White Water Ahead: It’s Time to Change, Baby!

Someone (gender obvious) recently made the comment that he didn’t spend much time at my site because it was ‘girly’. Given that his interest in web women gravitates towards the “Babes with Books” photographic exhibition – read this as a dig, NOT a plug – I wasn’t too disheartened, but it got me thinking.

As I regularly work in male-dominated environments, (my last two contracts have been in the areas of mining and power tools), I think I am fairly in tune with the overlap between male and female issues around inspiration. In fact, most of the issues are exactly the same and I just choose to focus on the “girly” viewpoint because, well…do I even need to complete this sentence?

One of the movies I find inspiring is “When Harry Met Sally” and the pithy exchange my sisters and I often steal in moments of self-analysis is:

• Marie: “The point is, he just spent $120 on a new nightgown for his wife. I don’t think he’s ever gonna leave her.”
• Sally: “No one thinks he’s ever gonna leave her.”
• Marie: “You’re right, you’re right, I know you’re right.”

For those who have condemned this fine film to the chick-flick pile, the conversation is between Carrie Fisher (Marie) and Meg Ryan (Sally) about Marie’s married lover. Despite many painful lessons that he will never leave his wife, she continues to hang around and hope.

So what does this have to do with white water rafting? Hang in there with me, fellas!

The film reference is as much about change as it is about hope. I often meet people caught in loops of self-destructive behaviour and most of them have the insight to realize that it is a treadmill they have been on for a long (and fruitless) time. But while there is hope, they proclaim, there is reason to keep running.

It is important to note that this is not a gender-specific issue. Men are just as likely as women to cling to negative routines about jobs that depress them or friendships that have soured. And I use the term ‘routine’ for a reason.

Change is a White Water Ride

It is much easier to remain in our established patterns of behaviour. In fact, if you were to drop a few letters from the word ‘routine’ I think you would get a far more honest description of why we don’t change. A rut, by definition, is a depression made by the continuous passage of a heavy object. Sometimes we can get ourselves into such a deep groove that to try to climb back out seems physically impossible.

So finally to the white water rafting analogy…

For those of you who have never visited the beautiful Western Australia (this IS a plug for my home state), every year about 25 000 spectators gather to watch approximately 800 contestants take part in Australia’s biggest whitewater classic event.

The Avon Descent, as it is known, is a 133 km, two-day boat racing event that takes place on Western Australia’s Avon River in August. It is considered to be one of the toughest river races in the world, especially as in the early years there were no rules or safety regulations and people went down the river in anything that could float, including homemade rafts and rubber inner tubes.

As the race proceeds entrants must face hazards which include tea trees, rapids, meter drops and rocks. In some years fog has reduced visibility to less than 10 meters making the descent even more hazardous.

Standing on the river bank as a wide-eyed spectator, you get the opportunity to watch speed boats fly across jagged rocks as if they’ve morphed into aircraft. And this is where I link back to the issue of change, because as you watch these crazy people bump over rocks and tumble out of boats, you have to come to the conclusion that they wouldn’t know a rut if it fell on them.

The Change Adoption Curve

These fearless competitors are change’s early Innovators and Adopters. If change were to present itself to them, they would be in their wetsuits and wading out while others were still fiddling with their thermos lids. And in fact, even the weather cannot daunt these change-embracers, for despite a year of drought, when the water is barely a trickle, they are still out there pushing - and often dragging - themselves down the river.

So what about the rest of us? Are we all condemned to be the ones who watch the event on the evening news from the safety of our (deeply rutted) lounge chairs?

Well, the interesting thing about the Avon Descent is that it isn’t just a race for the powerboats. In face, there are more pedestrian craft like surf skis and rubber dinghies out amongst the white water. And for some of us, that’s where we place in the change race.

We may not be the first in the water, but we are the Majority who adopt change just in time to make the finish line before all of the spectators head home. And those who have lived all of their lives near the Avon River and never made it to the riverbank?

There’s only one word to describe you, I’m afraid, and that is Laggard. A laggard is the sort of person who sees change coming like a wall of white water and still manages to turn their back on it - and most likely flick to another channel. In “When Harry Met Sally” terms, if you’re a laggard, you probably think Harry’s rationalization of why there is no point in a man starting a friendship with a woman makes perfect sense. Sorry guys, but you’ll have to rent it to get it!

# Note: See how I managed to talk about both failed relationships and power boats in one article??? Take that, “Babes with Books” (no link to blog supplied!)

## Serious Note: Check out Everett Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, and Raghavan and Chand (1989) for the full “Adoption Curve” theory.

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