Switch - Chip Heath [108]
Problem: People keep saying, “It will never work.”
Advice: 1. Find a bright spot that shows it can work. There’s no situation that’s 100 percent failure. Like a solutions-focused therapist, look for the flashes of success. 2. Think of Bill Parcells and the way he prods players for small victories in practice. Can you engineer a success that could change your team’s attitude? 3. Some people probably do think it will work. Carve out a free space for them where they can catalyze the change without facing direct opposition.
Problem: I know what I should be doing, but I’m not doing it.
Advice: 1. Knowing isn’t enough. You’ve got an Elephant problem. 2. Think of the 5-Minute Room Rescue. Starting small can help you overcome dread. What is the most trivial thing that you can do—right at this moment—that would represent a baby step toward the goal? 3. Look for Path solutions. How can you tweak your environment so that you’re “forced” to change? 4. Behavior is contagious. Get someone else involved with you so that you can reinforce each other.
Problem: You don’t know my people. They absolutely hate change.
Advice: How many of your people are married or have a child? Whatever you’re proposing is a less dramatic change. (And, by the way, reread the section on the Fundamental Attribution Error. You’re committing it.)
Problem: People were excited at first, but then we hit some rough patches and lost momentum.
Advice: 1. Focus on building habits. When you create habits, you get the new behavior “for free” (think of the stand-up meetings), and you’re less likely to backslide. 2. Motivate the Elephant by reminding people how much they’ve already accomplished (like putting two stamps on their car-wash cards). 3. Teach the growth mindset. Every success is going to involve rough patches. Recall the IDEO example, which warned people not to panic when the going got tough.
Problem: It’s just too much.
Advice: 1. Shrink the change until it’s not too much. Don’t give the Elephant an excuse to give up. 2. Start developing the growth mindset. Progress doesn’t always come easily—achieving success requires some failures along the way. Don’t beat yourself up when those failures occur.
Problem: Everyone seems to agree that we need to change, but nothing’s happening.
Advice: 1. Remember, what looks like resistance is often lack of clarity. Miner County residents really started moving when the high school students scripted the critical move of spending 10 percent more money in Miner County. 2. Don’t forget the Path. Are there obstacles to change that you can remove? 3. Can you find a bright spot that can serve as a model for the right behavior? Think of the mothers in the Vietnamese village. They always wanted their kids to be better nourished, but they didn’t change until two things happened: (1) They learned exactly what to do from the bright-spot moms (e.g., use brine shrimp and sweet-potato greens); (2) Seeing the success of the bright-spot moms made them hopeful and ready to move.
Next Steps
If you’ve finished Switch and are hungry for more, visit the book’s website:
www.switchthebook.com/resources
On the site, you can find resources like these:
One-page overview. Download and print the one-page overview and share it with your colleagues. [PDF format]
The Switch podcast series. Listen to a series of short, tailored podcasts, in which the authors offer their thoughts about how to apply the book’s concepts to different kinds of change.
Switch for Business
Switch for Marketers
Switch for the Social Sector
Switch for Personal Change
Switch book club materials. Get access to a Facilitator’s Guide designed to help lead book-club discussions on Switch. [PDF format]
Switch Your Organization outline. Use this outline to guide your team’s efforts to change your business or