they have very limited capability to address the organization's issues. What is your suggestion?

Alia

Hi Rajeev,

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to know if you have any cases/activities on leadership and change management. If so, please email them to me.

Regards,
Rakhee

Hi Parvathy,

OD is part of change management. OD helps to modify or maintain the organization's culture. The well-known OCTAPACE culture is associated with OD. OCTAPACE stands for:

Openness
Confrontation
Trust
Autonomy
Proactive
Authenticity
Collaboration
Experimentation.

OD creates changes through what are known as OD interventions. These interventions are a systematic application of behavioral processes with a specific purpose. The OD interventions act on the following 'focal points' within the organization:

Individuals
Roles
Dyads
Teams
Departments
Organization.

I have been brief, but I hope I have clarified your query.

Regards,
Rajeev.V

Hey Rajeev,

Can you help me with some Change Management exercises? I have to train a batch of 15 executives on the topic. I need some activities for the program. I would really appreciate help in this regard.

My email address is [Login to view].

Thanks,
Naresh

Dear Rajiv,

We were an Indian company acquired by a foreign company, and a lot of changes are scheduled ahead of us. Please help me with your inputs to manage these changes at various levels.

Mandar

Hi, Mr. Rajeev,

I am currently working on a project on change management. It would be really nice of you if you could provide me with some debatable case studies on the same. Please email me.

Thank you.

Hey Rajeev,

I also want to know about change management. How can we apply it in an organization? Also, some activities and games regarding that. Could you please help me out?

My email id is [viia_av@yahoo.com](mailto:viia_av@yahoo.com).

Viia

Hi Rajeev,

I also have a training session on change management. Could you please assist me with some activities, exercises, and games relevant to this topic? My email address is jimcy.d@gmail.com.

Thanks in advance,
Jimcy

Dear Rajeev,

Please visit this link, which contains very in-depth researched data on change management: [businessgyan - Change Management - The marketplace and business models have changed forever](http://www.businessgyan.com/content/view/6138/547/).

This will affect all organizations and individuals, and we are heading for a total transformation from what we are familiar with in the last 60 years by discarding most of what we have picked up as a way of life from the last century.

Please let me know what you think about it.

With kindest regards,
Kishor

Hi everyone,

I am supposed to design a 2-day workshop for "Change Management and gaining from setbacks." Can you please suggest the framework and materials? I would also be grateful if you could suggest or email me 1-2 games regarding change management.

My email ID is tarangchhabra@gmail.com (tarangchhabra[at]gmail[dot]com) and tarangchhabra@yahoo.co.in.

Regards,
Tarang Chhabra

Hi Rajeev,

I was looking for case studies/games for a change management workshop. Can you please help?

Regards,
Shikha

Hi,

My background is M.A. in Literature, and lately, I attended an HR Certified course/workshop with an interest in pursuing a career as an HR trainer and in Soft Skills.

As part of the evaluation process, I have been asked to prepare a PowerPoint presentation on Change Management. Could you please assist me with this?

Thanks and Regards,
Navaratna

I am pursuing my MBA and want to organize a workshop regarding organization change. Could you please suggest some activities and games that will be helpful?

Please.

Hi Rajeev,

Could you please forward me the Change Management workshop games, case studies, activities, and any tools that may be available?

Ram

Can anyone please provide me with the ebook "ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government, and Our Community"?

Ayesha

Hi Rajeev,

I have been exposed to change management, but when I see the trail, the concept's great bandwidth is visible. Thanks for helping me understand the scope. Would you like to help me with inputs on "Selected OD interventions dealing with behavioral and attitudinal change"? If you could also share what you have already discussed with Ali and the games for change management, it would be useful. Thanks in advance. It takes effort to do what you are doing.

Regards, O. Ede

Hi, I love the story! I am organizing a change management session for my employees, and I am thinking of the perfect icebreaker as well as games/activities to carry out during the session. Do you have any you want to suggest? My email address is victoria.omale@asoplc.com. Thank you.

Regards, Victoria

For understanding the importance of change management, a small activity is mentioned below:

Ask participants to stand from their present seats and sit on any other seat. After that, ask for the reaction of the participants. Even a small change, such as changing the seat, can create some resistance, leading to different emotions and feelings. Hence, we need to understand the importance of managing change within the organization and managing people's emotions and feelings towards any significant change. This is only a small example but an effective one.

A VARIANT:

We can conduct this exercise after lunch and emphasize how people are comfortable with their own seats only, and hence resistant to change.

Regards,
Jeevan Deep Sehgal

I'm trying to read more about change management. Please help me out with information such as PowerPoint presentations, links, and some stories related to change management. I will be waiting for your reply.

Thanks. Email me at [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]