Leading from the Middle

Caption: Wilbur deciding what to wear.

One of the activities I’ve developed for the Leading Change seminar* is for participants to read a children’s book and identify and build upon aspects of change found in that book. Mo Williams’ “Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed” is one of the four books I’ll be using.**
Williams’ story is about Wilbur, a non-conformist who loves fashion but runs into rancorous opposition from the naked legions. They want to stay in the buff, but more importantly – as is too often the case with most people unhappy about change - they don’t want anyone else to change. They want Wilbur to cease and desist with the button-down shirts and bell-bottom trousers!
Wilbur remains puzzled and asks, “Why not?” Since Wilbur’s not one “ to go along to get along” (an accommodator), the mole rats turn for a ruling to Grand-pah, the patriarch naked mole rat.
Fortunately for our clothes-loving hero the Patriarch muses and concludes “Why not?” And so now the naked mole rat community includes the clothed and the unclothed and everyone is A-OK. (Or, so we hope.)
Clearly a child’s book requires a suspension of disbelief – perhaps less so among librarians - but there’s much to be learned about change in Wilbur’s tale that applies to our grown-up world. Even when we think about another outcome – the Patriarch siding with the naked hordes – there’s something to learn. Change rarely goes smoothly and differences are not well tolerated. Any hint of oddness, of queerness, can become off-putting. It’s what change agents have to contend with in storybooks and in the work place.
Some of my most productive results as a team leader came from asking Why? and Why not? and Why do we do this? I also asked, What happens if we stop? What’s the worst that can happen?
My asking those questions upset some people – for them it was obvious why we do what we did and anyone questioning the status quo was a fool.
But many staff were willing to re-think what was important and what was not – they’d had their doubts all along! My simple Why? gave them permission to experiment and to change the status quo. They could see the labor savings in stopping something redundant and applying those savings to where the need was greater.
Wilbur’s openness to change reminds me of an exchange between Saul Zabar (of NYCs premium deli store, Zabar’s) and one of his daughters, Rachel, a film maker. They were in the kitchen and Saul was explaining why he experiments with food, even though he “almost never” comes up with a success. “Anyone can do it right”, Saul said. “Guess what would happen when something you are not supposed to do comes out good?” That’s Wilbur-thinking. Still, Rachel was not convinced about his latest culinary concoction of hash and cucumbers. “Euuuw” is how she put it!

*N.B. ”Leading Change”: A seminar on leading and following change in libraries and other organizations. Sponsored by the University of Latvia. August 25-28. By John Lubans & Sheryl Anspaugh. At Ratnieki Conference Center, near Sigulda, Latvia. Instruction in English. Cost: 170 €. Includes tuition, accommodation, meals and transport from Riga.
On August 29th there’s a special reason to be in Latvia: the grand opening of the National Library of Latvia in Riga!

**Also, these three books:
“Changes, Changes” by Pat Hutchins.
“Let’s Do Nothing” by Tony Fucile.
“Mon. Saguette and His Baguette” by Frank Asch.

Libraries with Leading from the Middle: University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA.

@Copyright 2014 John Lubans

 

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