I remember fishing with grandpa. I loved being out in the boat, but was not enamored with the whole worm on a hook thing. Ewww!
If you’ve never heard the term before, “catch and release” comes from fishing. Many fisherpersons (??) just like to catch those zippy fish, take a quick selfie with the captive, then release it back into the water to continue living out its fishy life with minimal harm.
Now think about a typical project. A team of experts comes together and decides what’s going to happen. “How do we get everyone on board? How do we get them to embrace this change?” Then come the typical tactics:
- Get everyone in a (virtual) meeting room for the big announcement
- Pull them into training to learn new skills
- Put them in groups to discuss their readiness to embrace the new way of working
- Ask them to take time out to complete a survey about their change experience
…and after each of those actions, employees are released back to work their regular jobs. We catch and release with the hope of minimal harm. In the best case, they are able to work a little better, a little smarter. Work carries on. We do our best not to disrupt the fish too much as they do their thing.
Dr. Jane Goodall took a different approach. She moved in with the fish…er… chimpanzees. Of course, she wasn’t there to change them, but she knew that to do anything positive she had to build relationships. And that happened best on home turf. Theirs, not hers.
To some extent, all change work is “catch and release.” The work must continue while we prepare people for change. But there’s also something to be said for jumping into the water and taking a swim with stakeholders. I have never seen greater influence than when leaders step out of their offices and take the time to observe, ask questions, and demonstrate authentic care for employees.They often spend more time with their people than they intended.
So, don’t just play catch-and-release. Get out there for a swim. It builds tremendous trust when the hook shows up.
Thoughtfully yours,
Jeff Skipper
