When I scroll through Facebook, it’s unusual to come across anything that stops me in my tracks. But this afternoon, one post did.

It was from a neighbor whose daughter is on a mission to help the homeless in and around our community. Her goal is to collect as many new and gently used backpacks as she can. Then, she’ll fill them with a few snack items and a bottle of water as well as some personal products like deodorant, soap, lotions, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc.

She’s been doing this for the past five years and while that may not sound like a big deal, it’s impressive when you consider she’s only 10 years old. She’s become sort of a neighborhood hero. As all the neighbors drop off our backpacks to her doorstep, we watch in awe at this girl who is changing the world by changing her community.

Her efforts reminded me of the old saying about how to eat an elephant.
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time!

When a task seems insurmountable, start where you are. With small steps. Baby steps, even. That’s how real change starts, isn’t it? It starts small and then it grows and grows.

I was inspired by this girl’s ambition because it reminded me of the work our team does with organizations seeking to transform their culture. When clients approach us, they’re in one of two places: they either need to completely define or revitalize their culture, or they have a good organizational culture and now they want to get even better.

But change doesn’t happen overnight.

Regardless of where organizations begin, the only way to get to where they want to be is to take it step-by-step. Change doesn’t happen overnight. As our Senior Facilitator and Vice President Eric Kidwell likes to say, “[Culture change] happens as a result of small, incremental changes made over a long period of time.”

That’s the only way to eat an elephant.