Organisational Change Management Volume 1

'Two Caterpillars and a Butterfly' Story

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Two caterpillars are conversing and a beautiful butterfly floats by. One caterpillar turns and says to the other:

"you'll never get me up in one of those (butterfly) things"

Some comments about this story:

Change is not always a conscious decision - change will occur, inevitably

We go through many stages of development and are on a journey

Butterflies are at a stage beyond being caterpillars

Caterpillars must hate flying since they don't try - caterpillars have no need to fly

You have to stop being a caterpillar in order to become a butterfly

Caterpillars focus only on eating and surviving - yet there is more to life than this as we need to be engaged in the process itself, rather than be imprisoned by the environment

Butterflies get blown around by the wind and caterpillars can drag their feet

Metamorphosis is an uncontrollable process with an unclear result

Metamorphosis is a dark, damp, confined space, so I'm scared!

I'll never be a butterfly; my mother was a moth!!!

Remember:

"You cannot become a butterfly by remaining a caterpillar" and

"In the change from being a caterpillar to becoming a butterfly, you're nothing more than a yellow, gooey sticky mess"

Scott Simmerman, 1997