Are you on or off the bus?

I love a good metaphor and one I hear a great deal when change and transformation are being discussed is, "Are you on the bus, or off the bus? You cannot be half on".

And it's a great metaphor, you truly can't be half on or half off. But take a closer look at the metaphor:

• Who is driving the bus?

• Who owns the bus?

• What is the bus's destination?

So next time you hear that phrase (unless you are the CEO or on the senior team) ask yourself:

Who are owners of the organization and how are they shaping my route?

Who are the leaders driving my organization - do I trust them? are they capable? what is the route they are planning to take? and how does that route suit my destination?

Then you can decide if you are "on" or "off". And the good thing about busses? They run pretty much all the time, to hundreds of destinations a day so if you don't like the one you're on, there'll be another one along in a few minutes. And if you want to discuss which bus to take?