From Resistance to Resilience: 8 Lessons for Mastering Change from Chip and Dan Heath’s ‘Switch’

This is part two of an ongoing series exploring the effective change management strategies set out in Switch, by Dan and Chip Heath. For Part One, click here.

Understanding the Model: Elephant, Rider, and Path

Chip and Dan Heath use a model for change, likening those individuals facing change to Elephants with Riders atop. The Elephant is the emotive, impulsive part of us, which can have a lot of energy under the right conditions. But, elephants can also get drawn off the path easily. The Rider is more akin to our analytical brain, which looks for risks, considers alternatives and can direct the Elephant. But the Rider needs the right motivations. Both Rider and Elephant also need a Path to guide them.

The Heath brothers tell us how to direct said Rider in part two of their book, which we will be exploring today.

Clear Instructions for the Rider

Riders need specific, clear, manageable instructions to help them follow the path. Riders have a tendency to overanalyse and suffer from decision paralysis. I’m sure we all know a friend or colleague who struggles to make even the most straightforward decisions and instead is overwhelmed by the options available. This, the Heath Brothers say, is Analysis Paralysis. This is similar, but subtly different, from The Paradox of Choice. This term was coined by psychologist Barry Schwartz in his 2004 work of the same title. Schwartz showed that giving people more choices slowed down decision making.

Simplicity in the Message: Scripting Key Decisions

The Heath brothers point to the need to create simplicity in your message. “Make it simple, not because your people are stupid, but because simplicity breeds action.” That’s the golden nugget from their study in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Picture this: doctors faced with a patient needing hip surgery, but a last-minute medication could be a game-changer. When presented with one option, 47% of doctors gave it a shot. Introduce a second option, and only 28% took action. Why? Decision paralysis.

It’s not just doctors; businesses face it too—revenue versus profitability, quality versus speed. The more options, the more we freeze. Simplify, like Costco’s “Calvin Klein jeans story” or the motto at an Australian credit union: “We don’t want to be first but sure as hell don’t want to be third.” Simple strategies cut through the noise and spark action, without dumbing things down.

Facing Ambiguity

We resist change due to the ambiguity and uncertainty it introduces—uncertainty about our roles, responsibilities, future career paths, or even the existence of our roles post-change. This ambiguity triggers anxiety, leading us to cling to the familiar path of the status quo during anxious moments. Consequently, change faces resistance. Effective Change Management Strategies see Senior Leaders play a hands-on role in scripting the details for their teams, minimizing ambiguity, and offering a clear direction forward.

Systematic Decision-Making

Remove decision-making from individuals and delegate it to a systematic process. This isn’t about excessive control or introducing red tape; it’s about expediting crucial decisions. If you’re caught in lengthy financial data analysis, consider whether there’s a financial principle that can guide the decision-making process. In the public sector, procurement rules serve this purpose, dictating that public bodies, for instance, cannot consider past performance and must prioritize delivering the best value to taxpayers. In cases of equally competitive bids, they are obligated to choose the most cost-effective option.

Focusing on Positives: Bright Spots in Change

Beyond keeping things simple, you must also find the bright spots in your change to give your people something to head towards when the fog of uncertainty sets in. Humans have a propensity to focus on the negative. A simple glance at the news headlines can tell you that much. News editors have come up with a handy shortcut for prioritizing news stories, “if it bleeds, it leads”.

In change, however, you will need to focus on the bright spots. Which parts of your business are already adapting to new technologies, which positive areas of the culture do you want to highlight, where are things going well? In short, we need to change from focusing on the negative aspects to evangelizing the positives that we want to see replicated.

The Destination Postcard

With change creating so much uncertainty, the Rider (and your staff) need clarity. We’ve seen how both clarity of process and clarity of message are important, but so is clarity of vision.

When you start a change, you are unlikely to have a clear destination ready to articulate. But, you can tell your people how things will be meaningfully different afterward. Chip and Dan call this vision a ‘Destination Postcard’. You might not be able to articulate how you will get to the destination, but you know darn well what it will look like when you get there.

A Teacher’s Vision

Drawing inspiration from various industries, including oil, education, and medicine, the Heath brothers illustrate this concept. A particularly charming example involves an Atlanta teacher facing the challenge of instructing a diverse class of youngsters. Describing her predicament, she shares:

“I had two or three students who could recognize kindergarten sight words, and also I had some who couldn’t even hold their pencils.”

This anecdote unfolds to showcase how, armed with a destination postcard, the teacher successfully presented her students with a clear vision. In this instance, the vision was straightforward: ‘next year you will be third graders,’ a significant leap for the current first graders.

This is an effective change management strategy because it provides a tangible goal for the next year. The success of this vision, as narrated, lies in its simplicity—it is easily understandable for the first graders, devoid of unnecessary complexity, and undoubtedly memorable. After all, it’s a vision worth boasting about for a first grader aspiring to third-grade skills.

Summing Up the Journey

In our journey through Chip and Dan Heath’s “Switch,” we’ve learned that simplicity is the linchpin of effective change management. The study in The Journal of the American Medical Association illustrates the power of simplicity in decision-making, a principle equally applicable to businesses facing choices between revenue and profitability.

Beyond simplicity, we’ve explored the importance of leaders taking a hands-on role in scripting details to combat resistance bred from uncertainty. Amidst the challenges of change, focusing on bright spots becomes the beacon, shifting the narrative from negativity to positive evangelism.

As we close this exploration, envision change as a journey where simplicity, clear vision, and highlighting positives light the path forward. Embrace change, script your journey, and let the Destination Postcard guide you to success.

If you have enjoyed this blog, I strongly encourage you to go out and by Chip and Dan Heath’s excellent book Switch.