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Responsiveness 213

Of course, it is not always like this or in this order. And often, you
will enter as a willing pioneer and your emotions will be largely or
wholly positive.
Understanding the kind of emotions you may encounter may
help you to deal with change more effectively. Suppose, for exam-
ple, you have learned that the reason your good senior staff regu-
larly leave the business is because you never give them a chance to
be creative. You have decided to do something about this, to change
your ways and ensure that you actively seek to release the creativ-
ity of those around you. It may help you to be prepared for
moments of continuing denial as you move forward! Being prepared
means that you can have a strategy in place to deal with the feel-
ings that you have: “It’s common to go though these kind of feel-
ings, I’ll just stay calm,” for example.
Understanding the cycle of change also means that you will
recognize the different responses you may have. British academic
and author Amin Rajan, chief executive of Create, imagines what it
would be like if you described the ways people react to change as if
they were different kinds of soldiers.
So, at the most enthusiastic end of the scale he has “cru-
saders,” people who are visionaries and pioneers, while at the other
end he imagines “deserters,” the staff who decide they have to leave
and find another place to work.
The chart overleaf, developed from Amin’s ideas, shows some
different kinds of approaches to change, as exemplified by different
soldiers. Much of it has been left blank for you to use. You may find
it amusing to think about people you know well and assign them to
the different categories!
When looking at charts like this, it is easy to smile and con-
sign other people to one or more of these “types,” secure in the
knowledge that you are not like that.

But what about you? What roles do you play? What kind of soldier are you when it comes to
change? Does your answer depend on how much you are in control of the change process?