Go with the flow or...

Last year a colleague gave me an article "Even a dead fish can go with the flow" ... because it reminded her of me. My first thought was "a dead fish" how delicious can it be... even though I knew she meant it as a compliment for daring to go against the flow in our highly complex environment.

In this blog I share with you my experience with change agents within an organization through the metaphor of a fish that occasionally swims against the current.

Imagine your organization or team as a school-coloured fish that harmoniously move on the rhythm of the flow towards their goal. Although they swim in different curves all their faces point into the same direction. They feel safe between their equal coloured colleagues. What their exact goal is and how and when they will reach this depends on where the flow and the tails of their predecessors will bring them. They hardly give any attention to what is going on outside their own world.

Two fishes are curious. They look with wonder at a school different coloured fish ahead, escape from their own school and mingle among the strange fishes. The strangers also follow the tail of their predecessors so it takes some time until they notice the "alien" fishes. But eventually they start talking and they exchange the necessary experiences on how they do things and what they find important. There are similarities and differences and by reflecting on this together they inspire each other to make improvements in their own school.

The curious fishes return back full of ambition in their own school and tell their peers about their refreshing ideas. To their disappointment their congeners don't understand them ... instead they look suspicious at the two and ask why their color is different. A few of them even call that this can be dangerous for all of them. The fishes swim fast to speak to the vanguard; they also don't give them a serious glance. Exhausted and disillusioned the fishes return back to their own place and go again with the flow and the rhythm of the others.

One of the curious fishes is happy, he keeps dreaming now and then but decides to be satisfied leading a save life.

The other fish keeps going out on research and continues in sharing his insights with anyone who wants to hear. This fish has learned, even if he swims against the current, not to waste his energy in moving forward as quickly as possible; but putting his energy in consciously looking around and make contact with everyone he encounters. Miraculously, he discovers that if he looks and listens to others in a better way that they also have a new attitude to him and listen. And so he discovered that not only its own colour changed, but also the colours of those around him developed in a much more beautiful way than before.

Be honest ... recognizable? What kind of fishes do you see around you? And what kind of fish are you? Is this also the kind of fish you would like to be?