Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions

Readers should ask themselves which of the story’s main characters “behaves most like you” (128). Readers also should keep an eye out for people whose temperaments complement their own. There will be NoNos who resist needed changes, but these doubters should be included in decision making—their concerns will contribute to the process.

Every group eventually faces its own “melting iceberg.” The penguins’ process of solving their own crisis uses the Eight-Step method described below, which will work for any organization, “whether they have 100 people or 100,000 people, are privately owned or public, or are high tech or low tech” (129).

The process begins with setting the stage: “1. Create a Sense of Urgency” and “2. Pull Together the Guiding Team” (131). The group will need a strong “why” and a team of motivated leaders with a variety of skills who can learn to work well together. The next section of the process is deciding what to do: “3. Develop the Change Vision and Strategy” (132). This will clarify how the future will look and how to get there.

Several steps follow that bring the vision to life. “4. Communicate for Understanding and Buy-In” (132): This is more than simply overcoming resistance; it’s mainly about creating enthusiasm for the project. “5. Empower Others to Act” (133): The most important way to achieve this is to remove barriers to participation. “6. Produce Short-Term Wins” (133): These quickly improve morale and enthusiasm. “7. Don’t Let Up” (134): Relentless forward motion produces the result.

Finally, the group makes the change stick: “8. Create a New Culture” (134). The new policy becomes a habit, a new tradition that replaces the old ones.

Four case studies illustrate the best ways to conduct group discussions that support closer alignment among members.

In “Case 1: Icebergs sometimes melt very slowly” (136), a dozen people reflect on their company’s recent decline in customer satisfaction, a slow downturn that resembles the penguins’ iceberg in “melting” so slowly that it was easy to dismiss. A couple of Freds in the group tried to sound a warning but got marginalized and gave up.

Case 2, “Don’t just go with who you have. Go with who you need” (138), is a discussion about a small team of theirs that got a lot done in a short period because it contains a Louis, an Alice, a couple of Freds, a Buddy, and a Professor. The leader didn’t draft her team but invited each member to join only if they had the time and were eager to see the project through. Someone asks if the group has a NoNo, and everyone looks at one particular individual, who says, “I’m not that bad!” (140), and everyone laughs.

In Case 3, “And the killer number one of any change is…?” (140), a discussion group agrees that the worst thing that can happen to a project is that it never develops a sense of urgency. They recall one in particular where a lot of planning and work got done but few took it seriously. The development team should have created a dramatic moment that focused everyone on the importance of the effort. The team also failed to engage the larger membership with periodic reminders or outreach efforts. A lack of enthusiasm led to a lack of volunteers, and the project fizzled out.

Case 4, “Change that doesn’t sustain itself is not change” (143), involves a customer outreach marketing strategy that required adjustments in the staff’s habits. The strategy made initial progress but fell apart because the required big shifts to the company’s culture were treated as if they were small and routine, employees didn’t really get behind the new effort, and the staff reverted to their old ways.

Despite some awkwardness in addressing hot-button issues, these conversations helped clear the air, increase understanding, and re-align group members.

The authors have released a 10th anniversary edition of Our Iceberg Is Melting because the world has changed since the first edition and because readers offered insights on how the book helped them.

The rate of change in the world increased, and the number of change initiatives has gone way up, and most people aren’t prepared for this new, more dynamic reality. The book contains the necessary techniques in a story that makes them easy to understand and apply.

The revised edition contains “some subtle things that we changed” (151)—slight alterations that make the story apply more aptly to the years of change since the first edition and that respond to reader feedback. For example, the speed of change has increased, which affects the pacing of a change initiative; this is addressed in the new edition when Buddy calms worriers inclined to panic. Beyond these enhancements, though, the story remains essentially the same.

While it’s important to talk about iceberg-type dangers, too much discussion about hazards causes panic. It’s therefore important to emphasize the opportunities embedded in the needed change so that people engage more with advancing the group’s values and less with simply protecting themselves. Bigger changes require larger groups to achieve them, which, in turn, requires more and better communication. This includes letting members know quickly what’s working and what else is needed.

The story’s biggest takeaway is teamwork. Everyone can, and should, pitch in to help create change, and to find ways to align everyone’s goals so they’re all aimed in the same direction.