“An idea is the most resilient parasite. Once an idea is taken hold in the brain – it’s virtually impossible to eradicate it. An Idea that is fully formed, fully understood. THAT STICKS. Right in there somewhere”
Dom Cobb, from Chris Nolan’s dream vs reality warp thriller “Inception”
Have you ever wondered – What will happen to human beings if can’t create new memories anymore.? What will happen if we can’t trump off the old memories & move forward to yielding the newer stuff.?
How come innovative techniques & skills can be tamed, if you can’t discard the rigorously practiced one’s.? New rules, regulations & governance can be taught to institutes & universities, if they are not ready to dump off the old manifesto.? How come you’ll even be able to take a cab and make your way to the next stop if the cab-driver himself demands you to fill in the directions in the root-map/google map/ the G-MAP or whatever you want to call it, in an I-pad or something some 20 years down the line.?(How.?)
We’re living in a sort of society where “Change” is the Only “Permanent” thing at the moment and nothing else except acclimatizing with “Change” becomes all the-more difficult for corporate’s now; especially when the left-hemisphere in the cerebrum gets cramped with all sorts of management theories, concepts & principles scripted-in some 1000 years back by the pre-historic philosopher’s which just simply caveat’s you every single time before you try & come up with something new & innovative for the future.
The most fascinating and perhaps the most difficult portion in all of management which is hard to practice & implement in real are the write-ups tagged under “Resistance to Change” technically known to the corporate’s as “Change Management”.
One has to anticipate changes and make a blueprint of certain do’s and don’ts with respect to future changes & perhaps store it in the asylum as well so that if & when it arrives eventually in the near future, the pre-planned manifesto can be implemented with utmost care and diligence. The theory articulates “Change” as something prevalent in the society and even to think about going with the tide has now become a utopian thought.
That’s when Unlearning becomes crucial. The first step in Change Management theory is to make people Unlearn what they have learned up until then and subsequently, make them acclimatize with the newer stuff that is out there in the waiting by using all the new age technology - the demo’s, video conferencing and virtual stimulation’s - etc in-order to constitute change with a heightened effect.
This acclimatization process is a time-consuming one since the first reaction of any human being – forget corporate’s - is to resist to change as opposed to accepting it on an automatic pilot.!
The percentage reason why we resist to change has something to do with our circumspect, near angst-ridden way of life style - prevalent mostly in the sub-continent compared to the European countries(for whom change is a habitual thing) - and that is why Indian’s do prodigious market testing & customer survey’s and stuff before implementing a certain ubiquitous innovation. Some say “I’ve to see it in-order to believe it!” and Indian’s definitely do belong to that demography of people.
We’re conservative by nature and one has to come up with solid arguments and counter points in-order to vindicate the need for certain much needed changes in the organization especially if they have any plans of implementing ‘em in the near future.
Our subconscious is cradled with the good ol’ management theories and concepts by way of institutionalized reinforcement and because of that it becomes very difficult for it to fine-tune & come to terms with the newer theories & concepts, something which could help us deal with uncertainties in a better way than you did previously.
Since these concepts and principles in itself are something which needs time, developments and modification’s for it to be fully conclusive, a special research & development wing shall work on it to cater the needs of effective change management in organizations.
It doesn’t matter whether a change is tried and tested elsewhere or the company has taken a benchmark of sorts from a top performing brand or something, the rule of thumb remains the rule of thumb - The employees should be trained to tackle change right in the nick of time or otherwise the company’s bottom-line results and market image will take a hammering.
For successful implementation of change management, the initiative should come from the employees side as well, as it should inevitably stem from the top line management’s side who are the ultimate financial authorities of an “X” change or a “Y” change or whatever the case may be.
You can afford to have the best of ideas but remember – even the best of ideas won’t work unless you work the idea.
This re-working or innovating an idea more or less starts from the scratches and the first step one tends to undertake or in-fact should undertake in certain scenario’s shall be to literally erase all the things you’ve or had already learned in the past and then get equipped with the new stuffs lurking in there somewhere sooner rather than later.
Sometimes even a Mahendra Singh Dhoni has to forget the fact that he’s the best finisher in the world(arguably), flush out the statistics, go to the change room and try and approach the next game he plays for the country just like a debut game with newer strategies/tactics implanted in his subconscious.
Things get outdated very easily in the modern world and with the new technological advancements that are out there – hacking, corporate espionage etc – it becomes very easy for your competitors to get a hold of your manifesto and then make the nitty gritties of changes to their system’s which can not only help be more competitive but also can equip them better in avoiding a rigorous price war.!
We’re slowly getting into that ecclesiastical period where “The allusions to illiteracy won’t be symbolized by the “In-ability to read & write” anymore but instead will be substituted soon enough by the “In-ability to learn, unlearn & Re-learn” in the near future.!”
“LEARN” is easy since it’s a very straight-forward process & its results are quantifiable. “Re-LEARN” is tough because you don’t necessarily want to just re-iterate the learned stuff instead you would want it to be transcended. That’s where Unlearn becomes pivotal.
If both these processes are not complemented by the “UN-LEARN” process then the bridge-gap remains unfinished/cluttered just like the Indian parliament and eventually you’re going to be tagged just as mediocre and narcissistic as the overconfident “Rabbit” who, once in a pre-historic age, took it for granted that the poor, escargotting “Tortoise” will never be able to beat him in the good ol’ race-course game.!
Un-learn concept will slowly find a way into the management books in the near future because without that you’ll never be able to cope & survive in the changing technological/infrastructural environment which keeps on clock-working its way back & forth 247365 days of every calendar year.
You can either start practicing it now or you can snap a place in the trunk-box just like our snobby Rabbit did in the imaginary fabulist fables written by the late Aesop. The choice is yours. Nobody is compelling. Although time is running out for you with every tickling second of every passing minute. For the moment though, its me Sreejith waving good-bye.! Have a good night’s sleep. Sayonara.:)
