Essential Conditions for Change

Some of this is redundant, but it is helpful:

1. There must be the capability for change, in the individual and group, for the new system. If there is not the potential or capacity for change, then change cannot take place. If we expose people to too great of complexity before they are able to handle it, we have not exhibit any level of human caring. For example, small children are not developmentally ready for complex thought and abstract reasoning, so to expect them to move to a higher level than they are capable of will do more harm than good. But as they grow, they gain new skills and abilities that will allow them to handle more complex problems. A leader must be able to evaluate his followers so that he knows when they are able to provide solutions that are able to move them to the next level and not try to force them to implement strategies that are beyond their capablility.

2. Solutions to the problems of living must be implemented before transformational change can take place. For example, if someone is starving, you cannot move them to change until you feed them. If someone is grieving over a loss, a leader must wait until the grieving process is complete before change can be implemented. Leaders must resolve all the previous problems before new ones can be addressed.

3. Dissonance is needed in order to give the individual or group a wake up call. People must be jostled out of their false sense of security before change can take place. For example, 911 was a wake up call, or a serious illness or a child arrested by the police can provide the dissonance needed. These wake people up to the fact that the present system is not working and transformation needs to take place.

4. In order for transformation to occur, the individual or group must fail so that it is clear that old solutions will not work. Until people come to the end of their rope, they will not look for radically new solutions. Often we become prisoners of our past success when our old solutions which worked so well no longer produce satisfactory results. It often takes repeated failure to teach us that we must look for new solutions. Leaders must be patient and wait for the process to run its course and be ready to lead the organization out of the old at the right time.

5. When we give up on old solutions we gain insight and begin to see the new solutions. We realize why the old stopped working and why the new will work. New models and systems emerge when we let go of the old and embrace the new.

6. We must then overcome barriers, often in the form of resistance from the old order. The new system must be instated even if the old system opposes it. As the new system takes root and it proves to be superior to the old, the old system will lose its grip and fade away.

7. Finally, you must consolidate and put all aspects of the system into practice. Resources and people must be mobilized in such a way as to focus their efforts like a laser beam. At this point a new system emerges and becomes the accepted way of doing things.