The "Models of Change" provide information on success factors

" There is a lot of talk about change and where we need to go to save the world. But hardly anyone is concerned with the question of "how " you get in there . What needs to be done in practice? So how do you achieve change? " The speaker in the Resource Efficiency Colloquium , Dr. Kora Kristof , calls this the " Models of Change " . She is the director of the policy department of the Federal Environment Agency , the highest environmental authority in Germany , and she wants to know what success factors are needed in order to come a bit closer to sustainability .

It is very difficult to successfully initiate and manage change processes . One must have the right solutions that incorporate relevant actors, wait for the right time and  make the process of change professional, says  Kristof .This is the result of 30 long in-depth interviews, she has  performed with well-known designers , from climate gurus such as Potsdamer scientists Schellnhuber via the EKD Council President to  ministers and top managers.How come these people to change? How do they do this? Do they have a successful model in mind ?

Kristof reported that many of the respondents did not plan these processes. For those who thought they knew their success factors , other factors emerged as relevant in the analysis . In any case, it requires a certain willingness to take risks , but also visions , empathy, humor. The starting point was the observation that the energy transition was driven by random events, such as the nuclear disaster in Fukujima, not by a long-term strategy and planning process .

In the discussion, the bridge of the processes of social change was build to the internal situation quickly. Again, it always goes back to the question of how to organize permanent changes, such as how the corporate culture can be improved , etc. - Nowadays this is called Change Management. Recipes to the safe lead to success do not exist and it remains very difficult to distinguish a good from a bad manager. And so, Kora Kristof says, you can only increase the chances of success  when you take the relevant aspects into account .  Yet, despite of all the research a guarantee of success does not exist.