In a recent post, I mentioned a company that uses Shakespeare plays for management training in business settings. The name of the company is
Movers and Shakespeares, and they've done very well consulting large organizations such as Pfizer, the U.S. military, JP Morgan Chase, The Boeing Company, and other big-name corporations. Browsing through their site, I was able to see that they use "The Taming of the Shrew" (which I am reading this week) for their training on Change Management. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the private content of their training--but maybe it's not so unfortunate after all. I actually have a decent amount of exposure to Change Management because I work for a company,
Change Anything, that helps organizations and individuals overcome tough problems and change for good.
Since I don't have access to the
Movers and Shakespeares training, I'm going to create
my own training, or at least identify a few important change concepts that I've learned from the play. And rather than focusing on a business setting, I'm going to list a few ways concepts from the play that will help us sustain
personal change. To be fair, I'm borrowing some ideas from Change Anything; the application of these concepts to "Taming of the Shrew" is my original thinking, but the concepts themselves come from Change Anything.
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| Social influence |
1. Social Influence. The focal point of the play is Kate, the shrew that gets tamed. But what is it that tames her? How does she change? Not only that, but how does she change so drastically that by the end she is the most mild-mannered wife? First, a change in social pressure. Early on in the play, she has a vicious temper, especially around her father, her sister, and her sister's suitors. She's developed a habit of behaving badly, and the reasons for this could vary. Maybe her father doesn't treat her well, maybe she's jealous of her sister, maybe she's angry with the suitors for ignoring her. Regardless, these people are enabling her bad habit and she likes the consistent reaction of shock that she receives from her peers. Then along comes Petruchio. Petruchio breaks the mold because he actually acts as a friend, rather than an accomplice. He takes her away, the bad social influences are gone, and she's left to Petruchio and his servant who have her best interest in mind.
So the first lesson is that changing a habit takes avoiding or asking help from people who enable that bade habit.
2. Environment. Kate's transformation doesn't happen immediately, it happens over time--after Kate has been removed from the circumstances that encouraged the bad behavior. Being in Petruchio's home, Kate is uncomfortable and unsure. Screaming and wailing is no use, because she doesn't get any additional attention that way. Comforts that she is used to, like good food, are not available to Kate at Petruchio's house unless she behaves properly, so this is another aspect of the environment that offers incentive for her to change.
The second lesson on change is that in order to be successful, sometimes we need to change our environment.
3. Personal desire. At the beginning of the play, Kate has no desire for personal change. She's content to ruin other people's lives, because that behavior has worked for her in the past. Even after she meet Petruchio, she's determined to not change--until she realizes that Petruchio really loves her. There seems to be a magical switch that Kate switches, when she decides that she
wants to change, for Petruchio's sake. Not because he's compelling her to change, but because she has reciprocal feelings for him.
The third lesson on change is that a person has to have the desire to change or they never will. Even when we feel that we
want to change, the level of commitment changes, so one strategy might be to constantly remind ourselves of the reasons for change.
These are just a few ideas that I think we can learn about change from "Taming of the Shrew." Add your comments below to offer any additional insights you've had.
