{"id":2513,"date":"2016-07-12T10:39:47","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T15:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2016-07-08T22:51:28","modified_gmt":"2016-07-09T03:51:28","slug":"the-agony-and-the-ecstacy-of-a-change-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/the-agony-and-the-ecstacy-of-a-change-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"The Agony and the Ecstacy of a Change Manager"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note:\u00a0Editor\u2019s Note: \u00a0Ron Leeman is a world-recognized Change Manager and author of several\u00a0Change, Process, and Project training guides on Flevy<\/a>. \u00a0 You can also learn more about Ron and\u00a0his\u00a0approach to Change in our\u00a0interview with him<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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There is a famous line in the 1965 film The Agony and the Ecstacy about the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling when Pope Julius II (played by Rex Harrison) asks Michelangelo (played by Charlton Heston) \u2026<\/p>\n

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This is a very brief but telling exchange and arguably you will\u00a0identify with\u00a0the answer Michelangelo (the Change Manager) gives when being asked by the Sponsor (Pope Julius II) about how long it will take to make a change. Mind you \u00a0don’t think a Change Manager nowadays would be as direct as that … LOL.<\/p>\n

Anecdote \u2026 I went to watch this film in Malta when it was first released as part of my History of Art studies \u2026 a classic film. I also went to visit the Sistine Chapel in the mid-80\u2019s to see this magnificent piece of work for myself \u2026 I was awestruck.<\/p>\n

Moving on …<\/p>\n

A Change Managers role is a complex and demanding one (as if you didn\u2019t know) because you have to try and be \u201call things to all people\u201d.\u00a0 On one side you have to satisfy your masters but on the other hand you also have to satisfy those that are impacted by the change.<\/p>\n

Michelangelo, (the Change Manager), was striving to create a work of quality (the solution) using his experience and knowledge so wanted to take his time to implement it. Pope Julius II (the Sponsor), on the other hand and quite rightly, wanted to see the finished article and wanted return on his investment.<\/p>\n

So, using this as a backdrop, what I have tried to do in this article is articulate (based on my own experiences) some of the\u00a0AGONY<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0and some of the\u00a0ECSTACY\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>that a Change Manager can typically go through during a change project.<\/p>\n

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Being the focus of vitriol and sometimes outright resentment \u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n