What Neverland Can Teach Us About Navigating Change

If you’ve ever read or seen Peter Pan, then you’ve gotten a glimpse into life in Neverland. We learn, for example, that “[fairies] look tremendously busy… as if they had not a moment to spare, but if you were to ask them what they are doing, they could not tell you in the least.”

That “look tremendously busy” behaviour might actually sound a little on the nose for some of us thinking back to our first jobs. You know…watching the clock and doing one’s best to appear far too overloaded with existing tasks to be given an assignment that would see us stuck at the desk past quitting time.

Peter Pan also informed us that “every time a child says ‘I don’t believe in fairies’ there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.” That’s pretty grim imagery, but you’ll not find a better example of the importance of buy-in to a belief system. And it’s an important thing to remember as businesses and organizations take on the challenge of implementing behavioural change. If all the members of your team aren’t interested in making something happen it probably won’t happen.

That businesses and organizations need to always be looking and moving forward is a pretty well-established truth; organizations that don’t evolve just don’t last. Over the past few years, our ideas about the nature of the workplace – what it is and even where it is – have been changing rapidly. Good leaders will have identified the need to respond to these changes and be working toward implementing strategies that lead to a more inclusive, resilient and flexible workforce.

However, it is a deep-set part of human nature that we can sometimes feel uncomfortable with change. For thousands of years, humans have sought out patterns to help us navigate the challenges of staying alive. We track the seasons, learn which plants are and are not edible, figure out which coffee shops have the best WiFi, and so on and so on. We rely on and become comfortable with the patterns of our lives and can feel upset or anxious at the thought of disruption.

That is no less true in the workplace; we can get locked into how we work, what kind of work we do and how we interact with our coworkers. In fact, some people might hold onto workplace patterns even more aggressively than they might the other patterns of their life. So, they might be very willing to change their diet or learn how to play the flugelhorn but they’ll be incredibly resistant to restructuring their team or adopting new performance metrics. This is because work is so vital to all the other aspects of their life, and many can fear that change will make them obsolete or that they will suddenly no longer be considered good at their jobs.

“The more we face change the more we hang on to the things that bring us comfort,” explains Talking Talent’s Donna Herdsman. “To drive transformational change we need to accept discomfort.”

Effective change requires buy-in at all levels, but, of course, it all starts at the top. If an organization’s leadership doesn’t have its heart in a task, if it refuses to believe in the fairies of change, it’s almost certainly doomed to fail.

“Leaders take their people with them,” Donna says. “And leaders need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

Meanwhile, supervisors and line managers also need to be on board, in step with leadership in terms of what the goals of the organization are and how to implement them. Here are some suggestions on how to make that happen:

Feeling valued encourages participation. Each member of a team should be made to feel that they have something unique to offer – that they are relevant and necessary. Change happens one person at a time, so it’s vital that each person feels connected to the change.

This actually means something. A key facet of accomplishing change is making sure that everyone understands that what they are doing is important and that they have an important role to play in making it happen.

Gut reaction is not always the best reaction. It’s important to acknowledge, or at least be alert to, all the feelings of discomfort that change might bring. As such, it’s important to encourage all members of a team to keep an open mind and not make snap/emotional judgments about the changes being suggested or implemented. They might feel uncomfortable at first but that doesn’t mean they’re wrong.

Don’t give up. Change is hard, not everyone will love it right away, there’s a good chance you won’t get it exactly right and change doesn’t stop happening. Once you’ve addressed today’s challenges tomorrow will deliver new ones. But change is worth the effort.

Peter Pan said that the moment you doubt whether you can fly you cease to be able to do it. The process of implementing change is a little easier than that, but requires no less dedication.

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