Making change happen

Helen Black: The change Team

When did you last try to change something?

Improvement always means change but change does not necessarily mean improvement

Only 15 30% of organisations achieve the results they were looking for from their improvement activities
(Smith & Mouier 2008)

What does it take to make change work?

Adapted from: Mark Eaton (2009) Why change programs fail

What does it take to make change work?

Pressure for change

Clear, shared vision

Internal capability

Agreed action plan

Successful Improvement

Clear, shared vision

Internal capability

Agreed action plan

Bottom of in-tray

Pressure for change

+
Clear, shared vision

Internal capability

Agreed action plan

Fast start that fades

Pressure for change

Agreed action plan

Anxiety & Frustration

Pressure for change

Clear, shared vision

Internal capability

Circles & Treadmills

Adapted from: Mark Eaton (2009) Why change programs fail

Understanding your brain to make change happen

Understanding how the brain is wired to react to change and what motivates it is essential for effective change We have a biological reaction to resist change

Two brain systems operate at once

Rational brain
Thinker longer term focus logical -reflective looks into the future (cons spinning wheels, stuck in analysis paralysis)

Emotional brain
Doer short term focus programmed habit loyal (Cons wants to do the same thing, only a short term focus)

The rider, the elephant and the path

For anything to change someone has to start acting differently Its new behaviour youre asking a brain that runs on set program Emotional brain is an elephant Rational brain is its rider The path is the situation or environment
(Source: Switch How to change when change is hard Chip & Dan Heath)

Successful (brain friendly) change requires

Directing the rider Motivating the elephant Shaping the path

Save the children - Vietnam

Jerry Sterin helped reduce malnutrition in Vietnam by finding families who were coping with their situation He found the bright spots

Direct the rider (rational brain)

Find the bright spots We spend hours on looking at whats wrong but hardly spend 10 mins on why something is working well
Where is the change already happening in your organisation?

Big problems are rarely solved with big solutions

Find the little things that are working and replicate them

Which medicine should I have?

Direct the rider (rational brain)

Script the critical moves Pick the few things that must happen to make it work

Choice and ambiguity tires our rational brain so we fall back into habit Clarity resolves resistance Big picture hands-off leadership tends not to work in a change situation because the hardest part of change is in the detail Work out the few (2 4) critical things that people need to know to make decisions and re-enforce them always

Motivate the elephant (emotional brain)

Find the feeling
People need to understand why the change is important to them personally (they need to believe what you believe) Negative emotions - for a quick specific action Positive emotions for large ambiguous change

Motivate the elephant (emotional brain)

Shrink the change
Create micro milestones Make people feel that they are closer to the finish line than they thought they were

Shape the path (environment)

Tweak the environment
Makes their journey smoother so they dont need to think Makes the right behaviour easier and the wrong behaviour harder Leverages your change activities

Shape the path (environment)

Action triggers
Preloaded actions that use the environment as a trigger Builds an immediate habit Action triggers increase the chance of success
Easy goals from 78% to 84% Hard goals from 22% to 62%
Source: Gollwitzer New York University

Applying this to the change process

Your biology is naturally resistant to change so Direct the rider Motivate the elephant Shape the path

Resources
Switch How to change things when change is hard
Chip and Dan Heath

Why change programs fail

Mark Eaton

Conquering organisational change: How to succeed where most companies fail

Martin Smith and Pierre Mouier

The heart of change

Kotter & Cohen