Working Through Transition
Jeff Yacup
Kotter's Model for Org Change
White Board Reflection
What is a transition you are working through or will work through?
What is, or will be challenging about it?
Introducing Switch
The Emotional Brain
- The part that feels pain and pleasure
- Instinctive
- The elephant (elephants hunger for instant gratification and are hard to control)
The Rational Brain
- The refelctive/conscious system
- Deliberative and analytical
- Future oriented
- The rider perched atop the elephant trying to direct it
Making the Switch
Direct the Rider.
What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity. We need to provide clear direction.
1.
Motivate the Elephant. What looks like laziness is often exhaustion. You have to engage the emotional side. Emotions have to e a part of it.
2.
Shape the path. What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. Remove resistance and ensure the environment is supporting of the goal.
3.
- Follow the Bright Spots: Investigate what’s working and clone it.
- Script the Critical Moves: Don’t think big picture, think in terms of specific behaviors.
- Point to the Destination: Change is easier when you know where you’re going and why it’s worth it.
Direct the Rider
- Find the Feeling: Knowing something isn’t enough to cause change. Make people feel something.
- Shrink the Change: Break down the change until it no longer spooks the elephant.
- Grow your people: Cultivate a sense of identity and instill the growth mindset.
Motivate the Elephant
- Tweak the environment: When situation changes, the behavior changes. So change the situation.
- Build Habits: When behavior is habitual, it doesn’t tax the rider. Look for ways to encourage habits.
- Rally the herd: Behavior is contagious, help it spread.
Shape the Path
At many software companies, the developers fall in love with their code. When their programs are tested by customers, they can be skeptical of customer feedback. At Microsoft, one test of a new feature showed that six out of ten users couldn’t figure out how to use it. When the test labs shared the data with the developers, their reaction was “where’d you find six dumb people?’ Many companies experience a form of this problem. Is it possible to convince developers to be more responsive to customer feedback?
Case Study 1
- Likely an elephant problem: they RESENT having to change their code.
- Direct the Rider: point to the end! Show them the glory they receive from a successful product launch.
- Script the moves: are we being clear enough on what is needed?
- Motivate the elephant: have the developers watch users struggle with their programs. Make sure they know they're judged by the final product.
- Shape the path: is feedback coming at the right time? Have programmers design on the same computers users will have.
Break
Bart Millar, an American history teacher at Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon is frustrated by a few of his students, like Robby and Kent, who frequently arrive late and then sit in the back of the room, talking to each other and laughing, disrupting the class. Millar has tried getting tough with them---being strict and even sending them to the principal a few times. Nothing seems to work. What can he do to get these students under control?
Case Study 2
- Tweak the environment: lock the door when the bell rings.
- Build habits: have a daily quiz at the beginning of class
- Rally the herd: post a class on time record on the wall. Show them they're violating the social norm.
- Build habits: set policy that last student to seat will have to answer the first question.
- Rally the herd: find a way to show that other students dislike what they're doing.
- Tweak the envionrment: put in a couch and make it cool to get the good seat (what actually happened).
Making your Switch
Reflect on a change you'd like to tackle.