how we handle change
Since I'm in the midst of some major business changes (all good), I was compelled to read Spencer Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese? , a short book written in allegory style that's helped many people consider, and reconsider, how they handle a constant in today's world - change. After reading it, I happened upon a recent Fast Company article entitled Change or Die. It opens with this compelling question: "What if a well-informed, trusted authority figure said you had to make difficult and enduring changes in the way you think and act? If you didn't, your time would end soon -- a lot sooner than it had to. Could you change when change really mattered? When it mattered most?" I figured it a rhetorical question. Of course people would change when faced with this do-or-die scenario. Apparently, I was way off. According to the piece, the odds are 9 to 1 against change. When faced with a health, business or other type of upheaval, it seems people want to change, but can't. Apparently, the problem is not that we're incapable of change. We just rarely get the right kind of motivation. We aren't wired to change via appeals to our intellect alone. We need to be convinced of the need for change on an emotional level. But, as the article points out, "that kind of emotional persuasion isn't taught in business schools, and it doesn't come naturally to the technocrats who run things -- the engineers, scientists, lawyers, doctors, accountants, and managers who pride themselves on disciplined, analytical thinking." So, what's the recourse for those of us who want to foster change in our businesses and beyond? We first need to reframe our approach and promote change using a "positive, inspiring, and emotionally resonant" narrative that appeals to people with diverse mind-sets and values. In addition to this type of reframing, the piece instructs, people tend to respond better to bigger, or more radical, change efforts. They're also more likely to accept and sustain change if there's a support system in place to help them along.
