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LeaderShift! Action Guides are designed to provide you with simple and straightforward steps to develop
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Most of us are all too familiar with situations in which our Elephant
overpowers our Rider.
Youve experienced this if youve ever overeaten, slept in, said something you regretted,
procrastinated, tried to quit smoking and failed, skipped the gym, gotten angry and lost
your temper, refused to speak up in a meeting because you were fearful, and so on.
Good thing no one is keeping score. Or are they?
For those of you with a very large ego and oozing with pride, you are already
disagreeing with me. Yes it is possible for the rider to have control over the elephant. No
doubt youve seen circus elephants and even know that they are trained from young by
being tied to a small stick. Later in life they are controlled with a nasty hook wielded by
their trainer.
Ive met people who have been similarly trained from young. Their parents keep a very
tight control and strict discipline. In later life they are highly disciplined and keep a tight
lid on their emotions. Sure it happens. All of those I have met, are sad, lonely people.
Changes often fail because the Rider simply cant keep the Elephant on
the road long enough to reach the destination.
The riders intention to delay gratification is outmatched by the desire for the just this
once payoff. The Elephants hunger for instant gratication is the opposite of the Riders
strength, which is the ability to think long-term, to plan, to think beyond the moment (all
those things that your pet cant do).
But what may surprise you is that the Elephant also has enormous
strengths and that the Rider has crippling weaknesses.
The Elephant isnt always the bad guy. Emotion is the Elephants turflove and
compassion and sympathy and loyalty. That erce instinct you have to protect your kids
against harmthats the Elephant. That spine-stiffening you feel when you need to
stand up for yourselfthats the Elephant.
And even more important if youre contemplating a change, the Elephant is the one who
gets things done. To make progress toward a goal, whether its noble or crass, requires
the energy and drive of the Elephant. And this strength is the mirror image of the Riders
great weakness: spinning his wheels. The Rider tends to overanalyze and overthink
things. Chances are, you know people with Rider problems: your friend who can agonize
for twenty minutes
about what to eat for dinner; your colleague who can brainstorm about new ideas for
hours but cant ever seem to make a decision
So when you hear people say that change is hard because people are lazy or resistant,
thats just at wrong. In fact, the opposite is true: Change is hard because people wear
themselves out.
And thats the second surprise about change: What looks like laziness is often
exhaustion.
Direct the Rider, Motivate the Elephant and Shape the Path for them both to travel.
Remember, youre not defining the miracle itselfe.g., it would be a miracle if your
marriage was great, you got a big bonus at work, and your community experienced a big
economic turnaround (like the opposite of a Country & Western song, except your dog
would also have to come back). Rather, youre trying to find something concrete you can
work toward and the first small sign will do this for you. The Exception Question is the
most useful question to start with, but the Miracle Question will help if you cant think of
any existing bright spots.
Bright spots are not the same as benchmarking. The fact that someone else is
outperforming you on some front does not mean that theyre a bright spot. (It wouldnt
be helpful, after all, to tell an alcoholic that a sober person is a bright spot.) People
resist being told, Why arent you more like your sister? Bright spots are specific to the
individual (or team).
Where are YOU succeeding now, or where have YOU succeeded before?
By pinpointing those moments, you can avoid triggering the not invented here
reaction. You can reassure people that theyre capable of solving their own problems.
Are there certain people, teams or units that are leading the way? Are there certain
managers or salespeople who exemplify the direction youre headed? If so, those are
your bright spots. You should go shadow them and figure out what theyre doing thats
making their performance better than others.
You may have a list of 20 things youd like to accomplish but can you rank-order them?
What would be the most cost-effective way of making progress? Remember, you dont
need to develop the complete battle plan, you just need to take a substantial step
toward your final destination. Go for the Power of the First Step.
For a change effort to work, leaders have to transform aspirations into actions. And
there isnt always a neat, elegant translation. Think up some behavioural
approximations.
Take your change appeal and put a squiggly line under every abstraction (i.e., everything
that wouldnt create a clear mental picture in the mind of your grandmother, front-line
employee, customer, etc.) How many abstractions can you just get rid of? For the few
critical concepts that remain, can you come up with a specific example?
If youre trying to decide between different critical moves for your team, try assessing
your options using the following checklist. Put checkmark beside how many features a
particular move would have. Give priority to critical moves that evoke more parts of the
framework.
The richer the vision, in all five senses, the more attractive (and easy to communicate) it
becomes. When we know where we are going, its so much easier to find it when we get
near.
Metrics make poor destinations. SMART goals are fine but they should also be inspiring
enough to motivate the Elephant. Same goes for financial goalsreturn on equity or
gross margin targets are not going to inspire many people.
Is your destination clear enough that people will know when to celebrate? This has been
called the Champagne Test. Would you know when to crack the bottle of the
champagne? Consider JFKs 1961 call to put a man on the moon. Its pretty obvious
when the champagne should flow! Does your destination pass the test?
But B&W goals create a danger of demoralization if you dont meet them consistently.
For instance, think of the dieters who blow their diet a few times and then give up, going
back to chips and Ben & Jerrys on a daily basis. To avoid that kind of overreaction to
failure, see the section on the growth mindset.
Things you see are more likely to evoke emotion than things you read. Create a picture
of the result if the change is not made?
