You can argue for incremental change if things are good enough. Until they get bad enough, you can’t talk about transformational change.”
–Rick Stansley, chairman of the board at the University of Toledo’s Innovation Enterprises, as quoted by USA Today
Adaption and change are essential to the survival of species. They are equally essential to the survival of companies, especially in environments that are rapidly evolving, such as this “Great Recession” we are currently experiencing.
Yet making transformational changes can be one of the most difficult things an organization can undertake. Many people resist change, for a variety of reasons. They don’t like leaving their comfort zone. They don’t feel the need for or are afraid of change. They don’t see a personal benefit to change. Or they actively disagree with the change.
How do businesses successfully implement change? How do they overcome the resistance that commonly accompanies change? How can they make the changes last over time? According to Chip and Dan Heath, authors of Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard (Random House Inc.), there are three steps to implementing change:
1. Provide a clear, specific picture of the change to all those who are involved or affected
2. Appeal to the emotions, rather than to the reason, of those who are needed to implement the change
3. Outline the steps or provide a “script” for employees to follow when implementing the change
Providing a clear picture of what the changes will look like gets everyone on the same page. If only a few people in upper management understand what the changes are about, it won’t make any sense to those who are asked to implement the change. Not knowing what the end result is supposed to look like will keep people confused, resistant and immobilized.
But even if the changes are spelled out, illustrated, supported with facts and figures and presented to everyone in the organization, you can still find your organization at a standstill. That’s because the most important element of initiating change is to obtain emotional buy-in. Without emotional support, all the logic in the world will fall on deaf ears.
The power of emotion cannot be underestimated – it is the difference between success and failure in implementing change. In one non-profit, the board and staff had been conducting their affairs in the same way for the past 30 years. Everything was still done manually, without the use of computers. It wasn’t until the organization felt the pain of losing its endowment fund and closing its doors that they moved into the digital age and began to operate more efficiently, despite numerous attempts by a couple of newcomers to convince them to do so much earlier. Finding the right emotional motivator can be very challenging. Some people are motivated by risk aversion (losing market share, losing one’s job), others by the potential of growth (potential for career advancement, more income), and yet others are motivated by doing good (reaching more people who need the organization’s products or services). People can be motivated by multiple, changing emotions, which adds further complexity to the issue. Finding the right motivators is critical, however, even if it means repeated attempts to do so.
Once you have buy-in, you are well on your way! Now, you need to provide goals and steps along the path. Of course, situations are fluid so the steps should not be overly detailed, giving your employees the option to improvise, if needed. Follow-up and feedback are essential, too, until the changes have taken root.
Adapting and changing will not only help your company survive, but indeed thrive, in an ever-evolving environment.
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- The Heart of Change – Making Change Last
- Change Initiatives, Organically Grown
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[...] week’s blog post “The Challenge of Change” discussed the three steps to change as according to authors Chip and Dan Heath in their book Switch: [...]