365QOD-Day16

“The only constant in life is change”- Anonymous

Recently I have been reflecting on change a lot.  At work there is a restructuring effort and with it there is also a lot of uncertainty.  I have been observing the process and wondering if it being handled properly.  It is being done rather intellectually.

But does change succeed if it is only done at the intelligence level?  To answer that question one only need to find a doctor that smokes, an overweight nurse, etc.

It quickly becomes obvious that it is not all in the brain when one or an organization needs to make a change.  So what else does it involve?

In their second book Switch, Chip and Dan Heath offer a glimse at what they think is needed.  They propose that it takes three pieces:

I. Direct the Rider:
- Find the bright spots
- Script the critical moves
- Point to the destination

II. Motivate the Elephant:
- Find the feeling
- Shrink the Change;
- Grow your people

                                III. Shape the Path:
                                 - Tweak the environment
                                 - Build habits
                                 - Rally the herd

One can quickly see that the rider of an elephant wants to provide direction.  The elephant will most often follow BUT at times will chose to go in a direction that the rider does not choose(i.e. overeating, not exercising, etc.). 

The path is an interesting idea.  In an example they talk about a Subway experiment in which the customers were given two different types of reward cards: one with eight holes to punch before a reward, or one with 10 holes to punch but two of the holes were pre-punched.  Who do you think succeeded more often?  The ones with the two pre-punched holes.

Without all three pieces being in place a change can not occur successfully.

Today’s question is:

In your own life, how do you line up the three pieces to assure success with something you want to change?