This week I was introduced to the concept of the
burning platform. Before I watched this week’s video, my initial thought was
that this seemed like an interesting concept, and my first thought was correct.
Daryl Conner said that he got the idea to use the term burning platform in a leadership
sense from watching a news story about a man forced to jump from a burning oil
rig. (replymc, 2010). The man stated that he realized he had to make a
decision. If he stayed on the oil rig he faced inevitable death but if he
jumped the fifteen stories to the water he only faced probable death. That is a
decision that I hope I never have to make! Luckily the gentleman lived and his
news story helped to devise the leadership method known as the burning
platform.
Conner stated that the concept of the burning
platform has been misconstrued by leaders and he blamed himself for this
misunderstanding. (replymc, 2010) He said that the concept is not linked to
either a life or death situation or fear. Instead, the idea is about creating a
sustained change. The burning platform is not about utilizing fear as a way to
sustain change but about getting the followers emotionally involved so they
believe in and sustain the change idea. “When people believe the price of the
status-quo is dramatically higher than the cost of the transition they are
willing not to just get into the change- they’ll actually sustain it” (replymc,
2010, 5:55).
After watching the video, I began to wonder if I had
ever been in a situation where a change idea was offered in which a burning
platform could have been used as a method to sustain change. I would like to
say that I had an exciting story where the employees had to change their
actions or risk the organization shutting down. I wish I could offer a personal
story that followed the pattern of the news story watched by Conner. But alas, I do not have an overly exciting
story of an organization that was forced to adapt sustained change. However, I
do have two examples that show the importance of creating a burning platform.
When I was in high school, I accepted a job at a
local barbeque restaurant named Gridley’s Barbeque. I started washing dishes,
made my way to busboy, and then eventually worked on the to-go counter. In the
food hospitality business, one area that must be watched closely is food
allergies. According to Held (2017), less than four percent of Americans have
food allergies, but these individuals must be served with extreme caution.
Not long after I was moved to the to-go counter, the
restaurant manager called a staff meeting. He stated that recently there have
been questions from certain customers about the ingredients used in the
preparation of the dishes. He stated that has been asked if a certain item has
milk, peanuts, or wheat. The restaurant staff was told that in these situations
we would now need to ask a manager to speak to the customer and let them know
the ingredients of the dish in question. In this example, there was no personal
emotion for the followers. There was no realization that the status-quo was
more costly than the cost of transition. (replymc, 2010) I honestly do not even
remember an instance where I asked a manager to speak to a customer because the
concept only suggested a change. It did not have the factor that allowed us as
restaurant staff to buy in or endure the suggested change.
When I was a freshman in college, the barbeque
restaurant closed down and I got a job at an Italian restaurant while attending
community college. Once again, I was hired at the to-go counter. About a month
after I was hired, the company hired a new restaurant manager. One of his first
goals was to have each employee learn the ingredients of every dish offered by
the restaurant. He developed and printed out a booklet containing each dish on
the menu and every single ingredient for each dish. Each employee had three
weeks to learn the booklet and an exam would be administered to make sure
everyone did what they were asked to do. Well, this change idea did not go over
well with the staff. There were grumblings about the disdain for this new
manager and his tactics. Members of the wait staff were in dismay that they
would be expected to learn every ingredient in each plate offered at the
restaurant. The exams were offered over time and it was evident that the staff
did not comply with his requests. Therefore, a mandatory staff meeting was
scheduled at 8:00 am on a Saturday morning.
Once everyone begrudgingly arrived at the meeting,
the new manager (David) began by saying he understood that this change idea was
not taken well by the staff. He said that he understood that he looks like the
bad guy and that he may not be like by all of the employees and he was okay
with that fact. He then began to tell a story about an instance that occurred
at a previous restaurant. Anthony (2010) stated, "the lesson of the burning platform is that it is far better to anticipate the crisis and change your behavior well before the explosion" (para.3). The point of this story was to create a burning platform that anticipated the crisis before it happened.
According to Conner (2012), an anticipated problem takes place when it is evident that the current methods will create a future issue if they are not altered. David
stated that in his previous restaurant the staff was not asked to learn the
ingredients in the food they served and that caused a major issue one night. He
said that one night a gentleman ordered a desert and specifically asked the
young waiter if the desert contained nuts. The waiter told him it did not and
served him the desert. Several minutes later the gentleman began showing
symptoms of an allergic reaction. His lips, face, and hands began to swell
uncontrollably. When the manager went to check on him the gentleman told him
that the waiter said that the desert did not contain nuts. Well, to the
surprise of both the manager and customer, the dessert contained peanut butter.
The manager felt awful and escorted the gentleman and his wife the hospital. Luckily,
the gentleman did not suffer serious injuries and the restaurant paid all of
his hospital bills. However, a lesson was learned by both the manager and staff
of the restaurant.
From that day forward, all employees were asked to
learn the ingredients to each item on the menu. David said that this change was
not intended to punish the staff for a mistake that was made or to create
additional work. He wanted each of the employees to know that this decision was
not intended to be based on fear. He said it this change was developed to help
keep the customers safe but also to help each member of the wait staff to become
better at their job. Having a deep knowledge of each item on the menu would
allow each staff member to better serve the customers. In the end, most of the
staff got on board with the change idea. They realized that not accepting the
idea could be more dangerous than accepting the change. I mentioned that I did
not ever remember going to a manager to question an ingredient at the barbeque
restaurant, but I do remember confidently telling customers many times the
ingredients of a dish at the Italian restaurant. The burning platform created
an emotional and memorable acceptance of change.
References
Anthony, S. (2012). How to anticipate a burning
platform. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2012/12/how-to-anticipate-a-burning-platform
Conner, D. (2012). The four kinds of burning
platforms. Retrieved from http://www.connerpartners.com/frameworks-and-processes/the-four-kinds-of-burning-platforms
Held, A. (2017). 3.6 percent of Americans found to
have food allergies or intolerances. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/01/531088344/3-6-percent-of-americans-found-to-have-food-allergies-or-intolerances
Replymc. (2010). Burning platform- The
misunderstanding (Part 1of 2) [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwRB0sHpN9E
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