Different ways of looking at things

A friend sent me a joke recently..something along the lines of;

Q: "Why do IT people confuse Christmas with Halloween"
A: "Because DEC25=OCT31"**

Whether the joke is funny is a matter for you, but it got me thinking about different peoples perceptions of the same situation and how it important it is for us all to think about our actions. I worked for a manager many years ago, and I dreamt up a great structure for the business, focus on sales and service etc - but it meant that there was only a role for him or his peer. I thought it was a great idea, would save a great deal of money, and ensure focus on what mattered - he thought it was not tenable and we went back to the drawing board! I learned a lot in that job.

A lot of the focus of change management analysis and communications planning is ensuring that the perceptions that the recipients of message will hold are positive (or can be dealt with if adverse). We need to recognise that people from differing personal and prfessional backgrounds will perceive the same piece of information differently. This is why being a change consultant is fun...

** Decimal 25 is the same as Octal (Base 8) 31 (3x8=24+1) - you can tell it is nearly Christmas