The Change Manifesto

Many years ago, a colleague shared this quote

“First They Ignore You, Then They Laugh at You, Then They Fight You, Then You Win”

This truly is one of the best quotes on change management that I have ever come across (FYI – this quote is popularly misattributed to Mohandas Gandhi).

Simply because, brevity is the soul of the wit. In just 16 words, with a bit of a dramatization, this quote captures the major states of change so very precisely. And this change need not only refer to organizational change, it could be in any other areas be it in society, personal preferences, new trends or even pandemics!

   Now if you will allow me, let me dissect this a bit and explain this for you. And for this, I would like you to imagine a hypothetical organizational change program, may be adoption of a business process or a new selling approach, a new policy or in many cases of late, a new technology platform and imagine yourself to be the champion or the protagonist of the change.

Step 1: First They Ignore You:

Nearly every business process change program that you have been part of needs this very fundamental first step of creating, the need for a change. And invariably, the stakeholders who need to participate in this change process do not have any idea that this change is needed. And let us say, you come out and speak about this need, in many cases you don’t actually get the audience to even complete your pitch. Legions of successful companies routinely have pressing on-going managerial issues that completely occupy leadership mindspace that the need for the change is often ignored.

Step 2: Then They Laugh at You:

Logically, as the champion of change, you don’t like to be ignored. And this is when you step in and try to bring this into the management agenda. And, that is when someone in the management team (usually someone influential) will make a dismissive remark, sometimes condescending but most of the times witty. Up until this point, you have still not articulated the need for the change successfully and you will need to make sure that the case or climate for change is very clearly understood by the stakeholders. And I hope to share my experiences about approaches that work in future articles!

Step 3: Then They Fight You:

With all your might, you have finally brought the change agenda to the center of the table. You have made sure that you demonstrate the relevance of the change and most importantly you have also made sure to highlight the consequences of not implementing the change. It is now amply clear where the impact of the change will be felt and which stakeholders will have to adapt the most. And then magically you see some signs of revolt. Believe me, many a times, you will see the protests coming from the most unexpected quarters. But most importantly, be very very pleased that you have got to this stage because the organization is now realizing the importance of your change proposal and now is the time for you to sustain your change energy towards implementation.

Step 4: Then You Win:

Well easier said than done, but now you are at the implementation stage. While the critics of the change may now understand its relevance, they may still not want to see the change happen and may be not see you succeed. But then, by and large, you have succeeded and you have by now rallied the organization to make the change a relevant topic, you possibly have a few sponsors and there is a mindset to invest time and resources to make sure that the change is implemented. And that is the roadmap to victory.

“They”, as villainously referred in the quote are the naysayers or the resistors. And let us remember that we all have at some point in time resisted some or the other form of change. Hence, if you ever want to champion a change, try and anticipate how “They” might respond.

Well, I have probably oversimplified the change story. And there are many many ingredients to make sure a change gets implemented and more importantly for the change process to sustain. Business Leaders, Managers, PMOs and Consultants across industries put in their lifetimes helping organizations prepare and implement change. And more importantly work on implementing a culture of adapting to ever changing business needs and the shrinking of business cycles.

In the last several years, I have been an active participant and driver of corporate change, and looking through the rear-view mirror, I (very humbly) think, that I’m finally developing some perspectives on organizational change. Honestly, I learned more through hindsight than during the change process itself. Hence, I hope that by chronicling my reflections and putting those thoughts to words and then receiving some feedback, I can improve a lot more in this journey. And possibly, in this process, some useful knowledge also gets distributed along.

So here it is, the change board has its first entry!