Transform - Know your context
One of the most important lessons I learned at grad school did not come from a book or a professor, but rather just from common sense. It seemed like common sense after the fact, but before the “Eureka” moment, this insight was lost to me. Everything you ever do needs to be done with an understanding of your context. If you have a group of staff that are approaching retirement, chances are their desire to learn new, innovative ways to do things will be slim. However, offering them a chance to document and share a lifetime of experiences is much more likely to fit within their context than changing their mindset. Context is also extremely important when considering transformation, as you can only introduce change successfully at the rate that your organization can digest it. Therefore, if you work for a naturally conservative organization, you need to realize this and adjust your strategy accordingly. Remember that the organizations that are in most need of innovation are the ones who are most likely to resist it. I am sure that you have witnessed someone telling a joke out of context. It causes some in the room to cringe; it down right offends others. Trying to implement transformation in an organization is no different. Understand the context, and your chances for success increase significantly. You can test this theory relatively easily by simply taking the most outlandish idea you have and floating it to your team. If they react like you are speaking ill of the dead or calling their mothers names, you probably need to do a little work on understanding the context.
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