17 chapter 1 • AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SIX BATTERIES OF CHANGE These themes help us to explain why change efforts fail or succeed. If you charge the ‘batteries’, they generate enough energy to get the change project moving in the right direction. Change management is about managing the batteries of change. Specifically, we contend that these batteries help to explain two key change dilem- mas faced by managers. The first is the distinction between top and bottom. Change tends to be initiated at the top, where senior executives create visions for their organization and develop strategic plans to realize those visions. Having both a purpose and a plan are un- doubtedly important. However, many change projects fail because there is a gap between top management’s announcements and action plans at the bottom.9 Exec- utives need to be aware that a change plan is often translated into many local ini- tiatives that need to be managed in turn by local change agents. In reality, top exec- utives don’t always spend enough energy translating their visions and blueprints into concrete actions to be launched within different departments and sub-units of the organization. Conversely, many change projects cannot surpass the opera- tional level. Change is initiated at a local level by enthusiastic individuals who want to improve the functioning of the organization, but is never taken to a more stra- tegic level. The result is change initiatives that remain local initiatives with limited impact. In other cases, local change initiatives conflict with one another, leading to internal fights and destructive energy. Successful change requires that change occurs both at the strategic level and at the operational level. A second change dilemma occurs when change leaders are unable to connect what we describe as the ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ sides of change. Specifically, they prioritize the rational over the emotional. Change strategies, project management, and change management infrastructure must of course be sound – this is the hardware of change. But even the best hardware cannot work properly without adequate software – the people and culture of an organization. Many organizations are too focused on the formal (rational) aspect of change at the expense of the informal (emotional). We contend that these are equally impor- tant. In The Happiness Hypothesis,10 Jonathan Haidt illustrates the battle between emotions and rationality with a metaphor based on a (fictitious) premise that ele- phants love ice cream. The riders on the elephants symbolize the rationality of the