How to be the change you want to see

How many times have you tried to change something in your company or even at home and totally failed? Often, right?

Well—let me introduce you to someone whose strategies can totally ensure that you finally become a successful agent of change. Meet Time magazine’s cover boy in 1996 William Bratton.

William Bratton, in 1994, was appointed Police Commissioner of New York. The crime was off the charts. The city was being ruled by drug lords, gang turf wars etc. and in two years under his control, New York became the safest largest city in the nation.

I spent this week walking around the very safe Central Park as evening dark arrived enjoying the spring weather and, I thought, let me honour this guy’s legacy.

So how could he accomplish such massive change in record time, and how can his strategies inspire change in your life?

Step one: Feel the pain

You really need to stop talking about why we need to change and what the numbers show.

Bratton’s simple but brilliant strategy to get more policing of subways was to make the top and middle brass ride the subways for an extended period. That’s how they finally understood why people felt unsafe.

What’s more is that the police officers realised that constant patrolling helps in reducing crime rate in the city. In our lives, this translates to facing the problem. In a customer service role, for instance, the executives can better understand the grievances of the customers by meeting the disgruntled ones, discussing the issues with them and getting into their shoes. Customer service executives, once in a while, should don the role of customers, stand in queue to know how slow or efficient their service is.

Step two: Become an expert in horse trading Horse trading is an art of hard and shrewd bargaining often employed in politics. Bratton had a similar approach — “hotspots” and “cold spots” theory. A hotspot is where change is needed the most and a cold spot is an issue that needs less attention. Bratton knew that resources are generally allocated based on old assumptions that nobody ever questions, even though they make no sense. But drastic changes can only happen when we redistribute resources to hotspots. He started horse trading to redirect resources from cold spots to hotspots. For example, if he needed more cars, he found an agency that did not use their allotted vehicles and then traded them for empty real estate that was not being used by his department.

His approach shows one should not get stuck, even if there is a lack of resources. Instead, we should start horse trading like a pro.

Step three: Conspire with your kingpins

We all know there is more than one boss in a company. What this means is that the actual people who are the key influencers in an organisation might not necessarily be just one. These people are called your kingpins. You need to get buy-in from all people and they will ensure that everyone gets on the bus. The key to getting your kingpins on board is:

· Transparency (clear, consistent, open about everything to be done and why at all stages)

· Inclusion (let them be a part of creating the change since top-down instruction will not work)

· Fair process (the playing field must be fair, equal with clear video matching audio leadership of what will happen if and when with no exceptions).

Step four: Get yourself a negotiator

In any change process, you must get a respected insider who knows the land mines you may be facing (that you do not even know about). For Bratton, it was his second in command, Timoney. Timoney was a respected and feared cop who had more than 60 decorations and combat crosses. Timoney knew the key players, the political game, who would sabotage silently, fight openly, and so on. He knew the devils and the angels. Bratton knew he could not fight for change alone and Timoney secured him more angels than devils to take up the fight for change. He obviously succeeded!

And voila, we have the “becoming” of New York City as we know it today thanks to this brilliant guy Bratton who was the real deal when it came to change.

In any change process, you must get a respected insider who knows the land mines you may be facing (that you do not even know about).