Transformative change's "Ah-ha!" moment

By William Seidman In setting a goal of transformative organizational change, management typically goes out and presents sweeping images of the future, which people tend to regard as meaningful but distant. We continue to work toward these changes until, finally, there’s a moment when it isn’t so distant: the transformation is  palpable or, even, visible. Then there’s that moment when each person knows the change is real — and it really hits them. This has happened to me twice in the last few weeks. A service person was going along fine until she hit an “avoid” section of her old program that told her that a key aspect of her program was being obsoleted. She just froze. She couldn’t believe it. The other was a senior manager who was reviewing the summary portion of our persuasive technology. When he got to the portion that would be summarized to him, he realized that this was for real. He was going to be holding others accountable for a significant change, but he was going to be accountable, too. For both of them, there was a moment of terror. Ultimately, this was good because the terror happened in safe environment and could be worked out. But the moment of the realization was very clear and specific and not always completely comfortable. It’s an important part of the process and something we prepare for and support.]]>