Salam Satu Malaysia
Our Iceberg Is Melting - by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber
Our Iceberg Is Melting is a simple fable about doing well in an ever-changing world. Based on the award-winning work of Harvard's John Kotter, it is a story that has been used to help thousands of people and organizations.
The fable is about a penguin colony in Antarctica. A group of beautiful emperor penguins live as they have for many years. Then, one curious bird discovers a potentially devastating problem threatening their home, and pretty much no one listens to him. The characters in the story, Fred, Alice, Louis, Buddy, the Professor, and NoNo, are like people we recognize — even ourselves. Their tale is one of resistance to change and heroic action, seemingly intractable obstacles and the most clever tactics for dealing with those obstacles. It's a story that is occurring in different forms all around us today — but the penguins handle the very real challenges a great deal better than most of us. Our Iceberg Is Melting is based on pioneering work that shows how the 8 Steps produce needed change in any sort of group. It's a story that can be enjoyed by anyone while at the same time providing invaluable guidance for a world that just keeps moving faster and faster.
From Our Iceberg is Melting...
What does one need to do to overcome troubles? What does change lead to? Who is a true inspirer?All these and a plethora of questions arise when anyone is in a fix. Now, trust me. If you read this book, most of those nagging questions will have an answer. 'Our IceBerg Is Melting' is a simple book narrating a cute story of a colony of penguins. Though the story is simple and easy-to-read, the morals and ideals arising out of this story has a universal reach.
THE STORY
The story is about a colony of 260 penguins who live on an iceberg. This iceberg has been their homeland for years. One penguin, named,Fred , who is a keen observer notices the cracks which have been formed under the iceberg. He notices that due to cracks, a cave had been formed and water had seeped in. This could lead to the iceberg cracking up and all the penguins becoming landless. Now, Fred approaches Alice, one of the penguins in the Leader Commitee.
She notices the complications of the problem and tells the Head penguin , Louis. Now, Louis,Fred and Alice together decide to sort out the problem. First, they gather a team of efficient thinkers. Another 2 penguins, namely, Buddy and Professor join them. This set of 5 penguins are considered a good team as each of them had a unique quality in them. They ponder over the problem and think upon many remedies.
Now, on the other side, there is No No, a pessimistic penguin who tells that everything is fine and nothing shall happen the the iceberg. The 5 penguins, finally, learning from the sea-gulls decide that migration was the best alternative. Hence, they select a team of penguins to go in search of new lands.They start a new way of life throguh migration which is much safer than their previous one.
This book points out many aspects similar to the corporate world. If an organisation is in the deepest of problems and needs to recover, the ideals of this book might be a great guideline to reformation. The simple language makes the book an easy single-sitting read. Though this book can be compared to 'Who Moved My Cheese' by Spencer Johnson, it hada better reach. A must-read for all corporates.
MY SUMMARY
SET THE STAGE:
1. Create a sense of urgency. (not panic) “Problem. What Problem?” Take the issue to the right people. Watch this YouTube interview with John Kotter on his new book, A Sense of Urgency.
2. Pull together the guiding team. This team must be strong enough to guide the change—leadership skills, credibility, communications ability, authority, analytical skills and a sense of urgency. If you look at the companies that are good at initiating a major change, increasingly you'll find that it doesn’t work if the top few try to do all the heavy lifting.
DECIDE WHAT TO DO:
3. Develop the vision and change strategy. Change to what? Too many change initiatives might indicate that you haven’t done this step well. You’ll get change burnout and more resistance.
MAKE IT HAPPEN:
4. Communicate for understanding and buy-in.
5. Empower others to act. Remove barriers so that people can act on the new direction. Get the “junk” out of the way to get the momentum. Empowerment, but not a free-for-all—competent training may be called for.
6. Produce short-term wins. It’s critical because you always have skeptics. Tangible success will help to drain the power from these people and bring them on board.
7. Don’t let up. Even after the win, keep up the pressure to keep the momentum going. Be relentless until you reach the end goal.
8. Create a new culture. Make sure that it sticks—internalized.
Fascinating stuff and worth reflecting on...again.
"'PRAGMATIS Meneraju & Memimpin Kecemerlangan"
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