I made a podcast for Tony O'Neill
When I started my podcast I had an envisioned audience of one. I don't think he ever listened to my podcast, but what I learnt from making a podcast turned out to be even more valuable.
Dear Tony
You probably don’t remember me, but back in 2017 I started a podcast for an audience of one. You were that audience. You were in requisite-organisation-speak my MOR (manager-one-removed) and thus the person who would most likely be responsible for any promotion in my future.
Most of my career had been in the technical space, starting as an exploration geophysicist and then transitioning to business-process improvement. I had done many geophysical surveys (exploration and in-mine), gone underground more times than I care to remember in deep-level gold- and platinum mines, done mine operational reviews…all the boots-on-ground things women are advised to do to gain credibility in a very male-dominated industry. I had been the technical assistant to the previous technical directors, built countless PowerPoint presentations for my bosses, and was a converted disciple for the new CEO’s (your boss’s) operating model.
In 2016 I had done a Prosci change management course, and I thought, wow! …if only we could use the stuff I had just learnt in the course for the deployment of the new operating model. Up until then that deployment had been very technical and didn’t really consider the people side of things.
And then in 2017, you approved a request for me to attend a change management conference (hosted by the ACMP, Association of Change Management professionals) in New Orleans. Here is where I found a whole conference venue full of like-minded people, ALL of them concerned with the people side of change. It blew my mind, and I learnt so much about taking people along a change journey and listening to people when deploying a big change project…that I wanted to immediately use all of this knowledge to improve our company-wide operating model deployment.
I also thought this might be a way for me to carve out a niche within the company, become a technical change manager. I thought I’d be perfect for the job, since I knew all the technical stuff required for the operating model deployment AND now, I knew how to do the people stuff too. I searched all the company databases looking for an official change management policy or document that I could use or modify, but as far as I could see there was only a draft version of something made by HR. So, I took it upon myself to integrate all the things I had learnt from the Prosci course and started preaching change management to all the general managers at the mines and operations we were working to roll out the operating model.
To be honest my hope was to eventually be seen and promoted and a whole new change discipline to be created for which I would be the Head of Department (self-aggrandisation, much?). But, as my partner likes to tell me, just because there’s a gap in the market, doesn’t mean there’s a market in the gap. There seemed to be no appetite for a change management department.
So, next tactic…
I thought, how could I get noticed as somebody who knew something about change? How could I establish myself as a thought leader in change management?
My partner was just starting his new venture, a podcast studio, so I though maybe I could have conversations with people who were already thought leaders in change management. Maybe this would get me noticed by my MOR. I could publish my podcasts and put links to them on LinkedIn and maybe you’d see them there and it would play a small role in showing that I was not only excited about change management in the workplace, that in fact I was so interested by it that I would even spend my “free” time talking to people about the wonders of doing change right.
I saw this as a double-win…either I’d get noticed by the higher-ups or I could potentially establish my self as a change thought leader and get snapped up by someone else or start my own consultancy. Here you can see an example of my eternal optimism.
I called my podcast On Change, because it was initially going to be about change management, and it was also a bit of a homage to one of my favourite podcasts On Being.
So, my first podcast was with my Prosci course instructor, and then I did an episode with an expert in logotherapy, and then I did an episode with one of the instructors of a half-day course I attended at the New Orleans change management conference. I carried on in this vein making podcasts on change management intersecting with business improvement, safety culture, mindfulness, storytelling and reprogramming your brain.
At that point I found anyone I asked for an interview said yes…podcasting was still very much a novelty. I asked people that had taught me, mentors and interesting people who I worked with. And with each conversation I learnt more and I believe I did become a thought leader in change management. I did eventually get promoted in 2019, because my manager at the time took a chance on me, and I did survive the 10-minute MOR interview where you asked me questions mostly about the safety of our Johannesburg head office.
Tony, I don’t know if you ever listened to my podcast, but even if you didn’t, it was the start of a wonderful new pathway for me. Through my podcasts I have been able to talk to wise and inspirational people who have each changed me in a small way. It gave me creative outlet away from work where I could discuss whatever I wanted, be it serious, fun or silly, but all of it was transformational for me.
So, thanks for providing the impetus (even if you didn’t know) for starting my podcast, and I herewith extend an open invitation for you to be on my podcast.
Yours sincerely
Some pictures of my earliest podcasts, some in a very make-shift podcast studio:
On Change was nominated by the South African Podcasters Guild as one of the Top-5 Business podcasts in South Africa in 2024. We won bronze! (So, technically top-3 then)
On Change is recorded, edited and published by Solid Gold Podcasts & Audiobooks.