To Make a Switch, Part 3

"Switch" is the title of a new book by Chip and Dan Heath; it's being released February 15 and I've been posting about a pre-release copy all week. Their new work focuses on the two independent systems in our minds: the rational mind and the emotional mind. They compete for control in our heads all the time, and the paradox is that only by harnessing each of their strengths can lasting change take place. Whether the switch you seek is in your family, in your organization, or in society at large, you'll get there by making three things happen. Here is the third and final action.

Shape the Path

If you want people to change, you can provide clear direction (Rider) or boost their motivation and determination (Elephant). There is another option to make the journey easier: Create a downhill slope and give them a push. Remove friction from the trail; scatter signs around to tell them they are getting close. In other words, shape the path.

• Tweak the environment
• Build habits
• Rally the herd

To change yourself or other people, you’ve go to change habits.

Forming a habit isn’t all environmental – it’s also mental. Habits are behavioral autopilot, and that’s why they’re such a critical tool for leaders. Leaders who can instill habits that reinforce their teams’ goals are essentially making progress for free. They’ve changed behavior in a way that doesn’t draw down the Rider’s reserves of self-control.

The hard question for a leader is not how to form habits but which habits to encourage. How can you create a habit that supports the change you’re trying to make?

1. The habit needs to advance the mission
2. The habit needs to be relatively easy to embrace

Here's the secret weapon that combines the two strategies of tweaking the environment and building habits.

Make a checklist

Checklists help people avoid blind spots in a complex environment. Checklists simply make big screw ups less likely. Checklists provide insurance against overconfidence. Checklists, in short, help shape the path to change.

This wraps up a week-long look at Dan and Chip Heath's new book "Switch". My posts have only begin to scratch the surface of a highly personal, story-filled book that will have you thinking about change in no time. It's a great companion to their first book "Made to Stick". It would be a great addition for any leader wanting to help navigate an organization through change.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of "Switch" from the authors, but was not required to write about it.

To Make a Switch, Part 2

"Switch", a new book by Chip and Dan Heath, is being released February 15. Authors of the best-selling "Made to Stick", their new work focuses on the two independent systems in our minds: the rational mind and the emotional mind. They compete for control in our heads all the time, and the paradox is that only by harnessing each of their strengths can lasting change take place.

Whether the switch you seek is in your family, in your organization, or in society at large, you'll get there by making three things happen. Here is the second.

Motivate the Elephant

In the terminology adopted by the Heaths, the emotional side of the brain is called the Elephant. To motivate your emotional side, you need to:

• Find the feeling
• Shrink the change
• Grow your people

People find it more motivating to be partly finished with a longer journey than to be at the starting gate of a shorter one. One way to motivate action, then, is to make people feel as though they’re already closer to the finish line than they might have thought. Rather than focusing solely on what’s new and different about the change to come, make an effort to remind people what’s already been conquered.

If you want a reluctant Elephant to get moving, you need to shrink the change.

If people are facing a daunting task, and their instinct is to avoid it, you’ve got to break down the task. Shrink the change. Make the change small enough that they can’t help but score a victory. When you engineer early successes, what you’re really doing is engineering hope. Hope is precious to a change effort.

The goal is to be wise about the things that are under our control. You want to select small wins that have two traits: (1) they’re meaningful; (2) They’re within immediate reach. Small targets lead to small victories, and small victories can often trigger a positive spiral of behavior.

A change journey that starts with dread is evolving, slowly, toward a feeling of confidence and pride.

As change shrinks, people grow

The central challenge of change is keeping the Elephant moving forward. Where the Rider (rational brain) needs direction, the Elephant (emotional brain) needs motivation. Motivation comes from feeling – knowledge isn’t enough to motivate change – and from confidence. There are two routes to building people so that they are capable of conquering the change. You can shrink the change or grow your people – or do both.

The book is "Switch", by Dan and Chip Heath. Because change is a regular part of the leader's life, you need to get a copy and dive in.

To Make a Switch, Part 1

Chip and Dan Heath have a new book being released February 15. Authors of the best-selling "Made to Stick", their new work focuses on the two independent systems in our minds: the rational mind and the emotional mind. They compete for control in our heads all the time, and the paradox is that only by harnessing each of their strengths can lasting change take place.

Whether the switch you seek is in your family, in your organization, or in society at large, you'll get there by making three things happen. Here is the first.

Direct the Rider

The Heath's call the rational side of our brains The Rider - always seeking to be in control. In order to harness the power of your rational side, you need to:

• Find the bright spots
• Script the critical moves
• Point to the destination

You may have heard the phrase "paralysis by analysis" or "decision paralysis" It's where more options, even good ones, can freeze us and make us retreat to the default plan. The default plan is often status quo (that's Latin for "dead and don't know it").

In this case, choice no longer liberates; it debilitates. In times of change, autopilot doesn’t work anymore. Ambiguity is exhausting to the rational brain. Any successful change requires a translation of ambiguous goals into concrete behaviors.

To spark movement in a new direction, you need to provide crystal-clear guidance. If you are leading a change effort, you need to remove the ambiguity from your vision of change.

Even the brief words above can tend toward confusion. So how about repackaging it with a phrase that speaks volumes:

Clarity dissolves resistance

When you’re at the beginning of change, don’t obsess about the middle, because the middle is going to look different once you get there. Just look for a strong beginning and a strong ending and get moving.

The book is "Switch", by Dan and Chip Heath. If change is a regular part of your life, you need to get a copy and dive in.

Want to Change Behaviors?

Chip and Dan Heath, in their latest book "Switch", construct a three-part framework that will guide you in any situation where you need to change behavior.

• Direct the Rider - What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity. To direct your rational actions, provide crystal-clear direction.


• Motivate the Elephant - What looks like laziness is often exhaustion. It's critical to engage people's emotional side, to get their Elephants on the path and cooperative.


• Shape the Path - What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. The situation and the surrounding environment is "The Path." When you shape the Path, you make change more likely, no matter what's happening with the Rider and Elephant.

It may sound a little strange to you, but when you get into the book, the brothers Heath have done an excellent job outlining a very workable strategy for accomplishing change. Over the next three days I will take a quick look at each of the three main ideas stated above.

"Switch" goes on sale February 16 - I recommend you pre-order it early!

Switch

How to Change Things When Change is Hard



Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the best-selling "Make to Stick", have delivered another excellent book.

I've been reading a pre-release copy of the book. I'm going to post this week on some of the nuggets in "Switch".

The authors argue that successful changes share a common pattern. They require the leader of the change to recognize three surprises about change:

• To change someone's behavior, you've got to change that person's situation
• Change is hard because people wear themselves out
• What looks like resistance to change is often a lack of clarity

To read an excerpt of the book before it hits the stores in February, take a look at this month's Fast Company. In a story entitled"Find a Bright Spot and Clone It, the brothers tell share three stories of how even hopelessly complex problems can have positive movement toward resolution.