NICK WRIGHT
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Snakes and ladders

21/2/2019

36 Comments

 
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‘The big question is, who rolls the dice?’ (Pav Ponnoosami)
​

You may have seen change models that depict human experience as a linear curve. The idea is that people progress through change by transitioning gradually through different emotional phases. On the whole, it’s a useful tool – except, that is, when it isn’t. Perhaps a more apt metaphor for complex change in organisations today could be a snakes and ladders board. (If you’re not familiar with this children’s game, it involves rolling a dice to move a piece from start to finish, step by step. If you land on a ladder, you accelerate forward. If you land on a snake, you slide backwards.)

That’s so often what happens in change – and so often what it feels like too. We step forward then, all of a sudden, someone or something hits us and knocks us off course. We trip up, fall down, get up, dust ourselves off, steady ourselves and find our feet again. We take another step, more cautiously this time and, unexpectedly, happily, something positive shifts. Wow, we leap forward now filled with fresh energy, confidence and hope. Success! We smile, breathe…then, shockingly, the ground gives way. Woah?! How did that happen? Where did that come from? Two steps forward, one step back.

Why is this metaphor useful? It creates a realistic expectation, an anticipation, that enables us to handle change. If we know in advance that change will feel chaotic at times; that multiple changes from different sources may well collide and create conflict; that not everything will be as smooth, clear, organised and coordinated as we may hope for; that sometimes our energy will dip or rise, that we may feel irritable, excited, annoyed all in the same day and – yet – that we will get through this; that the ‘miserable middle’ is only the middle; we can keep moving forward, pushing ahead.

It normalises what otherwise feels abnormal. It helps us not to panic. It begs interesting questions too. For instance: Whose game is this? Who decides the rules and why? What piece have I chosen to represent me – or my team? Who or what are the snakes and ladders here? Am I a ladder for others or a snake? How resilient and resourceful am I if I land on a snake? Who am I competing with? What would it mean to win? Who roles the dice? As leaders, coaches, OD and trainers, we can listen for the metaphors that our people/clients use; explore them playfully; experiment with alternatives.
36 Comments
Marie-Christine Lammers
22/2/2019 11:08:23 am

Nick my thesis’ title was “Snakes and Sirens” 😉

Reply
Nick Wright
22/2/2019 11:09:02 am

Hi Marie-Christine. What a great title! I would love to hear more. Do you have an executive summary you could share here?

Reply
Marie-Christine Lammers
22/2/2019 11:40:06 pm

Product description
"Immersed in Douala's daily life, an anthropologist analyses the local interpretations of ill-being through individual stories and urban tales related to sorcery. Via an anthropological journey into the town's mysteries, she thematically approaches food, sex and death as recurrent topics of the Doualese imaginary. A thought-provoking blend of dense ethnographic data, sensitive personal accounts and theoretical reflections, Snakes and Sirens " explores the multiple faces of distress in present-day Douala and the creative local strategies to counter it. By positioning the anthropologist within her conceptual and contextual framework it offers an insider's view on the methodological hitches of fieldwork and ethnography and the fluctuations in the choice of referents and themes that strongly animate local perspectives.In a passionate dialogue between complementary disciplines - anthropology psychology philosophy and psychoanalysis - the author also proposes a renewed thinking on the self and the construction of identity against the emotionally charged background of fascinating cultural encounters and strong human relationships in one of Africa's most lively cities."

Reply
Nick Wright
23/2/2019 10:49:31 am

Wow, Marie-Christine. What a fascinating and unusual piece of research!!

Reply
Angela Franklin
23/2/2019 10:50:30 am

Love this Nick, expectation is such a strong influence relating to any change.

Reply
Nick Wright
23/2/2019 10:52:27 am

Thanks Angela. Yes, I believe 'expectation' has a big influence on social-psychological health and well-being too.

Reply
Pav Ponnoosami
23/2/2019 11:07:33 am

Great read Nick and thanks for quoting me. 🙂

Reply
Nick Wright
23/2/2019 11:32:10 am

Thanks Pav. You're welcome. I love your 'Who rolls the dice?' question! :)

Reply
David Head
28/2/2019 10:24:27 am

Thanks Nick. I've often thought of life as a game of snakes and ladders, so this resonates. Its what we do when we hit the bottom of one of the big ones which helps to define us. And yes, expectations are so important, along with resillience and a sense of perspective.

Reply
Nick Wright
28/2/2019 10:28:12 am

Thanks David. I guess one of the challenges is how to retain a sense of perspective when we 'hit the bottom of one of the big ones', especially if the experience is highly emotionally charged for us? On that theme, you may find this piece interesting? http://www.nick-wright.com/fresh-thinking.html Let me know what you think?

Reply
David Head
28/2/2019 10:53:22 am

Interesting article, including one of my personal favorite questions 'whats really going on here'? (Really helps to achieve focus and eliminate flannel). Eliminating cognitive biases, distortions and dissonance is surely the most important thing that leadership advisors can do. It also underscores the importance of diversity at board level particularly. A diverse, challenging team will give broader perspective and help the CEO to avoid titanic leadership (the subject and title of one of my articles on LI).

Nick Wright
28/2/2019 10:55:27 am

Hi David. I love your title, 'titanic leadership'! :) Can you post a link here? I would be interested to read it. On 'What's really going on here', you may also find this short piece interesting? http://www.nick-wright.com/what-is-really-going-on-here.html

David Head
28/2/2019 12:53:38 pm

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/diversity-source-strength-leadership-cultures-decision-david-head/

Nick Wright
28/2/2019 01:00:35 pm

Hi David. What a great article, particularly in terms of low-risk recruitment and it's potential consequences for organisations and leadership. I like your emphasis on diversity as a way of addressing this. You may find this short related piece interesting? http://www.nick-wright.com/blog/spots It touches on unconscious assumptions/biases and other psychological-relational dynamics.

