On a recent train ride from Boston to New York, instead of admiring the quaint Connecticut coast line, I found myself glued to a recent article in Inc Magazine, (one of my favorites!) The Heath brothers have brought us more a-ha moments in their latest book, Switch: How to Get People to Change. I was surprised at how much this article resonated with the conversations we’ve been having with my clients as well as the parallels I began to draw between their research and what we see everyday in the work that we do.
While many of their insights and anecdotal examples are seemingly filled with common sense, what I like to refer to as BFOs (blinding flashes of the obvious), I was intrigued by one of the key principles from their research highlighted in the article: the connection between our irrational and emotional mind and how this greatly impacts an individual’s ability to change.
In support of the above principle, our experience with clients in leveraging their emotions to surface the thoughts that will influence how they behave has directly impacted their business results. Specifically in a transformation scenario or change situation, emotions are quickly overlooked due to the tactical work that becomes the primary focus – what the Heath brothers might refer to as the rational / analytical side of the work. Examining people’s emotions and transparently using these emotions to empower a change process can be daunting for those involved. However, this process is critical to successfully implementing and sustaining lasting change while also yielding desired results.
With slight skepticism, I’m looking forward to reading more about a technique referred to in the article as “looking for the bright spots” in which a deep focus on past successful results can enable people to shift away from pessimistic, depressed feelings about change. In working with clients on a similar mind shifting process, we encourage our clients to acknowledge both the optimism and pessimism they may feel in order to honor the paradoxical conflict in our emotions we often have towards a change. I’m interested to see whether the Heath brothers’ research addresses the importance of emotional paradox (with respect to how to get people to change) or whether they have found measurable success with the aforementioned technique.
If you have already read Switch, we welcome your comments and insights.
This is definitely going to be in my travel bag as a must read for early 2010!
