Fear of Flying

Virgin Blue have finally made it to Aotearoa/New Zealand. Their domestic service, that is, as they have had an international offering in Christchurch for some time. Pacific Blue, Virgin's incarnation here, is cheap. Well, cheaper than the incumbents anyway. I have flown Virgin Blue in Australia, so was used to their "We leave exactly one minute after scheduled departure time" policy. So I readied myself for a speedy departure last week from Wellington, after a day long Saturday meeting on behalf of NZKM.

Problem was, Pacific Blue had only been going just over a week. There were teething problems...

So I was stuck in Wellington Airport for an extra 45-50 minutes. At least that gave me a chance to enjoy another Sassy Red (why does that airport bar always run out of Kilkenny when I am around, or is it that I am one of only a handful of people who order it and they do not restock kegs that frequently???) with our esteemed chairman Julian Carver, who always has a good story or theory to share if you have the time.

To gee us up - the chief steward (is that the right position description - is it even worth giving ???) was cracking jokes. Well yeah, he probably does that most of the time [note to self - must ring Pacific Blue and give them some feedback]. When we landed in Auckland, he came on the intercome and announced quite soberly, "The time in Auckland is... well, it is the same as in Wellington, isn't it?... Smoking is not... well smoking is not considered to be good for you, and by the way, it is also not permitted in the terminal building..." And stuff like that.

But all this started at the other end, on the runway in Wellington.

When the safety demonstration started, he began with the usual announcements about passengers needing to pay attention and all planes being subtly different etc etc etc. You have all been there...

But when his little discourse started breaking into "And you need to buckle your seat belts like this.. across your sexy little hips..." Then, "Before leaving the plane make sure you put on your specially Louis Vuitton designed life jacket..." And, "You may use the toilets only once the seat belt sign has been turned off, but watch out for the security gaurds posted outside every toilet..."

It was late afternoon/early evening, warm, we were running really late, but all of a sudden he had our attention.

And once we got to the end of the runway, ready for take off, he gave us one last message, then yelled "Blast off!"

What has all this got to do with knowledge management?

We enjoyed his safety message - but we also tuned in.

But more importantly, I became aware of the take off like I hadn't in a very long time.

The miracle of flight. It is something we have taken for granted in this busy world. I am guesing those of us who are frequent flyers are mostly doing it for business. But we take it for granted. It is an amazing experience [for a demonstration, take a small child up as your companion on your next flight...]

As change agents, knowledge facililtators, management leaders, whatever we want to call ourselves, we need to appreciate that the workplace should not only be fun (if you don't enjoy what you are doing - stop doing it!) we should also strive to make it surprising. That is what interests me in km - the thrill of discovery - and people get excited too, when I explain what I am doing, or at least what I am striving to do. The shock of the new is something to be welcomed - not to be feared. The experience may well be the most important part of the change process that we are involved in.