Thursday, February 19, 2009

Our lives to change

In life, we can either change or be changed. Perhaps, being the actor in changing your life is probably more meaningful than being a passive recipient of change. Having a resemblance of control over change is more satisfying. However, too many things in life change and things change too quickly for us to always be an active change agent. Sometimes we have to welcome change or at least accept it and just move along in life. We have to understand the changes that are going on in our lives. Then change becomes less painful and even enjoyable.

“Ignorance is always afraid of change” says Jawaharlal Nehru. Things that are familiar to us give us comfort, but change introduces us to new and strange things. The uncertainty of change and its effect on us is probably the source of our fears for change. Hence, we have to learn – learn about the world around us, learn how things work, learn about actions and consequences, learn about people and their responses to their environment, and learn about life in general. Carl Rogers, the psychologist noted for his contributions towards the Humanistic approach sees people and change as “The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.”

If change is difficult enough for us, then it is probably much more difficult to change others. Leadership is about change. Probably, there has never been a leader acclaimed for maintaining a status quo. If learning and understanding makes change easier for us, then the same applies to changing others. According to Mandela “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. People need to understand what they need to do, why they need to change, how the change will affect them, and how they can play a role in the change process. People will accept change better if they know what the change is about. Knowing gives them the resemblance of control over their lives and the changes associated with their lives. Sharon Stone, the actress provides a perspective on change and people “People don't change their behavior unless it makes a difference for them to do so.”

Changes make a difference, and hopefully those changes improve our lives and those of others. Leaders want change probably because they believe that the present situation is not good – for them and their followers. Hopefully the changes that leaders bring about can benefit more people and indeed bring an improvement to their livelihoods. Nevertheless, if we want change, then preferably we have to lead the change. It is better than just wait for change to happen. As Barack Obama puts it “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Therefore, do what you need to do. Lead that change.

Monday, February 9, 2009

A successful operation

The operation was successful, but the patient died. The adapted phrase originally attributed to Mr Mak Tian Kuan in 1970 describes the achievement of the implementation or the process in disregard to the intended outcome. The outcome doesn't really matter. The important thing is that the plans have been perfectly executed.

Applied to a teaching and learning excercise, most teachers may be interested in conducting the class according to the lesson plan, but then neglect to consider if the student has indeed learned anything. Perhaps, this is a common phenomenon, especially in this age of applying standard procedures such as ISO9001 to education.

Or you may have had a brilliant sales pitch, but no one bought your product. Organizations are not spared from this phenomena. The change intiative may have been spot on in increasing productivity in the short term at the expense of the employees' health and morale.

What can be worse than a dead patient? Maybe, a dead surgeon. The operation was successful, but the surgeon died. This situation can be argued in many ways and perhaps it may not be a bad situation at all. After all, an organization that has attained its mission has thus outlived its usefulneess. Simply put, albeit far-fetched, if an organization tasked with eradicating poverty has achieved its goal, then its existence becomes irrelevant.

Is this why organizations conciously or subconciously sabotage themselves?

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Welcome

Welcome to Kidin's Inquiry and Dialogue. This blog is generally used as an online teaching and learning tool for my classes at the Department of Professional Development and Continuing Education, Universiti Putra Malaysia. However, I do welcome posts on matters that may not be directly related to the classes I instruct. Informality is encouraged and above all sincerity is valued. Sila masuk.