Fish! Sticks: A Remarkable Way to Adapt to Changing Times and Keep Your Work Fresh

Some say change is difficult.  I say change is a piece of cake (or perhaps cheese).  If you want a real challenge, try to sustain a change - especially a change that requires commitment from all who do the work.

It doesn't matter if you are an individual contributor who wants to hang on to a better work life or a CEO who wants to maintain a new high level of productivity: Sustaining change is the true test of leadership.  Holding on to a culture of innovation, maintaining a higher quality of work life, constantly renewing an important customer service program, or retaining a more participative management style requires the use of a unique set of principles that are different from those used simply to initiate a change.

A large-scale change usually comes with a lot of fanfare, so in the beginning there is considerable energy.  It's a typical to have meetings, training programs, off-sites, balloons, buttons, contests, pocket cards, newsletter articles, posters, and videos.  And there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these.  External energy is often what it takes to catch our attention in a busy world.  But external energy cannot sustain a change.  That takes a different source of energy: natural energy.

When the balloons have deflated, the contests have ended, the training is complete, and the natural human tendency to look for the next new thing has started to exert itself, that is when the inevitable gravity pull of old ways sets in.  When you are part of such an effort it feels like someone just took her foot off of the accelerator.

This gravity pull takes many forms, including distraction, busyiness, resistance, boredom, forgetfulness, cynicism, and sabotage, to name a few.  It doesn't really matter what is at stake - a new diet or a new way to be at work - all worthwhile changes are susceptible to the forces of gravity.  Successful efforts to counteract these forces in order to sustain change is what separates the great workplaces and great people from the pack.

After teaching change management to MBA and corporate seminar students for twenty years and operating my own business in an environment where change was a constant, I coauthored the book FISH! And worked on a film of the same name.  Ever since, I have had the privilege of observing organizations using the ideas in FISH! (as well as principles from other management books ) to address a variety of important issues and to create positive change.  The most pressing workplace needs addressed by those who turn to the FISH! Philosophy include improving the quality of work life, customer service, employee retention, the facility for innovation, productivity, and recruitment.  Another reason people turn to it is simply to learn how to have more fun at work.
Over the last three years I have traveled almost a million miles speaking to and visiting with those who, in one way or another, are working to implement important organizational changes.  I have been especially inspired by change efforts that were sustained after the excitement of the initial rollout had waned.  There is a bounty of energy present when something is new - but a year later it takes a deeper source of energy to keep it going.  I have seen many successful organizations that have found that source.  Any wisdom demonstrated by the characters in this book has been extracted from real people sustaining change in real organizations.  The World Famous Pike Place Fish market, the inspiration for FISH!, is of course one of the many ongoing success stories from which we have learned valuable lessons.

This book is the work of my imagination, but it is based on many experiences the three of us have had over the last few years.  John Christensen continues to make FISH! The main focus of his company, CharHouse International, a place where stories are routinely collected in the course of business and where the language of possibilities rule.  Harry Paul has found a life on the road speaking and consulting about FISH!  It is a rare day that Harry doesn't have something to share.

Yes, we now stand on the shoulders of thousands who have brought new possibilities into their workplaces and their lives.  Some have failed, some have succeeded, and for many it is too early to tell.  But we have learned from them all.  FISH! STICKS is designed to highlight the special set of commitments involved in keeping any worthwhile change alive.  It is truly your story: I just happened to write it.