Kenny Moore

Prior to coming to corporate life, Moore spent 15 years in a monastic community as a Catholic priest.  Oddly enough, both jobs have proven to be quite similar - except the Incentive Plans vary greatly.  Kenny left the monastery because he wanted to get married.  Now that he’s married and has two teenagers, he would like to go back.

Several years ago, Moore had the good fortune of being diagnosed with “incurable” cancer, at its most advanced stages.  He underwent a year of experimental treatment at the National Cancer Institute and survived.  He recently had a heart attack and was invited to be sawed in half and given a quadruple bypass: a subtle reminder that his time is running short. 

Having dealt with both God and death, he now finds himself eminently qualified to work with senior management on corporate change efforts.

Moore is President of Kenny Moore Consulting, LLC.  He’s a well-regarded Keynote speaker, executive coach and business consultant for Leadership Development, Change Management and Employee Engagement.

Contact Information:
kennythemonk@yahoo.com
(973) 956-8210
http://kennythemonk.com

Corporate Funerals and the Joy of Change

By Kenny Moore

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With all the changes going on in corporate America, maybe what we all need is a good cry.  And what better place to do it than a company funeral?  At least, that’s the way I tend to look at things.  Here’s how it all started.

Executives Don’t Get It

Awhile back I was working with our corporate executives as my utility company was preparing to stop functioning as a monopoly and begin entering into the throes of deregulation.  To jump start the process, our CEO implemented an executive goal setting program and offered employees an early retirement option.  Simultaneously, a voluntary severance package was also given to select areas of the operations.   For the first time we were having a large group of employees exit the company. 

I was hosting a meeting with the executives to finalize their goals and they were bemoaning the number of individual retirement parties they were being invited to attend.  Eventually they came to the conclusion that what was needed was one “corporate retirement party” that they all could attend and be done with it.  They looked at me and said: “Kenny, please take care of organizing the details.”  Being low man on the totem pole, I had no choice. 

As they continued on in discussion, I mentioned to them that the employees they really needed to have a party for were not the ones that were leaving.  I said, “If you’re going to celebrate with anyone, it should be with those employees that remain behind.  It’s a better business choice.”  They looked at me as if I had two heads.  “A very interesting thought … but why don’t you leave well enough alone and go get that retirement party set up?”  I left the meeting, went back to my office and spent the rest of the day cursing their obduracy.  So, what else is new?

Change is Like marriage … Only Worse

As the day wore on, I became more compassionate.  Maybe they didn’t understand what I was talking about and needed a little help in seeing the value of my offer.  So I decided to host my own party and invite them for a “look-see.”  My idea was to design a “Bon Voyage” party - for the employees who were staying.  The underlying rationale was: “If you worked for me, here’s what I’d do to help us face deregulation.” 

I designed the event around the idea that change starts not with a “beginning” but with an “ending.” And in-between there’s a “transition” period, where the old rules are gone and the new ones have yet to be defined.  While somewhat ambiguous, this period is necessary before any progress is made.  We’re required to first mourn the loss of the known and spend time wandering around feeling lost and alone.  Only then are we ready for a true “beginning.”

In corporations, this cycle is somewhat akin to getting married.  We may have thought that tying the marital bow started a beginning.  But in reality, it ushered in an ending.  Life as we knew it was over. We probably weren’t aware of it, but our friends were.  That’s what Bachelor Parties are all about.  The exchanging of vows was a true ending, it just took us a while to catch on.  Then there’s the transition.  Where do we want to spend the holidays? Kids?  How many?  If we don’t crash, we’ll move into the beginning stage of a marriage.  Actually, half the marriages never do survive.  This is somewhat akin to corporate change efforts.  Come to think of it, marriage has a higher success rate than most change programs I’ve seen. 

Let the Funeral Begin

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The High Seas of Transition

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On to the Beginning

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Examining the Process

With the formal toast, the event was over.  While it need not have been a party, it was nonetheless important to find a way of celebrating and recognizing the changes before us.  “What did you think of this event and the journey I took you on?” 

One woman commented that she felt more hopeful in hearing other employees speak positively about the company’s future.  Another shared his feelings of loss - the company he had spent his whole career in was going to change forever.  At one point the CEO spoke up: “This is the kind of thing we need to do more of.  It’s very much in line with where I’m trying to take us.  Kenny, I’d like you to present this at next month’s executive session for all our managers to see.” 

With minor changes, I took the show on the road and moved it to our auditorium for a crowd of 300.  The discussion there was even livelier.  As we moved the company into deregulation, this event served as a corporate symbol.  Life for us had changed.  While we had gained some things, we had lost others.  And we were able to become more accommodating to employees’ sense of grief as well as their excitement for change

Postmortem 

We’re now well into deregulation and have merged with other companies to grow our business.  Throughout this journey, we’ve learned that change starts with an ending.  And we’re well served by bringing affected employees together, to talk about what’s been lost, acknowledge and treat it with respect before moving on.  We’re also becoming aware that moving employees from compliance to commitment is not just about offering more money.  It’s about an entirely different conversation.  One that feels more like an invitation than a command.  And we have much work still to do here.

However, we’re no longer blind to the great creativity that’s present in the transition phase of any change.  The priest in me is still occasionally called out of retirement to host another funeral in the life of the corporate community.  The cycle of life, death and re-birth seems to never end.

I’m thinking that my next plan might be to find a way for the Sacrament of Confession to become part of the performance appraisal program.  Who knows, maybe saying “Bless me, boss - for I have sinned…” and identifying my own contribution to the problems I gripe about is a good way to start the annual review process?  Perhaps the Divine might even look down and bestow Her warm forgiveness upon me?

I’m sure some business folks will refrain from hosting a ceremony, falsely believing: you can’t do this kind of work if you’re not a priest. Wrong!  Rituals and ceremonies are part of the human experience and predate organized religion by thousands of years.  Besides, you don’t need to have lived in a monastery to craft a ritual to meet pressing business needs.  The pain and imperfections in the business world are an ever-present invitation for us to take some risks, improvise a human ceremony that supports the work at hand and encourages employees in responding with wit and valor.

Others might balk at the impossibility of effectively nurturing the human spirit in bureaucratic corporations.  And for these people, I have a compassionate understanding of this challenge. However, one of the things I learned in the monastery was just because something is impossible, doesn’t mean you don’t have to work on it.  (Why else would I have been required to take the vow of celibacy?)  Some of what we are required to work on will not be accomplished in our lifetimes.  That’s what vision, brilliance and legacy is about.  To those needing encouragement, I give you the words of Fr. Theodore, my old religious advisor: if you think you’re too small to be effective, then you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito.  We all can have an impact, even if it’s a small one.

The poet Theodore Roethke said it well: “What we need are more people who specialize in the impossible.” The challenges are formidable, yet the need is great.  Life invites us daily to take the risk and act on making the impossible happen.  It’s at the heart of what makes showing up for work so exciting.

P.S.  If you’re thinking about writing me, give in to the temptation.   I love getting mail ... and being influenced by what you have to say.  Please e-mail me at kennythemonk@yahoo.com.

© 2010 Kenny Moore

Labels: communication practices  success factors  work challenges