Becoming an Agent of Change

Class 7

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 Last class
• We enhanced our logic model, treating it as a
‘theory of change’.

• We identified underlying assumptions, and

ways to test these.

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The Value Chain:
A Version of A
Logic Model
Creating Public Value,
Mark Moore, 1995 Harvard Extension School 2016 3
 This class
• Case: The Hara Factor
Part 1: Analysis, including triangle and path to
change, tactics to prompt progress
Part 2: Hara as change agent

Last 15 min:
• Instructions for presentation & final paper
• 2 notes on grading
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Case: The Hara Factor
Part 1: Case Analysis

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 Case: Hara
Tactics
Discredit the status quo

• Choosing what part of the status quo is critized

• Leveraging evidence of success

Gathering evidence that the change will indeed realize a value
proposition and that the desired capacity and support will be
well-invested.
- Capitalizing on small successes (pilots)
- Evaluations by third parties
- Seeking indirect evidence

Social construction of credibility

(Cels et al, 2012) Harvard Extension School J term 2016 6
 Case: Hara
Tactics
Holding back
Presenting only part of the ambitions; managing leap of faith; flying
under the radar

Finding opportunities in critical ‘events’

Waiting for the right moment when conditions shift to favor change
Crisis as opportunity for change

Finding an entry point – any point

For starting a conversation

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 Case: Hara
Tactics

Making Progress Irreversible

• Design mechanisms that pull change forward
• Prevent regression by
smart scheming
• Traffic spikes

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 Case: The Hara Factor
Discussion: Change Agent

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 Problem definition: Previous features

1. Based on facts/Evidence based

yet: biased (unavoidable)
2. Speaks to stakeholders (mobilizes)
3. Leads to a specific approach
4. Includes impact on personal level (how does
is affect people of flesh and blood)
5. Sense of urgency

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 Questions (1)
Political Responsibilities
• Are you including all affected stakeholders in your
process of exploration and deliberation? How open and
inclusive do you need to be?
• Knowing that ‘change’ will always be destructive too, to
what extent do you need to worry about others beyond
the support you need to succeed?
• Are you creating ownership for the solution and/or the
process?
• Have you made an assessment of the “political” risks, not
just to yourself or to the project, but to others as well?
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 Questions (2)
Intellectual Responsibilities
• Have you thought through the nature of the challenge
and actively tested your assumptions?
• How do you know that your undertaking is a good idea?
• Are you looking for disconfirming evidence and listening
closely to dissenting voices?
• How do you know if you are on the right track? Have you
established feedback mechanisms?
• Is the process reversible enough to accommodate
changing circumstances and preferences, yet not so
reversible that it would jeopardize sustainability?
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 Questions (3)
• Moral Responsibilities

• Are you sensitive to the (moral) values of the stakeholders and

to the clients?
• If you are pushing the boundaries, are you respectful of the
sense of violation or loss you are inflicting on others?
• Are you true to your own beliefs, yet not too stubborn to change
your mind if conditions so dictate?
• Are you addressing, rather than avoiding conflict and
disagreement?
• Are you clear about the costs and benefits of your undertaking
and how they will be distributed?
• Are you honest about the risks you are taking on behalf of your
organization? Harvard Extension School 2016 13
“ There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more
perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to
take the lead in the introduction of change.

For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the
old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who
would profit by the new order, this lukewarmness arising
partly from fear of their adversaries … and partly from the
incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything
new until they have had actual experience of it.”

Niccolo Machiavelli, ‘The Prince’

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