Chipboard has unbelievable powers. It can stop change initiatives, destroy good projects and kill great ideas. If you ever want to experience the power of chipboard then volunteer to project manage an office move.
You will find the IT problems will be minimal, the movement of furniture simple and the logistics logical. However the project will be a complete nightmare due to the evil and almost undefeatable power of chipboard. You will discover office politics you never knew existed; uncover personal vendettas laid buried for decades and experience professional colleagues having tantrums over rubber plants like five year-olds. Most people hang onto their chipboard empires as if their lives depend upon it and woe betide any change manager who wants to introduce a new idea which might involve rearranging the furniture.
Chipboard vaccination
I am incredibly lucky, I was inoculated against this chipboard menace at the age of 22 and since then have watched incredulous as others less fortunate than myself have seen their splendid plans and beautiful ideas crushed into the dust by the MDF mentality.
It was my first day at work as a project manager; suitably booted and suited I was being shown round the office by my new boss. After meeting my new colleagues my boss gestured at an empty desk and said
“That is where you will do your work”
To a newly minted graduate it was a defining moment – my first job, fascinating colleagues and new horizons. In my naivety I said
“Great, my own desk, brilliant!”
To say that my boss went ballistic would be an understatement.
“Let’s get this straight RIGHT now. That is not YOUR desk, it is not MY desk, in fact it is not even the company’s desk – we lease them. You are in the projects business now, it’s all about change, it’s not about the furniture – it’s about making a difference. You will move around the office and around the divisions like your shoes have wheels. The desks get in the way. Don’t ever fall in love with the chipboard – just the project outcomes - OK?”
This salutary lesson has lived with me ever since. I usually hot desk and if I need a quiet place I steal someone else’s desk for an hour or two. I’m not saying that we all need to kick the chipboard habit but I am suggesting that if you really want to change the World then you need to confront the chipboard issues first.
Failure to address this key issue will lead to your change project being randomly thrown from department to department with many dropped balls and fumbled catches along the way. The time taken will be enormous and often before you have even finished, the ball will probably have been stolen if not hidden by someone who fears that this change could lead to their chipboard empire being diminished.
So how do we get the round this seemingly intractable attitude? Well you can try forming task forces and co-located integrated project teams. These will certainly help the speed at which a change is delivered, but even here you will be amazed at how at the end of the project there will still be a mad scramble to reclaim the original chipboard.
Perhaps instead we need to understand that in our increasingly complex and fast changing world, many people are deeply stressed and insecure. Perhaps the chipboard desks, the plastic rubber plants and dull routine of an office environment provide at least some handhold onto security amidst the turbulent and frightening winds of change. Perhaps we need to gently coax and coach our teams into tentatively exploring the world beyond the office partition and then and only then can we start to encourage our teams to seize the great ideas and turn them into a reality that might just change the world into a better place.