Reflections on Small Change Big Impact by Natalie Shell, 2006-2007

Background

I recently made a ’small change’. I shifted my business tagline to “small change –> big impact”  ie small change leads to big impact.

Initially I was going to ‘wait’ until I had the perfect page about myself, my work, and why this shift. Yet holding myself accountable, I realised: It is easier and more truthful to the evolving nature of a small change to post this already, and evolve it “live” – afterall, life’s small changes happen live too.

As such, below is my evolving thinking and journey around the value,  beauty and sustainability of working with small.

– June 2007: I recommend reading this post as well if you are interested in my coaching practice and also this poem: T.T.T Feel free to comment/send me an email.  –

I hope you enjoy learning with me, and share your experiences with the small too…

What is the Question?
The question that is associated with this is concept is one I have been asking clients, people I meet and myself for a few years now:

“What is the small things I/you can do that will make the biggest difference?’”

This has evolved to its current form (Oct 2006) to:

“What is the smallest change I can make today…*?*”

*…Depending on context there may / not be an ending to the question eg “…that will contribute to my success’, ‘nourish my family’, ‘strengthen the team I work with’. The smallest change may simply be to ‘listen more’ ‘ask a question’…

A Shift To Small

“Give me a fulcrum (and lever) and I will lift the world” – Archimedes

I work with human change. Positive change.

What I have learned is that a small change somewhere in the system is at the core of any large (or small) systems change. It could be at the top, side, bottom, internal, external…it could be a person, an idea, a story. Do not underestimate this change. Or the size it needs to be.

The shift to seeking small marks a significant shift in my thinking of change and my role in supporting successful, positve and profitable change – in myself, with individuals, leaders, teams, organizations, communities…systems.

It also represents a shift in my thinking of how together we can create/generate the positive changes we would like to see in the world.

That said it is hardly surprising I am ok with small – after all, I am only 5′3.

The principle IS simple – yet there is off course the reality…yes, you can shift the whole world with a small change: but you still have to know what the spot is…and that is one of my interests in this work. The times when it has happened for individuals in my coaching practice has been when there is trust, sharing and the allowance of failure…

Quotes

“Even the beating of a butterflies wings has signficant and long ranging impact “- see the butterfly effect (go on, google it)

“Think big, do small” (think global, act local)

“Small is beautiful. Man is small. Therefore small is beautiful” - E. F. Schumacher

“We cannot do great things on Earth, only small things with great love.” Mother Therese

“If you wanted to divert a mighty river into a different course, and all you had was a single pebble, you could do it, as long as you put the pebble in the right place to send the first trickle of water that way instead of this” – Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass

“It’s the little things that count”, “it’s the little things that make the difference”

“It’s the little things. It’s the little things. And the joy they bring” lyrics by India Arie

Examples of small changes that have a big impact:

• The day your mother had you
• The drop that started a waterfall
• The train
• The telephone
• A piece of art
• A smile
• The idea that the world is flat
• The idea the world is round
• The idea that the world is flat
• Discovering a new way to think about something
• Internet
• VOIP/Skype
• Learning to walk
• Plastic
• Google – they changed the way we searched
• Cave Paintings – the first person who drew on a cave
• A child learning to read
• Small words – ‘yes’ ‘no’ ’why’
• I love you
• A great conversation
• Hearing a story
• Getting a dog
• Having a child
• Visiting a new city – and finding yourself living there [how many people came to NY that way?]
• A single question you have never considered, a single question that was never asked before
• Post-it notes
• Discovery of fire
• Discovery of the alphabet
• Rosa Parks sitting at the front of the bus
• Lighting a single candle in a dark room – and filling it with light (I know a great story with this!)
• A great cup of coffee (how on EARTH did this come on the list so late in the game?) (march 2007)
• A cup of tea (see above…both are great with company and tasty food too!)
• A great meal (see above above)
• Laughter: the sound of laughter, the feeling of laughter, heck, laughing in general!
• Plodging through the clarts (wading in the mud)

The challenge is, sometimes, small is so small, that infact, we forget that it was where it all started…how one little shift changed our world, and the world around us…

Do you have any additions?