Anna Withers
28/2/2019 10:56:30 am

Thank you Nick for posting this. I use Snakes and ladders as a collaboration tool- it is a wonderful way of making people aware of how they can help each other with the issues they are facing.

Reply
Nick Wright
28/2/2019 10:57:19 am

Thanks Anna. I'm intrigued... Can you say more about how you use it as a collaboration tool?

Reply
Anna Withers
28/2/2019 01:02:12 pm

Yes-it comes in the form of a worksheet- the dice represents the issue ,the next question is what is your move, followed by snakes- what might go wrong ,what are the ladders/upsides and the final column is input from the team...Basically it provides a structured conversation in situations where you have mixed groups together from different teams.It is amazing how people have often for the first time good experiences of collaboration using snakes and ladders. .In collaboration this is so important because people built on good experiences. We are bring out a blog series on the issue of collaboration for lent -keep a look out....

Nick Wright
28/2/2019 01:03:10 pm

Hi Anna. Thanks for sharing that. What a creative and useful way of using the game!! :)

Julie Bullen
28/2/2019 11:29:17 am

Great analogy - and very much like 'real life'. also good model for building resilience and will help people get out of holes more quickly if its seen as a normal part of what happens so problem solving can kick in more quickly, with less shame.

Reply
Nick Wright
28/2/2019 11:32:44 am

Thanks Julie. I like your comment, 'with less shame'. The first time I shared this idea with a change leadership team and, subsequently, with staff, I could hear tangible sighs of relief in the room. It helped them make sense of what they were experiencing and this, in turn, enabled them to relax more and create more innovative solutions.

Reply
Caroline Sharley
28/2/2019 02:33:09 pm

Love the analogy Nick. And a build ... my experience of personal change, and of working with clients, is that yes, its very much like snakes and ladders - and played with the lights off! So, often I can't see or anticipate when I am about to step on a snake! And so often organisational change can feel like that too. So, let me find those damn light-switches again!!

Reply
Nick Wright
28/2/2019 02:38:19 pm

Thanks Caroline. I love that idea of the lights switched off. It reminds me of how, say, someone born blind and who has learned to navigate the world could be at a distinct advantage in that situation. What appears a dis-ability in one context can be a positive resource in a different context. How can we increase our resourcefulness by being open to new and different possibilities when things change?

Reply
Kathrin
28/2/2019 03:06:38 pm

Up and downs for me: I'm optimistic about a new job, a challenge, but then I have to learn that things do not go the way I want them to! On an up comes a down. Unfortunately, I often can not do something about it right away. I have to stand it and hope for a good change and have patience.
Up and downs because of me: sometimes I have to break other people's hopes. When I realize that a decision they want to make will not be good. I am the snake. Through me, steps are back for them. That is hard. Hopefully, at some point, they can accept this decision as a good decision.
But I would much rather be a ladder for others to help them and to bring them forward.

Reply
Nick Wright
28/2/2019 03:28:28 pm

Hi Kathrin. Sometimes 'I am the snake'. Very profound. I guess that's one of the tougher parts of leadership - we are not always willing or able to support others' hopes and aspirations, especially if we believe they could be harmful...

Reply
Lester Hirst
28/2/2019 03:22:40 pm

Great gamification of change management.

Reply
Nick Wright
28/2/2019 03:24:41 pm

Thanks Lester. I have found that using different metaphors and analogies for change often opens up fresh awareness and ideas that can prove very valuable in handling change.

Reply
Amy Brann
28/2/2019 04:15:59 pm

'How to normalise the weirdness of change experiences'? Great question Nick!

Reply
Nick Wright
28/2/2019 04:16:22 pm

Thanks Amy! :)

Reply
Patrick O'Brien
28/2/2019 05:46:57 pm

Thanks Nick - very useful! I’ll include this in a program I am planning at the moment.

Reply
Nick Wright
28/2/2019 05:47:50 pm

Thanks Patrick. Let us know how you get on! :)

Reply
Glenda May
1/3/2019 09:48:38 am

I like your model Nick. So much more realistic than the ‘grieving’ curve which, in my coaching experience, is not always helpful. It can leave coachees feeling they have are not normal when they are not progressing in such a linear fashion.

Reply
Nick Wright
1/3/2019 09:53:21 am

Thanks Glenda. I like the snakes and ladders metaphor because it helps to highlight some of the wider systemic issues and influences in complex change experiences in organisations that are hard to predict or control.

Reply
Rajendra Grewal
6/3/2019 01:23:01 pm

The Rules of the Game > There are no rules, and yes God does toss the dice.

Reply
Nick Wright
6/3/2019 01:24:41 pm

Hi Rajendra. I'm attracted to the idea of 'There are no rules'. However, I find it hard to imagine in a human system. Are there ever really no rules..?

Reply
Heather Day
7/3/2019 09:19:44 am

A useful metaphor for organisational change! I like the suggested questions leaders and managers to explore within their system.

Reply
Nick Wright
7/3/2019 09:20:10 am

Thanks for the encouraging feedback, Heather!

Reply



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    ​Nick Wright

    ​I'm a psychological coach, trainer and OD consultant. Curious to discover how can I help you? ​Get in touch!

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