Chapter 5
Create a Change Army

Entire nations have been known to be moved by a well-trained army. And if an army can move a nation, an army will likewise be able to move your team, your division, group, or company.

You need a change army.

But getting an army is seldom easy. Armies demand hard work, dedication, self-sacrifice, and commitment to the welfare of others. They demand a greater level of dedication than does a team.

That’s a tough sale, but it has been known to happen.

And for those who join the change army, the psychic rewards are unbelievable. The level of self-esteem one gains by having been a part of an army that has high standards, high demands, and high rewards is exceptional.

If the change that you and your organization seek is a great one, then you will need great women and men to step up to the challenge. If the challenge is mediocre, then a mediocre team will do. Increasingly, however, organizations are demanding higher and greater levels of change (“step change,” “level change” and “system redesign” are not unfamiliar terms these days).

If you’ll need a well-equipped army to bring about the change you desire, start now.

If building an army is important to your overall success, you must first understand the depth and the complexity of the challenge that is before you. How big? How wide? How long? How much? You must understand the weightiness of the challenge you’re selling if you are going to be able to help understand the dimensions of the challenge.

If the challenge is not a great one, perhaps you don’t need an army. If it is more “business as usual,” then continue doing what you’ve been doing and you’ll likely be in an adequate space.

But for many “business as usual” falls far short of what is needed for the change that is before you. You may have a “white sheet” challenge, where you’re starting from scratch. That’s not easy, but it can and has been done.

But you need a special team to do that.

For some, metaphors are for poets, i.e., “Thou art lovely as a summer day.” Yet, even people from East Texas use metaphors: “She was so skinny she could hula hoop with a Cheerio.” East Texans are not to be outdone.

Metaphors create a colorful picture between two entities and thereby enable a greater understanding of the one that may be least known. Metaphors are used in a variety of creative endeavors, and they can be used to manage change.

Create metaphors of what is. To what could you compare the current state of the organization? In working with one group, a group member described the organization as “a vacant lot, where the building had long since been torn down and the ground paved over. Only the birds come to visit the former facility—accompanied by a homeless woman, who, from her tattered clothes, feeds them bread crumbs.”

Just as metaphors can create powerful pictures of the current state, they can also be useful in creating pictures of the desired future state. Think of some powerful change agents and the metaphors they used:

Future-oriented metaphors have been known to engage individuals on the sidelines—often more quickly than the most eloquent of lengthy speeches. And they create powerful snapshots of what could be.

Put your brain to work and identify the types of metaphors that speak to the future you would want to see this change army create.

Another powerful device used by skillful change agents is the use of comparisons. The use of comparisons not only presents a picture of the magnitude of change needed, but these comparisons often interject a level of humor in the conversation:

“In the past we were a Pinto; now I want us to be a Maserati.”

“We need to go from Alpo to highpo.”

Challenge your team through the use of language that provides a sense of the shift that is necessary from the present (or past) state to the future.

Visual images, even crudely drawn, are often useful in capturing the essence of change. Unfortunately for many leaders, performance orientation kicks in and individuals intimidate themselves with the idea of having to draw, rather than understanding that the purpose of the drawing is to capture their thoughts and feelings—not to create a jury-ready work.

As the old saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” You can save yourself quite a few words while at the same time deepening the meaning of the change in the minds of those in your organizations through pictures.

Every army has a theme song. What’s yours? The goal of this action is not to get sappy or maudlin, but to marshal energies whenever the song is played. Consider the impact of “The Marine’s Hymn,” “Amazing Grace,” “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” and other songs that have been used to galvanize teams of individuals into armies.

The song can be useful in elevating mood, generating energy, and pulling disconnected individuals together. Pick your theme song—and play it often.

Athletic teams know the value of a good cheer. A good cheer will wake up the sleeping fan, challenge the team on the field or court, and strike terror in the heart of the opponent. Your army needs a good cheer.

Ideally, the cheer should be something interesting, catchy, and something to which the team can relate—otherwise it will simply prompt confusion.

Find a cheer that will get your team going— and use it.

Those who have spent time in military service understand the value of meal time. During this time, friendships are built, individuals are able to “chill out,” and they may engage in some planning for the future. This is also a time for the group to have fun, poke fun at each other, at the leader, the enemy, or the situation, and have a good time.

Armies eat together. The food may not be of five-star quality, but that is not the requirement. The requirement is for the team to be in one place, sharing a meal together, and connecting in that informal space.

It is not uncommon for young Boy Scouts to tell ghost stories. These stories serve multiple purposes: they create mystery for those who are out in the wild; they challenge the scouts’ creativity in coming up with stories that scare their peers; and they create a sense of “we’re-all-in-this-together” for those in the woods fighting against nature.

Generating and telling stories about the group’s work—what worked exceptionally well and what bombed—provides an informal way for the group to learn about its task and about those who are performing the task with them.

Stories have also long identified with the creation of “tribal memory,” where those in a community have a common understanding of the past, of who they are, and of the attributes that will carry them into the future.

A significant difference between high-performing change teams and those of average performance can often be seen in the degree to which the team members live “team.”

These individuals are committed to their teammates—both within the context of the activity they are working on and outside of the boundaries of that activity. They problem solve in other areas of their professional lives; they might even spend social time with each other apart from the task that brings them together.

When you see this happening, you’ll know that your team has slipped into another gear—and the performance is likely to become even stronger.

This may sound like peculiar advice, but don’t turn the page just yet.

If you grew up with siblings, you’ll understand the example that follows. My brother and I were not particularly fond of each other. We disagreed, argued, hollered at each other and even came to blows more than once (when we were younger and less mature, of course). Yet if either of us was threatened, the other was there—no questions asked. We were blood and we stuck together.

Those whom you lead may not be blood, but they do have a common organizational or task bond that holds them together. They will likely discover that the bond becomes stronger when they realize they are fighting against an enemy that must be named, understood, and overcome. The enemy may be something as intangible as “waste,” but if the enemy can be identified strategies can be developed to overcome the challenges of the enemy.

High-performing organizations or “armies,” as they have been described here, need a cause. The “cause” is something that brings them together, and has them set aside differences that might, under other circumstances, destroy them.

After 9-11, America was reeling. Many were angry and confused, and all were looking to the leaders of America to help decipher this tragic situation. Out of the confusion of those historic events, one occurrence stands out: the sight of politicians from both sides of political arguments standing together singing “God Bless America.”

Whether you thought the singing was wonderful, appropriate, or even wise, it is difficult to argue with the sentiment: times of great challenge call for a level of unity and commitment to our common betterment that eliminates (at least temporarily) personal agendas.

This action, at first glance, may sound axiomatic, but high performing teams or armies develop a shared rhythm. That shared rhythm creates a pace, a shared stride, and a way of working that energizes the group.

Notice how a well-trained army marches together, how a skillful quarterback can find an equally-skillful receiver, or how a well trained accompanist can work with a skillful soloist.

As strange as it may sound, part of the success of these collaborations lies in the ability of the parties to create a common rhythm, to breathe, and to operate from that place of commonality.

There is a significant difference between winning and committing to win; you could win by an opponent simply dropping out of the race.

There are other times, however, when the win is a result of no-nonsense, no-excuse commitment to doing whatever it takes to get in the “W” column.

Does your team have a commitment to win? Are you committed to navigating the change you experience with excellence—or have you merely committed to stumbling over the finish line?

Parting thoughts…

Over-seriousness is a warning sign for mediocrity and bureaucratic thinking. People who are seri ously committed to mastery and high performance are secure enough to lighten up.

- Michael Gelb

Individual commitment to a group effort—that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

- Vince Lombardi