1

Thinking about How We

Think about Change

KEY MESSAGES
Understanding theories and methods for making change
is not enough.
Success in managing change depends just as much on
how you perceive and react to the world around you.
A good companion helps you see things in a new way ...
and build trust in yourself.
When we allow ourselves a moment to reflect on what has happened
in the world around us over the past few decades, we can see incredible changes. At the end of 2013, we said farewell to one of the most
influential leaders and change agents of the last century, Nelson
Mandela, who through his vision, personal strength, and principled
conviction played a major role in liberating South Africa from apartheid. Although imprisoned for twenty-seven years, he kept his faith
that society could be changed in a nonviolent and integrative way.
Nelson Mandelas life stands as a monument to the fact that deep
change is possible, even against seemingly impossible odds, if there
are good leaders who stand up at the right moment. Individuals can

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lead movements, and movements can change things fundamentally.

Fundamental change of this kind is often called transformation.
Similar moments of proof that transformative change is possible
include the dramatic fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the nonviolent
movement for Indias independence led by Mahatma Gandhi, the
civil rights movement for black Americans led by Martin Luther
King Jr., and the global movement for gender equity led by thousands of women and men across the world (a transformation that is
still under way).
Transformation is not always about changing whole societies. The nuclear accident at Fukushima, Japan, in 2011 triggered
Germanys Energiewende, the countrys swift transition away from
nuclear and fossil energy and toward renewable energy. The change
in Germany had actually been envisioned and planned years earlier;
the Fukushima accident proved to be a moment that made it
possible to enact those plans.
So even when the media is full of news about what might be
called negative change, we need not look very far to see that
positive, transformational change, intended or spontaneous, is
successfully happening in the world. Sometimes the reasons for that
success can be clearly connected to specific people and events, and
sometimes the reasons are not so easy to identify.
On the other hand, we also face another reality regarding change:
it doesnt always happen.
As Scott Keller and Carolyn Aiken point out in The Inconvenient
Truth About Change Management, In 1996, John Kotter published
Leading Change. Considered by many to be the seminal work in the
field of change management, Kotters research revealed that only 30
percent of change programs succeed. Since the books release, literally thousands of books and journal articles have been published on
the topic, and courses dedicated to managing change are now part
of many major MBA programs. Yet in 2008, a McKinsey survey of
3,199 executives around the world found, as Kotter did, that only
one transformation in three succeeds. Other studies over the past

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ten years reveal remarkably similar results. It seems that, despite

prolific output, the field of change management hasnt led to more
successful change programs.1
We seem to face two different realities. One is that dramatic
change is happening around us all the time, often led intentionally by people. The other is that planned organizational change is
unlikely to lead to the targeted result.
We assume that if youve chosen to read this book, you are
someone who wants to change something, or who has taken on the
responsibility of running a change process. If McKinseys observation
is rightand all the thoughts and theories about change management have not led to an increase in the success of planned change
processeswhat can our little book offer you?
We definitely cannot give you the answers and to-do lists that
will turn all your change efforts into success stories. The intention
of this book is not to provide easy answers; it is to provide a kind
of frame for a good conversation among peers or companions. We
are fully convinced that all the necessary answers are already there
within yourself, or are accessible to you from people and other information sources that are in easy reach. It is fully possible to achieve
the change goals that you want (or need) to achieve.
If you dont buy into this general assumption, then it would be
much wiser not to start the endeavor at all. Have the courage to say
no. The cost involved in every unsuccessful change process is not
only that it wastes time and resources but also that it strengthens
disbelief in the possibility of change among the people involved.
Starting from our basic assumption that you are the right person
at the right time to help change to occur, we believe that the biggest
risk to your success lies not in being underinformed about theories
and methods; it is in approaching the process with habitual ways of
thinking and perceiving, and not reflecting well or deeply enough
on your or your organizations belief systems about change.
What would we expect from a good companion, if we were to
relate to him or her that we have a challenging task in front of us?

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She or he might sit together with us, listen, and ask some deepening
questions that help us see hidden patternspatterns that we didnt
see before; patterns in the system that we want to change; patterns in
our way of perceiving reality, selecting information, phrasing arguments, and deciding what to do. We would also probably like our
companion to help us see and unleash the potential and talents that
we are not fully utilizing. From a conversation with a good companion, we would expect a real impact on how we think, feel, and act.
This is our wish for this little book. We wrote it to help you
build on what you already know about change; to give you some
new ways of seeing things, and naming what you see; to help you be
more sensitive and mindful to your own habits and patterns, as well
as to the habits and patterns that exist in the system you are trying
to impact. At the same time we want to help you focus on your
strengths, resources, and experiences and help youand the people
whom you, in turn, will impactto fully integrate your potential
into the work that you do to improve the world.
We cant promise you success. Changing people and systems is
always complex, and it includes a large degree of unpredictability.
But what we can promise you is an opportunity to deepen your
sense of inherent capacity, to see whats happening around you more
clearly, to envision the outcome you want more collaboratively, and
to respond to the dynamics along the way with greater intelligence
and sensitivity.
We believe this will help you get where you want to go.