Switch, How to Change Things When Change is Hard

I recently read the best selling book entitled Switch, How to Change Things When Change is Hard.  This book gives some solid advice that can help you in business, wether you run a merchant services business like me, a vending machine company, or are CEO of Microsoft.  This book also has some practical advice on how to change things for the better in marriage, in friendships, and in government.  Please note, I am talking about the good type of change, not “hype” change that both sides of Washington DC like to talk about.

Here are my notes.  If I gave this to you in parapgraph form, it would take you just about as long to read the book.  Enjoy!

How to Effect Change – ANYWHERE:

1. Direct The Rider – Tell them what is going to happen and what they need to do.A. Find the Bright Spots (Where are things going right, especially things that are going right that are doing much better than anywhere else).  Then find a way to duplicate it – cloning it is very good!

• Ask the Exception question.  When does the problem not occur or the good thing occur?
• Ask the Miracle Question. Hypothetically, when you wake up in the morning and your problems are solved, what’s the 1^st small sign that things have changed?
  (This tells you what they really want and what the goal could be).   Then ask:   > When was the last time something like this happened to you, even if just for a little
        bit?  (This can possibly identify the solution to the problem for you).

       2.  Give a destination end goal. (E.G. Together let’s save 100,000 lives!)

       3.   Script their critical moves (start and finish).  Guide rules so they can make the right decision at the critical times.

       4.  Motivate Elephant (Emotional Appeal).  Motivate them on the vision.  (E.G. Together let’s save 100,000 lives!)

• Help them FEEL the problem and FEEL what the solution will be like and FEEL like.
• Appeal to THEIR INTERESTS.
• Fear works, but should be used sparingly.  Same but to a lesser degree with anger and degust.
• Joy causes us to broaden the tasks for the future and causes us to want to pursue bigger goals.
• If you need a reluctant elephant to get moving you need to shrink the change, make it actually smaller and make it seem like it already has started.
• Have the plan give QUICK WINS right from the start.
• Set the expectation of failure during parts of the path to success.  We will win in the end, and it will be a big win, but there will be real setbacks along the path.
• Teach your team to have a “growth mindset” instead of a “fixed mindset.”  We don’t get better by being good.  We get better by working hard, failing, learning from that and getting better and better and better.

1. Shape The Path

• Make the journey easier, a downhill flow.
• Give detailed enough instructions (super-detailed not really needed) to allow for knowing what to do, with minimal effort, and you’ll get more people to do what you need to do.
• Attribution Error – assuming you have a people problem instead of a situation/environment problem when things aren’t getting done right.
• Make everything as easy as possible.  You’ll get more compliance.
• Change the path to an easier path and you’ll dramatically increase your chances to get a change in behavior.
• Steps to success in shaping the path:1) Tweak the environment – Setup the surroundings to maximize getting people to do what you want them to do (e.g. seating by client instead of product line, e.g.2 having medication administrating place in a sound proof room or wearing medication vest – to eliminate distraction and multi-tasking), e.g.2, (no interruption hours in the work place to allow programmers to focus on coding), e.g. 3 get bad food out of the house when on a diet.) e.g. 4 Rack space focus company on fanatical customer service (make it a core value), getting rid of call queue system.
  
  2)  Build habits     
  a) small environmental tweaks can make a difference (e.g. rearrange office, rack space, back from NAM)
  b) See if you can piggy back an action trigger onto an existing habit
  c) Create a check list (process)
  d) Meeting rhythm (stand up meeting, etc.)
   
  3) Rally the herd 
  

   

  First,  Once the majority are doing it, publicize it. Then, Get everyone to do it, at all hands meetings, make things and guides universal and simple.  Note: When NORMS are against’ you don’t publish the data.  When the are for you, share the data.  This will effect where people are  headed.                                 

Misc Notes:

• Bad is stronger than good.  People focus on bad. (Think of your kids, all A’s and one F. – what would you do? More negative words in English than positive words) 
• The more choices the rider is offered the more exhausted he gets.  So the more choices you give people, the greater the chance they choose decision paralysis. 
• When given choice between 2 new choices and old choice, vast majority take old choice.  Only give 1 new choice if you don’t want decision paralysis. 
• Small Change Process = Analyze > Think > Change (remove costs by 5%) 
• Big Change Process = See > Feel > Change (restructure public policy, restructure organization).  Feel = Bad News of Current Situation, or a bright look at your future. 
• People often have positive illusions about themselves.   They see themselves and their work more positively than most other people.  How do you combat this without being overly negative to them? 
• Change is hard because people are reluctant to change things that have worked well in the past.  So if people think there is a crisis, they are much more willing to accept change.  Fear is a very powerful motivator.  Yet, this really should not be done often and should be legitimate.
• Shrink the change.  Make people feel they are already closer to the finish line than they actually may be.  (We are already 20% of the way there, or 50% of the way there, etc.) 
• People make decisions for 1 of 2 reasons
               1) Cost-benefit analysis
               2) Their person identity. 
• You can change someone’s identity, or use identity to make them do something        e.g.1:  Saving the Parrot on St. Lucia Island (making the Parrot part of the national identity).       e.g. 2: Get people to agree to a very small community minded thing (sign a petition, then 2 weeks later, ask them to put up a yard sign for you).  You will see a 70% lift in people saying yes to the yard sign because a great % of those people now see their identity as “good citizen.”   

• People with a “growth mindset” people are more successful in life.

1. They believe they can get better at just about anything or anything.
2. They are willing to accept failure.
3. They want to work hard to win.
4. They praise their kids and people based on efforts and results, not natural talents.

• People with a “fixed mindsets” see their abilities as fixed traits they are born with it or not.

1. a.       These people are not nearly as successful.

• People can be “reprogrammed” into “Growth Mindset” people, by being trained “The brain is like a muscle, work it out, and you can get better at everything.”  This hard work will lead to success.  This was tested on school kids struggling at school in jr. high an A group learning study skills and a B group learning “the brain is like a muscle.”  The muscle group outperformed the study skills group substantially.
   
• Tweak the Environment & Build Habits: Drugs in Vietnam e.g. – 50% trend occasionally, 20% addicted.  After war, 1% used.  Environment is what caused drug use.  Not stress of war, just the culture of drug use, readably available use.  After war, hard to get, scorn of those around you if you use it, surrounding drug-free culture.  So if you can change what is seen is good, and get buy-in you change the environment and habits.
   
• Tweak the Environment & Build Habits e.g.: Worst school in TN, bad kids at home from horrible parenting.  Setting up a valet, all school assembly, with discipline.  Bad kids became good kids.
• Groups fail to respond as fast or proactive to problems as individuals because the inaction of the rest of the group, sends an alert to the rest of the team, that it is not a problem.
   
• People do things because they see other people doing them.  So, have people see the behavior you want them to do and it can spread.
• Change the HERD.  Once people get used to a change effort their liking of it increases usually.  E.g. Eiffel Tower in Paris, Parisians, Hate > Tolerate > Love it.
• Change is a gradual thing and small changes snowball into big changes.
  
• Big Change: Having kids works because it follows the entire pattern of rider, elephant, path.

Rally The Herd – Persuasion & Propaganda:

Working “Designated Driver” concept worked into every sitcom for 5 seconds across many sitcom shows in the 1989 through 1990.   By 1991, 37% of Americans were then familiar with the term designated driver.  Traffic fatalities dropped from 23,000 per year to 17,000 per year.