My post today is dedicated to all the people that ever worked for me and did not (or at least not at the right time) proper recognition for all the contribution they gave and help to change management which would be much more difficult without them. In most cases they had great experience, integrity and dedication to their profession as well as the organization. They mostly worked in silence and spoke seldom but when they it resonated with insight and wisdom. In some cases it was young talents with high integrity who were to proud or inexperienced to “elbow” their way to opportunities and despised others who were just getting places by just looking up like “sharp pencils”. Joint for both groups is that in mature organizations riddled with politics after all bad experiences they gave up on “charging the windmills”, were skeptical of changes making real difference and took pleasure in whispered “I told you so!” statements.
Some of the biggest achievements in my career (especially regarding change management) came when I managed to convince them to “Re-sharpen” and believe that change can be real.
Tricky part is that such people, being smart and “seen it all” have, in order to believe what you are
telling them, a very rigorous demands to “approve you”…
Usually this includes “walking the talk”, putting principles in front of politics/short term self-promotion and generally having integrity way above organizational norm. In most cases it also takes some time (the more/tougher the challenges the shorter the time). But once you get these guys on board of whatever you want to do…. others will follow…and your change management will flourish. It is because in most cases these guys are unsung heroes which all other people do look up to and trust…
Do you know who they are in your team?
Make the windmills guess again…. and as Don Quixote would say
Vaya con Dios!
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