Negative emotions are effective to motivate people to tackle short-run challenges that
require clear, forceful action. Theyre less effective when people need to think flexibly or
creatively. Which do you need? If you need to inspire positive emotion, can you point to
a bright spot that reminds people that theyve succeeded in the past?
Imagine that, in making the case for change to your people, you werent allowed to
speak to them directly. Instead, you had a camera crew at your disposal who would film
anything you wanted them to film, and you could pick any 10 minutes of footage that
they shot. What would be happening in that footage?
Imagine that you can show your colleagues a video of one person talking, and the video
has to persuade them that change is necessary. Who is the person? An employee whos
seen problems firsthand? A customer whos sick and tired of the status quo? A
competitor who is light-years ahead of you on something?
Here are some candidates for the two stamps: How far have you come in the last week?
Month? Quarter? Year? Decade? Does looking at the historical overview give you
confidence that you can tackle the current challenge which may look small in
comparison?
When people dread change, shrink it down as much as you can. Can you try a new
approach on one customer? Can you spend one minute practicing the new sales pitch?
Burnout happens when a person confronts the same problems, over and over, without
feeling progress. What is a clear milestone that youll recognize enough to celebrate?
Are you being specific with your goals? How long do you have to wait before you have a
sense of how yourre doing? If the answer is months, you have the wrong goals. If its
hours or days, thats great.
Think week.
Would you agree with that statement? If so, you dont have an identity challenge. If not,
you do.
What do you pride yourself on? Which one adjective would most flatter you? Creative?
Hard-nosed? People-focused? Customer- obsessed? Honest? Frugal? Etc. If that adjective
seems like one that many people would agree, then youre probably on the right track
toward finding the right identity.
Doctors and nurses respond to identity as healers. Parents respond to their identity as
Moms and Dads. Citizens will respond to their identity as Singaporeans, Brits. People of
faith respond to identity as Christians, Muslims, Budhists.
Diagnose whether they have the fixed or growth mindset. Share some of the research
showing that the growth mindset is essential to realize your potential. If people have a
fixed mindset they may see hard work and effort as signs that the problem is intractable
or that they are not the right kind of people to tackle itcan you help them understand
that they are building muscle that will pay off in the future?
Can you instil the idea that failing is often the best way to learn?
In fact, some would argue that if you have never failed, you havent tried hard enough.
Especially if you have yet to truly succeed.
Emphasize tweak.
You dont need to rearrange the walls in your building. Small changes are easier to
manifest, easier to sustain and easier to habitualize.
What one thing can you shift to make the right behaviours more likely?
Think of the way McDonalds designs its environment so that its employees can deliver
food with incredible consistency, despite a lack of work experience (or an excess of
motivation). They pay obsessive attention to every step of the process. The ketchup
dispenser, for instance, isnt like the one in your fridge. It has a plunger on top that,
when pressed, delivers precisely the right amount of ketchup for one burger. That way,
if you have to deliver 10 burgers in a minute, you dont have to think at all. You just
press the plunger 10 times. Have you looked at your own operations through that lens?
Have you made every step as easy as possible on your employees?
Think about the people who are resisting the change efforts at work. Are you guilty of
the Fundamental Attribution Error with them? (I.e., have you concluded that they are
foot-draggers or fossils?) Focus on behaviour, not the person.
Amazon has made millions of dollars because of its 1-Click Ordering button. All that
button did was remove 1 or 2 steps from the normal checkout process. What 1 or 2
steps can you remove from the normal course of business for your employees?
The power of action triggers is that decisions are pre-loaded. If you want to act in a
new way (adopting a new exercise plan, being more diligent about your managerial
reviews, etc.), picture the exact time and situation when you will execute the plan. For
instance, I will check in on Julies progress tomorrow morning right after Ive poured my
first cup of coffee. (Note: the best action triggers are unique. Putting up the fifth Post-It
note on your desk, or the 23rd calendar reminder in your email program is unlikely to
act as a good cue.)
Can you piggyback a new habit on an old one? Its easiest to start a new routine when
you can build it onto an existing routine that happens at a regular time and place. If you
often forget to take your vitamins in the morning, put the vitamin bottle on top of the
toothpaste.
You know youre going to remember to brush your teeth, so you can piggyback your
vitamin habit on your tooth- brushing habit. Similarly, it might be easier for hospitals to
get doctors to wash their hands if they put sanitizer levers beside the trays where they
pick up a patients chart squeeze and rub before picking up the chart.
Create a checklist.
Suppose you had a five-item checklist for the most important routines in your business.
What 5 things do you need to do every time? (Note were not advocating long checklists.
The preflight checklist to launch a 747 is less than a page!)
If you take an axe and swing at the tree just five times every single day, eventually, the
tree will come down. If you had to do just five things every day, what are those five
things.
What is the aspect of your change efforts that people tend to put off, or that tends to
get displaced in favour of more urgent work? Share your action triggers with others,
they will help you remain accountable.
When someone identifies themselves with a clear, understood identity, the path may be
pre-shaped.
Social pressure will influence others to conform. But beware if only a minority is doing
something. Publicizing this fact may lead others to slack off.
People who resist change may tend to cluster together and create a kind of echo
chamber. They may conclude, falsely, that most people dislike the new direction as
much as they do. As a manager, you can help fight the echo chamber by showcasing
people who are actively supporting the change. Shine a spotlight on the early signs of
success.
Dont settle,
John