{"id":756,"date":"2023-03-07T06:31:45","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T06:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/?p=756"},"modified":"2024-09-08T20:16:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-08T20:16:32","slug":"just-do-the-next-right-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/just-do-the-next-right-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"“Just Do the Next Right Thing”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regular readers will know that I am partial to collecting new business terminology.\u00a0 Usually this language comes from an academic or a business expert, but today, I offer you a phrase popularized by Grand Pabbie from Frozen 2.<\/p>\n

Created by Disney as the wise sage of Arendelle, able to turn from bulbous rock into moss topped troll in a few seconds, Pabbie is there to offer, albeit slightly cryptic, advice to Elsa and Anna when they most need it.\u00a0 His advice in the first Frozen film was really quite dubious however and could definitely have benefited from more precision – his \u2018fear Elsa\u2019s powers\u2019 warning tore two sisters, and consequently their whole family, apart (can you be a bit more specific in future Grand Pabbie and maybe offer some hint of a solution within your wily mutterings?! Perhaps tell the King and Queen to not get on that boat whilst you are at it).<\/p>\n

However, he seems to have pulled himself together by Frozen 2 and his advice is altogether more practical. \u00a0To the point where Anna sings a whole song around the \u201cdo the next right thing\u201d concept to help her through her darkest moments when contemplating the death of her sister. It\u2019s a deeply poignant moment in the film and one that induced hot, fat, blubbery tears from me when I watched it for the first time.\u00a0 I have to confess that when watching this film (multiple times) with my daughter, it never entered my head that it was astute business advice and yet I\u2019ve heard the phrase “do the next right thing”<\/strong> discussed in a business context twice<\/em><\/strong> in the last two weeks!<\/p>\n

The first was by Dave Snowden<\/a> within an interesting seminar<\/a> as part of a \u201cTrans-Atlantic Conversations\u201d Audit Wales<\/a> series where he was talking about the \u201cVector Theory of Change\u201d<\/a> and how his company helps organisations to codify conversations to determine the travel of organizational improvement.\u00a0 I have seen Snowden talk about his approach to organizational complexity a few times and I have to confess, that, perhaps unsurprisingly, I have found his approach \u2018complex\u2019. \u00a0My approach to organizational change is to demystify and simplify.\u00a0 It took me quite a long time to truly appreciate and grasps the concepts of lean and I take pride in trying to convey these concepts as simply and quickly as possible to others. That\u2019s not to say that I think making \u2018lean\u2019 change happen is simple, it absolutely isn\u2019t, but often what you are trying to achieve<\/em><\/strong> is simple.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s important for all employees to get onboard with the journey, and critically, for leaders to build improvement as part of their approach to leadership. The getting what you are trying to achieve done <\/em><\/strong>is hard, but the aims absolutely shouldn\u2019t be. I think too often people forget about the aims: making the service experience better, improving quality levels, reducing the end-to-end lead time of delivery – so I was delighted to hear Snowden discuss complexity theory in a way that I was able to understand it (I think<\/em>).\u00a0 His approach helps leaders to better understand the direction of change, by analysing stories from people on the ground, encouraging leaders to do \u2018more of what works\u2019 and to ‘keep doing the next right thing<\/strong>‘.\u00a0\u00a0 Listening to their approach being described it felt like it was very accepting of the messiness of change, but that with some analysis, a change leader could help to make tweaks and help to steer the direction of change.<\/p>\n

The second time the phrase was uttered was at the ACCA St David\u2019s Day Breakfast in the Hilton Hotel<\/a> where Noel Mooney, Chief Executive of the Football Association of Wales, was reflecting on the Wales\u2019 team time in Qatar and the importance of good governance and adherence to organizational values. <\/a>\u00a0Noel gave an authentic and honest account of how difficult managing the complexity of Wales\u2019 presence in a country full of human rights violations was and that moral and ethical decisions were flying at him every hour. The approach that he adopted was to hold true to the FAW\u2019s values and to simply \u2018do the next right thing\u2019<\/strong> in the face of every decision. It helped him to navigate a path through the complexity.<\/p>\n

Described in this way does help to demystify the pain of high risk decision making. And following this \u2018do the next right thing\u2019 practice can<\/strong><\/em> help you to better understand and direct change.\u00a0 Yes, the power of the small things<\/a> isn\u2019t to be ignored and I resolve to focus on the importance of doing the next right thing in future!<\/p>\n

\"\"
Disney VEVO – https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kFkClV2gM-s<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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