The connection between a pile of rocks and the ripple effect
Listen via audio below, or scroll down to continue reading the blog
by Kim Deans
There is a pile of granite rocks by our front gate. Until Angus decides it is time to build the stone wall he is planning at our front gate these rocks will remain as they are, an unorganised pile of granite rocks. When Angus decides to put his dry-stone wall building skills into action the pile of rocks will transform into a work of art that will greet us every time we drive in the gate.
The pile of rocks at our gate came to mind after an analogy of gathering rocks landed in my mind this morning as I contemplated the ripple effect. I saw how information gathering is like gathering rocks, nothing can ripple out from these rocks of information and knowledge we collect until we use the rocks and put them into action. We can pass our rocks on to others by sharing information and knowledge but that alone is not enough for a ripple effect to happen. It is only when the rock is dropped into the water that it can create a ripple effect. Information and knowledge alone change nothing; it is only when we put knowledge into action that we can change anything.
I remember a university lecture towards the end of my four-year Bachelor of Rural Science degree at UNE in the early 1990’s as though it were yesterday. Our lecturer told us that after four years of university we most likely thought we knew a lot, but we still knew nothing! The impact of these words has stayed with me all this time, the realisation that after all I had learned completing a challenging four-year degree there was STILL so much to learn.
It didn’t take long for me to realise this advice was very true, and these words of wisdom have continued to ripple out throughout my career. The more I seem to know about anything the less I realise I actually know! This awareness helps me to stay curious and open to learning from everyone I work with and from my own experiences as well. We so often seem to think the knowledge, training course or qualification itself is the goal, when none of these make any difference if we don’t use and apply what we learn. My qualifications and ongoing professional education have only become useful as they have continued to be amplified through my own ongoing experiential learning.
Even when we take action and cast the rock of knowledge into the water there is no guarantee that the ripple effect will create the impact we desire. Yet doing nothing is a guaranteed way to have no impact. What matters is that we take the action, move the tools (or rocks) and stay curious by observing and learning from what happens next, over the long term. This helps us to realise if the ripples of change aren’t taking us in the direction we desire so we can adapt and course correct quickly. We can’t be too attached to seeing immediate results, although sometimes they do happen.
I end all my workshops with the question, “what is an action you can implement from what you have learned today?” This helps participants to take the rocks of information they have collected and leave with a plan to put them into the water so the ripple effect can start to happen.
I love when I get to see this ripple effect in action.
A workshop participant who sat down with his family to work on their goals when developing his whole farm plan design and then discovered that his 10-year-old son had written his personal goals on a piece of paper and stuck them to the ceiling above his bed where he could read them every night before he went to sleep.
A client who shared her passion for soil health with a friend who was able to connect her with people in her community who could help bring her dream for getting me to deliver a soil health workshop in her local community to life.
The coaching client who showed up and did the work, even when life threw some curve balls, and then shared with me that even though I had not told her what to do, the coaching process made it very clear what she needed to do next.
The workshop participants who accessed a whole new level of understanding just through digging some holes with a shovel to explore soil health.
The cash flow budgeting process that helps farming businesses in a cash flow crisis to turn things around to become a profitable business.
None of these changes happen through me telling someone to change or by giving them more information, these changes happen because these wonderful people took the action and started a ripple effect.
"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples." – Mother Teresa