In this time of global Covid19 pandemic and civil unrest as we continue to battle racial inequity in America, there is one thing for which I am grateful. More people are becoming more aware of the reality of impermanence, and as an extension, a desire to remain open, flexible and responsive to what’s happening around us. People are open for real change. If you don’t read any further, know that I have learned one thing in my career: change starts with one person. You. Me. Change starts here. It’s too overwhelming to try and change the world, but I can start with me. So I began thinking, am I ready for change myself? And what does it really take to truly transform? In my experience, being personally ready for change requires three things to begin: 1) an awareness of why you need to change, 2) an understanding of what you will change and how, and 3) taking action to make the change real. And I really mean it when I say ‘to begin’ change. Change isn’t like Tabitha from Bewitched when she wiggles her nose and presto, you’re done. No. It takes ongoing effort and openness to further shifts in knowledge and context. Action fuels further action. I can start with taking a small step and grow my change organically. I realize I already have what I need inside myself in order to change. I am biologically wired for adaptation, for change. It’s already in me. I have to embrace letting go of the past and trust the process in order to move into my new future. If you’d like to learn more and get inspired about transformation with me, listen to this awesome RadioLab podcast called ‘Goo and You,’ about what really happens with caterpillars and butterflies and the mechanics of transformation at the biological level. May it bring hope! ~Marady
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In reflecting on the past four months, the question on most people and organization's minds has been how can I help? While most people have adopted a "helping mindset", the real question may not be how can I help? but how can I serve?
Helping is different from serving. Helping is often based on inequity and thus, inequality. It is not a relationship between equals. When one helps, one operates from a position of strength to help those of lesser strength. It assumes that someone is lesser and needier than the person helping. People feel this inequity and inequality. When we help we may inadvertently take away from people more than we could ever give them; we may diminish their self-esteem, their sense of worth, integrity and wholeness. It is essential the poison in the gift. But when we serve, we serve from within ourselves, our families our organizations, etc.. We draw our collective experiences. Our limitations serve, our wounds serve, even our darkness can serve. The wholeness in us serves the wholeness in others and the wholeness in life because the wholeness in others is the same as the wholeness in yourself. Service is a relationship between equals. Helping incurs debt. When you help someone they owe you one. But serving, like healing, is mutual. There is no debt. I am as served as the person I am serving. When I help I have a feeling of satisfaction. When I serve I have a feeling of gratitude. These are very different things. When I serve I see and trust that wholeness. It is what I am responding to and collaborating with. The customer experience (and its associated tools like customer journey mapping and service blueprinting) so often ends up being about helping and/or fixing versus serving the customer. For those of us working to design customer experiences and to encourage the associated organizational change needed to making that effort successful, helping, fixing, and modifying are ultimately forms of bias and judgment that create distance, a disconnection, an experience of difference. People and organizations can only sustainably serve that to which they are profoundly connected, that which we are willing to touch. Thus, the question really becomes "how might we design equitable and equal customer experiences using a serving mindset versus a helping mindset?" |