Mohit Mittal_BLP029_Self Leadership_Sep’11

Immunity To Change: Questioning the rationale at grassroots.

The day for the session was not any usual day in SOIL. I had to go to New Delhi Institute of Management for AIMA NCMS competition and so I missed the opportunity to attend the session taken by Mr. Anil Sachdev on Self Leadership. As I sought to know what was discussed and taught in class, I contacted some of the colleagues who did attend the session. They narrated me the entire session and while listening I could clearly see the glitter in their eyes because of the Mr. Sachdev effect. Yes now we have a term in college called as “Mr. Sachdev effect”.

Now coming straight to the point of discussion. Mr. Sachdev talked about Immunity to change and how important it is for transforming oneself to a true leader. The discussion started with a brief talk on habits and perception of others in a community that eventually turns out a bothering agent for a person.

The discussion moved forward and Mr. Sachdev explained about the Immunity map that was put in place by Robert Kegan. The immunity map consists of 4 stages in identifying and finally defying the factors that stop a person to attain a level of excellence. This is a step-by-step process that a person has to follow.

• The first level in the immunity map is the stage where a person identifies what he wants to achieve in life and what is his purpose. This particular factor must be of utmost importance to a person. In my case, I know that in order to achieve my purpose, I need to reach a top brass position in an organization in next 10 to 15 years so that I have an ample amount of financial assets to materialize my vision. Only after this time span will I retire and move on to create the thing that I yearn for.
• The second stage of the immunity map is to identify the things that you feel are stopping you from achieving your goals. Usually everyone is pretty much aware of his or her inadequacies that are an impediment to do best. This stage should only emphasize on identifying the realms where you feel you want to change. For me it is not being assertive enough and because of this, there have been consequences to my own growth. I have many times kept my own tasks on back seat to take up tasks for friends and acquaintances those were not of that much priority.
• The third stage is where one person should identify that what is the rationale behind the behaviors identified in second stage and why he is not able to change that. This is the point where a person should question the status quo and identify what are the reasons that make him incapable to address the point of concern in second stage. These are the hidden competing commitments that counteract during adoption of behaviors identified in stage 2. In my case, it is the feeling of contentment that I get when I help someone, but somewhere down the gut I know that it was on my own expense and uncalled for.
• The 4^th and final stage is where a person must screen out the assumptions that he makes. Assumptions that are in coherence with the behavior in previous levels. I have an assumption that if I say no to friends, they would feel bad and would do foul talk behind my back.

The session moved forward and what followed was the framework to overturn the immune system. This is a step-by-step protocol where the first step is to observe the big assumption in action. Next a person has to be receptive to the challenges and counters to the big assumptions. After designing a biography of the assumption, a person must design a test for the big assumption. Only after this he or she must analyze the results of the test. Such tests should be repeated to eventually come out of the immune system of change.

Although I was not aware of this particular framework but since past 2 or 3 months I have already started to work on my behaviors that were immune to change. This particular session will be a concrete and formulated way to materialize the goals I want to achieve.