The Office Dig

The start of an office relocation project is like being on an archeological dig.

My experience on a dig in Tel Gerisha in Isreal was similar. We awoke every morning at 5:30am to coffee, rye bread, a Nutella spread and a day promising to be very, very hot. We pick axed, shoveled and moved the filtered dirt in a wheel barrow over the side of the cliff. When we had dug down about foot from the day before, the archeologist would stop by and write a creative story about what may have happened in this specific spot. Then yet another archeologist would stop by to draw exactly what was now revealed, as a result of our digging.

Researching how a company functions is the same. We start early and get to know the people involved, we share coffee and gather information. We throw out was is irrelevant. We dig a little more. We ask questions about the difference between the organizational chart story and the real story.

We ask to hear the story about how the paper and/or information really flows through the company. We ask, "Who are the real leaders." "Who needs to approve the drawing?", even through they are without the titles? We write our own organizational chart. We reveal a different story.

Merging the “what is” story with the “ideal picture” story, we are able to help a company function more effectively and more profitably.

Lesson two: Stories can be a bit creative.