The belief and power of change (1)

The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity” (Winston Churchill).

President Barack Obama was still a junior Senator from Illinois and barely three years in the United States Senate when he announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in February 2007. And by August 2008 he had become the first African American in history to be nominated on a major party ticket when he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election. The Obama campaign team had by that time mesmerised most Americans with messages of belief and change.

The theme of the entire Obama campaign for both the primaries and national elections was: “Change we can believe in”. That became the popular campaign slogan along with the “Yes We Can” chant. Amidst the challenging economic situation of the time, the message of change seemed to resonate with most of the voting public. On November 4, 2008 Barack Obama made further history when he won the presidential election. He became the first African American to be elected President of the United States. After eight years of President George Bush, it appeared that the voters wanted a change. Barack Obama promised and epitomised that change, and became the “change agent”.

What made the Barack Obama situation so special is that he had a firm personal belief that he was the change agent that America could rely upon to create a movement that would change America forever. The people bought into it and the rest is history. Managing the change and how successful he may have been in that regard is a different matter entirely, but as the agent of change, certainly the United States and indeed the rest of the world where America’s influence can be felt have not remained the same. That is the power of change through personal and communicated beliefs.

We all are also faced with challenges, which from time to time must compel us to take on the mantle of change agents, as we position ourselves as the arrow head in creating, facilitating and managing change. That is in fact one of the toughest challenges of leadership and continues to be the biggest dilemma of management.

It matters little at what levels the leadership and management activities are displayed, whether political, economic, corporate, social, cultural or religious. What is obvious is that personal conviction, commitment and consistency must drive the belief that has made the specific change(s) both desirable and compelling. That is what coaching change focuses on, in bringing about personal and corporate transformation.

The external and internal environmental factors that compel changes within the business and organisational spectrum in particular can sometimes be so severe that they determine the continued existence and performance of the business or organisation. It is at times like these that business and organisational leaders are required to lead from the front, being the change agents. It is their ability and capacity to inspire positive beliefs in their people and teams that will in turn create the power to appropriately respond and adapt to any type of changes.

Leading change in this regard is to ensure that the change actually becomes the foil for personal and corporate transformation. For instance, the fast pace of dramatic changes experienced in the global environment in recent times have made it necessary for organisations, especially their leaders and managers to begin to study and monitor changes more than ever before. This is essential in anticipating and responding to change in a more proactive manner. It also affords opportunities for stakeholders’ involvement in strategic planning and corporate positioning to enhance organisational vision.

When leaders offer themselves to any sort of coaching or decide to engage a professional coach, one of the essential goals and outcomes of the coaching process must therefore be proactive, effective and sustainable response to internal and external environmental factors. The key remains the level of belief that the leaders possess and demonstrate in embracing and effecting desirable change. The idea behind the belief must always be that every necessary change must end up being a positive and desirable change, even when it does not appear so in the beginning. You can read more about the transformational power of coaching at www.ceedcoaching.com.

Emmanuel Imevbere