EXPERIENCING THE POSITIVE SIDE OF CHANGE My curiosity was piqued when I came across an advertisement in the newspapers entitled Who Moved My Cheese? I though it was a funny name for a seminar that planned to expound on new management methods. I mentioned it to a few people and I got the same response, “Who moved your what?” I was dying to attend this talk. So, I signed myself up as a participant for the full-day programme. I made my way to Hyatt Saujana, Subang Jaya, and was ushered into a room filled with bright-eyed executives – a far cry from bleary eyed crowd I usually meet on the first day of a seminar. This was a refreshing change. Mounted on all four corners of the room were huge boards bearing the caricatures of two mice and two men. Placed in front of each participant were go-getter one-liners such as “enjoy change, savour the adventure, and enjoy the taste of new cheese”. Mine read “change – move with the cheese”. There the word appeared again. Was it supposed to symbolize something? I’ll admit to the fact that I have nor heard of Spencer Johnson’s book and didn’t have an inkling that it topped the bestsellers lists. Thus, I breathed a sign of relief when Jimmy Goh, our facilitator announced that it was time to get cracking. I soon found out that there were two important words that kept surfacing throughout that day – “cheese” and “maze” “Cheese” represents what is important to each of us. It is a metaphor for what we want to have in life – be it a loving relationship, money, health, or peace of mind. The “maze”, on the other hand, represents the place we look for what we want. For example, the organization we work in, or the community we live in. Who Moved My Cheese? Is a simple light-hearted parable that reveals the profound truth about change. It is an amusing story of four characters who lived in a “maze” and looked for “cheese” to nourish themselves. These characters represent the simple and complex parts of ourselves and the ways in which we can react to change. Finally, everything fell into place. We were there to learn manage change, rather than resisting it. Goh opened our eyes to the fact that “every time is changing time” because nothing in our life ever remains the same. Through group sharing, it was apparent that nobody is immune to change. True, sometimes we initiate change by switching jobs, getting married, or relocating. However, it may hits us when we least expect it to occur (for instance, loss of job due to downsizing and retrenchments). More often that not, when we think to change, we often equate it to losing something rather than gaining something from that experience. In other words, we tend to greet “change” with suspicion and wariness. Most of the time, people resist change because they are afraid of letting go of the things they are most confident and sure of. The danger however, of not being able to adapt to change is to become “extinct” or superfluous. Participants were told that it is important to constantly look for signs of change so that they can always be prepared. The second half of the day was devoted to implementing this experience of change at the organizational level. To begin with, we learnt that the best way to deal with resistance is to get to the bottom line of things and ascertain the reason for resistance will make the strategies for dealing with it more workable. For instance, if resistance is due to a misunderstanding, then it clearly shows that better communication is needed at the workplace. The strategies highlighted for dealing with change include: • Education and communication; • Participation and empowerment; • Facilitation and support; and • Negotiation and agreement. To manage change at the organizational level, you must try to garner the participation of all team players affected (by that particular change) as this would make them more open to the idea. As Goh quoted, “change imposed is change opposed”.