The Will to Change – ElPropósito3 min de lectura

The steps that come before any goal

Any change involves several important steps before it starts. Change is always a challenge full of new ways of working, new habits, processes and tactics, and endless new ideas. The question is: what is the change for? It’s striking how many changes start with no why or what for, even though those are the very questions that should shape the change in the first place.

Change is the essence of strategy, and of any plan. In strategy work, time goes into checking whether the vision and mission still hold. Ideally, we always start from purpose, so the change has meaning and direction.

The most significant change happens when there’s meaning and there are values. These are deep, long-term changes, the kind that drive the greatest transformation between where we are and where we want to be. We often say "I was raised with values and principles" or "this company is guided by principles and values" (the same idea in different settings). But which values? Which principles? In an organization whose founders are still alive, it’s important for them to define its values, just as it’s important for a family to define its values and write them down for good.

Real change begins the day we recognize that the deepest change happens at the level of values. So the will to change is born somewhere more abstract and somewhat complex: in values, which ultimately shape the ethics and morals of an organization or of a family. Strategy comes later. When these matters are unclear, changes are chicken flights, as two people I love and deeply admire would say. When there’s the will to steer the ship by a purpose and with clear rules, that is, with values, we get the eagle’s flight.

The playing field is framed by a few components we can’t overlook, such as values, vision, purpose and strategy (in no particular order). When the organizers believe the field is defined only by objectives and goals, they end up playing on a field so open it has no boundaries. It’s the field of waste and, at the end of the day, of endless lost resources. Goals are a complement. The essence of the will to achieve real change lies in defining very clearly the ideal behaviors we need to make it happen.

That’s why, on a personal level, we talk about habits, which are simply routine behaviors that move us toward a given end. Before the habit came a will, and that will is fed by a vision and a plan. One step further back are our values, and therefore our purpose.

There are several steps to take before setting out to do anything. Have you run through your checklist before takeoff?

Warm regards and all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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