A lot has been written on the subject of change management. The research has given us the techniques and the tools to transform organizations. However, what is missing is a compelling reason for the individuals to become part of this change. This brief article explores the topic from Care & Growth leadership model perspective and tries to understand the link between organizational change and transformation within an individual.
An interesting question that we ask during the course of our organizational excellence programs is, ‘Who should change first in the organizational hierarchy?’ The first response is always that it is the man at the top who should change first. This is because we have been conditioned to believe that change always comes from the top. So I need not do anything, it’s the big guy at the top who is bad therefore he should change first. However, in order to reflect on the issue and create a better understanding, we divide the delegates into groups with each group assigned a position in the hierarchy. It’s a kind of a debating contest and each group has to come up with arguments supporting that the position in the hierarchy which they are supporting is the most critical one and most profound change will come if this person changes/transforms. Despite the initial bias in favor of change from the top, people remarkably come up with strong arguments supporting that change can happen at any level. What becomes clear is that the change will only come when I stop accusing others and start doing things differently – change myself! Over a period of time this change will spread, like blue cheese bacteria, and the organization would change.
The challenge is how to solicit the willingness of an individual to change. What we have been doing so far is stressing on the ‘HOW’ part. However, what is more important is to create a compelling ‘WHY’(and it is not as simple as “for profit”, or “to get your bonus” or because “your job depends on it”). It is about recognizing that “who should change first?” has implications, far beyond organizational context, in our personal lives.
In order to explain further let me share with you an incident that happened few years ago. The geopolitical situation in Pakistan had started to deteriorate drastically and a friend of mine forwarded an email titled ‘Pakistan se zinda bhag’, meaning run alive from Pakistan (this was a parody of our national slogan Pakistan Zindabad meaning long live Pakistan). He encouraged me to look for opportunities outside Pakistan because there was every indication that the country is going down the drain. This was quite a distressing situation for me because I had been all along trying to convince friends and family members to come back to Pakistan. For the first time in my life I felt that I had been very stupid. However, on little reflection the issue became clearer. Let me explain how.
In any situation that we face in our lives, we have two choices, what we want to get and what we can give. Now if we see Pakistan from a point of view of a taker, it is really a land of misery, nothing works here. There is no law and order; education system has hit the rock bottom, medical facilities have gone down the drain, poverty is ever increasing, the monster of terrorism is getting bigger and bigger with no solution in sight and one can continue on and on. As a taker, I should run away as fast as I can and never look back. But, let’s see the same Pakistan from the point of view of a giver, one who wants to contribute; it’s a land of opportunity for the very same reason: nothing works! There is so much one can contribute, open a school, create awareness, run a hospital, train people, you name it and there is an opportunity to make it better.
Now what has changed? Pakistan is the same! It’s the intent of the person viewing Pakistan that has changed from being a taker to a giver. Change has come in the self not in the other. What we need to understand is that each one of us is the epic center of the world we live in. This is true for all 7 billion of us. This is the miracle of existence! The world I live in is the world that I perceive. Things are benign in nature just like Pakistan, it is we who make them malign for us. Change is about changing the self, it is a fundamental shift of intent from taking to giving, and it’s a choice. The moment the self changes, the entire world around him changes. Trying to change the world is futile, they are so many and I am so little. The odds are against me. However, I can always change myself because it sits in my hands: So folks:
‘Who should change first?’