Last 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: How to Change Things When Change is Hard (Random House Inc.).

Of the three steps in bringing about change, the second is the most critical. That step is to appeal to the emotions, rather than to the reason, of the people you want to change. If someone agrees to make a change on an emotional level, from their heart, most of the work is already done, and the change will be lasting. That’s because decisions they make will come from the perspective of who they are and what someone like them would do if faced with a challenge like they are facing. 

Any effort at change that contradicts or violates someone’s identity is likely to fail.

The difficulty is finding out what appeals to the emotions of a variety of employees, and what they identify with, as each has his or her own needs and values.

According to the authors, one way to get a number of people “on the same page” emotionally is to create an identity that they all willingly adopt. One example they provide is of a can manufacturing company in Brazil. This company had been in business for many years and was doing well, but management wanted to take the company to the next level. They decided to address all their employees as “inventors” and to challenge them with being on the lookout for new innovations.  When new employees joined the company, they signed “Innovation Contracts.”  “Inventing” became a part of everyone’s job, even though most of the workers had no experience in engineering or mechanics.  Procedures were set up so that submitting ideas was easy.

In 2008, employees submitted 134,846 ideas – an average of 145.2 per inventor!  Most of the inventions were for new products and energy-saving ideas.

Another example provided by the authors was of an accounting department manager who was rigid and uncompromising when he was asked to alter his invoicing and funds disbursement system to accommodate some valued clients. It wasn’t until this manager was taken to the offices of one of their non-profit clients and saw first-hand how his system was negatively affecting them that he changed.  At that moment, he realized he was not being the person he wanted to be – he did not want to be seen, or to see himself, as the “problem.” He identified so much with being part of the “solution” that he became an advocate for them, rather than the opponent he had been, and he innovated changes to his accounting system above what had been requested of him.

Zappos, the online shoe sales company, has a rigorous hiring process, making potential employees go through several rounds of interviews and personality tests. When they have made it to the final stage, potential employees are offered a relatively large sum to not take the job. This last weeding out phase ensures that Zappos only hires the people who have the qualities they are looking for. Once hired, Zappos employees are a part of an exclusive group, with a strong identity of being one of the chosen few to work for the best company in that space.

Aligning the identities of your employees with the values and goals of your company will go a long way towards bringing about changes that last. How can your company reinforce or cultivate its identity and those of its employees to maximize employee engagement?

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