Communicating Change – Changing Higher Ed Podcast with Dr. Drumm McNaughton
Communicating Change: Stories from a Pilot podcast from Dr. Drumm McNaughton, a former military pilot turned higher ed consultant, shares insights about change management and the process, tools, and techniques to prepare and support individuals, teams, and organizations in making change.
The top-down approach of communicating change has drastically transformed. Traditionally, the CEO was the one communicating change in a company, but given the multiple generations in the workplace, especially millennials, this isn’t as effective, especially for change management.
However, when you collaborate with stakeholders, communicate with them why the change is coming, engage them to work on this together, the results are different. When you have a shared vision that you build together, you don’t get resistance to change. This approach is typical of referent leaders, i.e., leaders who build relationships that are mutually beneficial and value the individual in every person. To put it in a few words, people support what they help create. Jack Welch (former CEO at GE) was known to be good at this approach.
Communicating Change
Stories from a pilot
In his experience, Drumm discovered that flying and change management had a lot in common. Once Drumm was flying along the coast of Italy and had a fire warning indicator go off (a VERY LOUD HORN). He felt his heartbeat raising. But pilots are trained to “handle a problem, deal with your emotions later” and that is how he proceeded in this and other similar situations.
Favorite quotations
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
“Everybody is a Genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” — Albert Einstein
Recommended books
Leading Change by John P. Kotter
The Living Company by Arie De Geus
Power vs. Force by David R. Hawkins
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda