John Kotter’s revelations in his Harvard Business Review article “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail“—establish a sense of urgency, create a guiding coalition, empower people to act, and so on—are useful, and they have proven not enough. First, not all change starts with a sense of urgency. Consider climate change. Climate change is now widely recognized as the major environmental problem facing the globe, however not that long ago climate change was barely on the mainstream radar screen. Not that long ago, there was no perceived sense of urgency to change.
Another example is Tibet. Ever since I was a little girl, I recall seeing “Free Tibet’ bumper stickers (I still see them today). Over the weekend, the fisherman and I watched a documentary titled, “Women of Tibet: A Quiet Revolution.” The film is an account of an estimated 15, 0000 unarmed Tibetan women that come together in Lhasa, on March 12, 1959, to oppose the violent occupation of their country by the Chinese. Heavy shelling forced the women to surrender. This event is now known as the Tibetan Women’s Uprising. One of the surviving exiled elders shares stories of her 28 year imprisonment. She, along with many other women who took to the streets to oppose the Chinese occupation, were taken from their families, subjected to grave acts of torture, and imprisoned for years. Stories like this stop me in my tracks. I am amazed at how some people find a way to go on after being targets of horrific inhumanity.
Fueled by intense urgency, the women of Tibet took to the streets and stood up to the Chinese occupation—so much so, they risked their lives. From the perspective of the Chinese government, there was no sense of urgency to free Tibet. China was taking back what they perceived as rightfully theirs. These opposing views remain today, 51 years later.
These two examples are precisely why I’m fascinated with change in business and in life. Leading change, realizing change, is far more complex than the simple eight steps outlined in Kotter’s book or any of the change management programs I have seen. Realizing successful change when some stakeholders don’t see a need for change is well… really hard. Heck, realizing personal change is hard. Ask all the folks that made New Year’s resolutions and three days in, their focus, their sense of urgency is waning. Just because it’s hard, however, doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing or can’t be done.
With that sense of hope, I”m going to dedicate my next few posts in honor of the Tibetan women that staged an uprising in 1959. I’m going to write about the The Noble Eightfold Path and how it relates to realizing change in business and in life. In Buddhism, the eight practices that lead to well being are known as The Noble Eightfold Path. Don’t freak out—I’m not going to go all religious on you. I’m simply going to share how these age-old practices are applicable to leading change in business and in life. I hope you stay with me during this journey.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Just when I think you/your teaching cannot possibly get any cooler, you do! Grounding Change Management practice in values-based systems like The Noble Eightfold Path makes eminent sense, particularly for architecting and engineering sustainable change. Can't wait to see the next blog post! Thank you! – Lucie
Just when I think you/your teaching cannot possibly get any cooler, you do! Grounding Change Management practice in values-based systems like The Noble Eightfold Path makes eminent sense, particularly for architecting and engineering sustainable change. Can't wait to see the next blog post! Thank you! – Lucie
Lucie,
You are filled with kindness and insight. Thank you!
Melissa
The events of March, 1959, collectively dubbed the "Tibetan National Uprising," were quite remarkable. But they were not quite spontaneous. In fact, they were change brought about by leadership among Tibetans and the Central Intelligence Agency. The ground for the National Uprising had been prepared as early as 1956, when the CIA began recruiting and training Tibetans to fight the Chinese occupation. This was done under the authority of President Eisenhower, who signed National Security Directive 5412/2 authorizing this and other guerrllla wars. The history is told in detail in our book, "Freeing Tibet: 50 Years of Struggle., Resilience, and Hope," and outlined on our website http://www.FreeingTibet.com. The book opens with a revolt lead by a Tibetan woman! It ends with a call for enlightened people to participate in a campaign of economic pressure and consumer boycotts against China. Are there are any leaders out there? Any change agents will to act? Please join us.
John,
Thank you for your insightful comments and the pointers to your web site http://www.freeingtibet.com
and your book, "Freeing Tibet: 50 Years of Struggle, Resilience, and Hope." One question I think is worth exploring is "How might we better organize to Free Tibet?" There are so many different organizations with a focus on freeing Tibet. As a result, the impact, the message, the focus is diluted. I would love to see a meeting with the Dalai Lama, Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO.com (a design thinking company that focuses on social issues as well), an expert in the thinking and views of the Chinese government, and a few other key stakeholders. I would love to see a retrospective about what's working and what's not working? Are the goals the same? Who can help really make a difference? We need some innovation around the campaign to free Tibet. Do you have any connections to make a meeting like that happen?
Again, thanks for your comments!
Namaste ~
Melissa
Your suggestions are intriguing. We do have some contacts, particularly with Lodi Gyari of the International Campaign for Tibet, which might be able to serve as a catalyst for this kind of meeting. In late 2008, the Dalai Lama convened a special meeting of Tibetan exile community leaders from around the world in Dharamsala to debate the approach to India. They split into working groups to assess what works and what doesn't and then delivered a communique on their results. A core problem is that so long as the Dalai Lama and exile community advocate talks with China, it is hard for them to endorse an approach that might use economic pressure on China's regime. Anything that could be construed as hurting the Chinese government could also be counterproductive to their aim of engaging China's leadership in a meaningful dialogue about the future. The kind of conference you suggest would have to be organized by friends of Tibet outside of the exile community, with the exile organizations perhaps invited to send observers. This is definitely an idea worth pursuing, and I'm grateful to you for the suggestion.
Thanks, Melissa.
Don't forget "sincere", Melissa! ; ) Seriously, thank you, and thank you for offering bold initiatives like the above meeting – Your comment about the need to unify factions and focus messaging and efforts is so accurate; perhaps a Design/Systems approach will also reveal levels of complexity/issues that are affecting the scenario but generally unseen.
So often in these complex conflicts, it seems like there's a poisonous gas invisibly snuffing out the best of intentions and sincere negotiations because surface-level issues only tell parts of the story. While I'm still reading Tim's book, I have a sense that Design, like the Appreciative Inquiry and Systems Thinking methodologies, would reveal the full complement of issues in a non-abrasive way for a total solution to be devised and implemented. Your plan sounds like a great first step towards opening up this space, even just at the discussion level. May it be so!
Namaste. – Lucie
May it be so! Thanks Lucie. You are bright light in my days. I hope we get to meet in person some day!
Namaste
~Melissa
DItto on both counts, Melissa! Many thanks, indeed.
Nice follow-on post, BTW, but I'll leave room for others to come forward at this time. See you on the stars for now!
Awesome John! Keep in the loop!
~Melissa
Awesome John! Keep me in the loop.
Melissa
Hi Melissa, many thanks for this post and generally for your blog, which I've recently come across. You can consider that you have a new reader from France, where I am based! I'd like to bring a slightly different perspective on Kotter and the sense of urgency. I couldn't agree with you more when you say that change is really hard when stakeholders don't see the need for it; and I think this is precisely why establishing a sense of urgency is so important! The climate change issue has indeed gone on top of the world political agenda because facts and messages have been relayed by people, like Al Gore, that have helped establishing the sense of urgency: the need to act now before it's too late. As you say not all changes start with a sense of urgency but I think it definately helps the process. Looking forward to more conversations!
Thanks for the comments and welcome! Establishing a sense of urgency is absolutely a good strategy and important when those you're trying to influence perceive a sense of urgency. And, there are plenty of examples where creating a sense of urgency either doesn't work and takes a painfully long time. E.g. Climate change. Through the unwavering passion and dedication of people like Al Gore and others, climate change is NOW seen as urgent. Not all that long ago, however, it was not. So the question is – how do you create a sense of urgency when there isn't one? Is it just a matter of time and perserverance? There are other ways to lead change and influence people other than a sense of urgency. For example, create a sense of purpose – something people are emotionally and spiritually drawn to. Not every case for change has a sense of urgency. Kotter's model, and most change management programs today, skim the surface of change management. I'm looking to explore at a deeper level. Thanks again for the insightful comments!
Melissa