Change is like adding milk to coffee

“Change is like adding milk to coffee,” writes Niels Pflaeging.

It's the perfect rebuttal to the change-as-journey metaphor we've been saddled with for so long.

Pflaeging's introduction of a different change metaphor captures everything right about making change happen and discards the baggage of the long, arduous, this-may-fail journeys we've been toiling on since entering the workforce. What he isn't saying is that more change doesn't happen over a longer period of time, it's that we don't have to wait for a journey to be completed before we recognize that change has occurred.

He writes, “The journey metaphor tricks us into ignoring the possibility that the desired change might be accomplished quickly, with little effort, right now, with existing resources and with minimal disruption. The metaphor itself makes change hard.”

What happens when we view change as a journey is that we spend a whole lot of time planning for what that change is going to be rather than just going out and making that change happen.

This is a disrupting idea. I've had conversations with people who flat out reject the notion that change can happen [right now]. That's how conditioned we've become to the idea that change is always difficult.

But if you pour some milk into your coffee this morning, how can you tell me that a change hasn’t occurred?

What he offers as an alternative is that change is a flip from now to new. And that the amount of change we're looking for when embarking on a journey can really just be a series of flips from now to new.

Metaphors matter because they play an outsized role in how we interpret the world. The change-as-journey metaphor has been tripping us up for too long. Instead, just as a drop of milk added to a cup of coffee changes that particular cup of coffee, so does your next flip from now to new. And the next one. And the next one. And the next one.

Around The Water Cooler ⛲

You probably know this past week was the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. It’s impossible to imagine what those soldiers experienced that day. This 1960 article in the The Atlantic gives an account of the “epic human tragedy”. Worth a read.

Design thinking was supposed to fix the world. Where did it go wrong?

“A couple weeks ago, I visited a carmaker in Northern California for an upcoming GQ story. The firm makes extraordinary, very expensive, artisanal vehicles, entirely crafted by hand. One of the engineers I spent time with said he used to work at Tesla, managing one of their manufacturing lines, those conveyor belts of robots attaching parts to other parts. He learned a lot, but intensely disliked the work. Now, at this other place, though he had a horrible commute, he loved his work so much more, mostly for the pride of craftsmanship: making beautiful things that require a ton of skill and knowledge to piece together. Shouldn’t we all be so lucky.”

Thanks for reading. Hit reply and let me know your thoughts.

How To Work is healthcare-focused work design inspiration (from the experts!) to nudge your perspectives and practices into better alignment with the world of work as it is, and away from what it was. Read my take on the tension we’re working through.