I have been reading 'SWITCH', a great book on how to implement change, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, authors of 'Made to Stick'.
One concept in the book draws on the premise of 'The Happiness Hypothesis' by Jonathan Haidt.
Haidt likens our conscious rational mind to the rider of an elephant where the elephant symbolizes our emotional, impulsive self.
We believe our thinking rational self is in control of the elephant and this might be true for the most part, but we all know what happens when we let our emotions get the better of us, when our impulses decide that we really need that piece of Godiva chocolate. The rider is only in control as long as the elephant is willing to go along.
One of the challenges in trying to bring about any change is that often we appeal only to the rational, thinking mind with our spreadsheets and powerpoint slides. The audience sees the logic and agrees that the change 'should be made'. Then, nothing happens.
The book suggests that we need to focus our effort on both aspects. Trying to provide logical arguments is like providing direction without motivation. On the other hand, there are times when the motivation clearly exists, such as when a mother is worried about malnutrition in her child. In such cases, providing the direction is more important.
Often however, we find ourselves preaching to the choir; telling mothers that they need to provide better nutrition to their children without telling them exactly what to do; or telling our teams to reduce their travel budget by 5% without getting them to connect with the need to do so.
And we truly believe we are among the top 10% of managers.
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