Anyone who has ever tried to change anything, will know that there are many barriers and obstacles to overcome on the path to progress. 

These are the Monsters and Myths of the show title.

For example -  one of the most common barriers to change that I come across is the "Organisation Immune System".

This is where the people in an organisation become resistant to change, largely due to its past successes - this becomes a big innovation, change and transformation inhibitor where the employees (and even worse, the senior leadership) say things like:-

"but why should we change when our sales have been so strong in the past? Surely we should just double-down and do more of the same?".

The Organisation Immune system automatically rejects all change and new concepts until they suddenly wake up one day to find that the world has moved on without them .........

In my experience, the biggest problem is that most people and organisations do not openly talk about or address these issues. They allow them to survive and thrive in the shadows until the point where their impact can no longer be ignored and by that time they often take a huge effort to overcome.

The first step is therefore to acknowledge their existence!

This led me to create the Monsters & Myths construct for away-days and round tables where people are provided with a psychologically safe space to shine a light on the biggest barriers that get in their way of getting things done, as the first step towards overcoming them - take a quick look at the video below to see some feedback on the sessions.

 

By approaching recognised change-makers in these one-on-one interview sessions for this show, I'm trying to encourage more people to push on through the obstacles in their path by highlighting to them that many others have experienced the same barriers that they are facing.

To get people engaged with the topic, the construct consists of:-

• The "Monsters & Myths" - which are the obstacles you have faced or frequently encounter
  • Monsters are the things that get in the way that people don't believe can be moved. They often manifest as concepts or people (not actual names but "types of people") / personalities / processes / mindsets / any form of inhibitor - even "customers" / "shareholders" or "the board" etc. Very often, some form of organisational change is required to overcome these.
  • Myths are things that people claim to get in the way, but in reality, they are often quite easily overcome through communication and education, although this can sometimes be extremely difficult if the myth is deep rooted in the culture of an organisation or industry. Myths often come in the form of commonly repeated "tropes or truisms" that lead people down an undesirable or destructive path / form incorrect perceptions / misconceptions / misunderstandings / beliefs / biases / capabilities / targets etc.
  • It's not an important distinction so don't get too hung up about it!
• The "Mayhem" caused. This is the impact they have / undesired behaviour they drive / risks that the organisation is exposed to by not addressing the issues
• The "Magic" is the actions / steps to be taken to overcome the Monsters and Myths. Share what you have tried, what worked / what didn't / the lessons learned and how that made you stronger / changed your behaviour or maybe you haven't found the Magic yet and it's simply a warning to others and a plea for help to anyone that does indeed have the solution.

We might not have all the answers and I personally repeatedly encounter many of the same obstacles in organisations of all sizes and all industries across the world. What works for one might not work for another - the key is to share insights on what you have faced, what you have tried and what the outcomes were - successes and failures both being learning opportunities!

Outline show format:-

• I'll ask you to give us a brief intro / background in terms of industries you've worked in, projects you've been involved in, positions you've held etc in order to provide context to the audience of the kinds of barriers and obstacles you might have encountered to date *** please let me know how you would prefer to be introduced - this doesn't have to be your current company and job title and can be more descriptive in terms of how you see yourself (eg I often describe myself as "a professional sh*t stirrer" ...... although my wife wouldn't let me put that on my business cards 🙄).
• We will then move onto the Monsters & Myths segment where I'll ask you for your first Monster or Myth
  • ideally, please have 3 topics in mind
  • they can all be Monsters
  • or they can all be Myths
  • a mix of the 2 would be great but the differentiation is immaterial for the conversation
• You can be as specific or as general as you are comfortable with disclosing details surrounding your experiences - for example I will sometimes say "when I worked at Visa I was responsible for abc and we faced xyz challenge by doing blah blah blah" and other times I will say "I was involved with a startup that faced xyz challenge and we approached it by doing blah blah blah" or I might say "a challenged that I faced many times while working in ABC company was xyz - and I know from talking to people across many industries that this is a common challenge - I've tried blah blah blah that helped to overcome the problem"
• It's up to you if you are prepared to name companies and projects or if you'd prefer to talk in general terms - it's the insights into the situation and approaches to take that we are after
• The plan is to have a relaxed, informal discussion (no slides or "cards" required to prep) about each of the 3 topics covering what it is, where and when you've encountered it and how you overcame it or are trying to overcome it still
  • You're encouraged to invent a name for your monster or myth  - get as creative as you like - play with words / draw inspiration from ancient mythology or something from your own cultural background or simply give it a plain English title
  • Don't worry if you can't think of a name - describe the attributes of the monster or myth
  • It doesn't matter if your monster or myth is one that I or another guest has covered in the past - every person's experience and encounter will be unique and so will be the stories and lessons - in fact, multiple people encountering the same monster or myth reinforces its existence
• I'm allowing for 5 to 10 minutes on each topic and we will loop round the above accordingly
• Final words to wrap - how can people get in touch with you? LinkedIn / Website / Social media or not at all 🙂

I'm aiming for 25 - 30 minutes of interview content out of the one hour allocated recording time slot - please don't disconnect when I say "goodbye" as that's just for the recording - we will have a quick chat afterwards before we say our actual goodbyes!

Technical aspects:-

• The interview will be conducted and recorded via Zoom - please let me know if you are unable to use Zoom for any reason - please bear in mind that I will need to be able to record the video of the interview - not all platforms allow this, Zoom is my current tried and tested platform.
• If you haven't already, please download the Zoom app for your operating system as it provides a far better experience than the web browser interface
• APPLE AIRPODS are absolutely terrible for sound on almost every single platform - I love mine but please DON'T be tempted to use yours if you have them (if nobody has ever told you this in the past they may just have been polite - trust me on this point)
• I list some simple pro tips here if you are looking to up your on screen game in preparation for the interview

Please take a look at this page (apologies that I'm asking you to look at so many pages!!) to see how everything comes together once the interview is completed - it contains a brief synopsis of the session which is what appears in the episode description on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts and more plus it has a link to the YouTube video version.

Consent:-

By making and/or accepting this booking you provide your express permission for the content of the interview to be recorded and shared afterwards in full, summary or anecdotal extracts in multiple audio / video / presentation and written formats across any channels and forms of publications by me (Andrew Vorster).

Scheduling the interview:-

I have allocated slots on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for a rolling 2 month period at a wide variety of times during UK working hours and late night afterhours slots to cover those people in other timezones or those who are unable to give up time during the working day. If none of these days or times work for you then please contact me directly and I'll open a custom slot at your convenience - I'm happy to do after hours or weekends if those work better for you - I'm sure we can work it out!

Please click on the button below to schedule a time for your interview - thank you in advance for your participation in this project!