Gimme an O—C—M!

FIRE IT UP INTENSE! RED HOT CONFIDENCE!

That was 12 year-old me. A cheerleader. Like, gag me with a spoon. I even annoyed myself.

Flash forward thirty sev…er…a few years…and you will find a defiant little brat who still hates cheerleading.

The organizational change management spin on this one shouldn’t come as a surprise so I’ll cut right to it—we are not cheerleaders.

Leaders, change agents, difficult conversation starters, facilitators, coaches, influencers, anything but cheerleaders.

But there I was, on a project expected to wave the AI pom-poms.

Facilitate discussion on data governance? Org re-design? Lean methodologies? Nope. Just YAAAAY Al!!!

I was supposed to use an AI Will-Fix-All demo, designed by a senior consultant, intended for an executive (executive!) audience, was on how AI could build a PowerPoint on Bicycle Riding 101. I’m not even joking. <facepalm>

The spoon thoroughly gagged me at that point. So, like my cheerleading stint, I threw down my poms, took off my lollies (Google it.) and excited the workforce for a bit.

I’m glad I took a career pause to let the ridiculousness shake out. It was a good move for me because I’m walking back into real conversations. What does the future look like? How will we navigate daily change? Is my organization ready for this? Do executives really not know how to ride bicycles?

We don’t know the cheers yet. We haven’t figured out the routines yet. Heck, we aren’t even sure team which we’re on. (And this is the space where I cheer…gooooo, uncomfortable ambiguity!)

If you were my high school sweetheart, I’d give some parenting advice. Don’t run off with the cheerleaders. Take a breath. Find a coach. Make a plan. Chill in the smoker’s corner. (Ok, maybe not the last one.)

Shannon Vasko is a natural-born planner with a passion for strategy and integrated communications. AI was not used for content creation.© MI Compass Services.

“If you ever feel like giving up, just remember there’s a little girl watch who wants to be just like you. Don’t disappoint her.”

—Multiple Citations