by Sarah Kear
With so much choice it's easy to spin your wheels in over-analysis.
Certified Organic, Fairly Traded, Carbon Neutral, Zero Waste . . .
If you haven’t shut me out yet, I’m lucky. All of those terms represent big challenges to “the way things have always been done,” in business. Since the first time we were able to take advantage of cheap labour conditions, or were able to deplete and pollute the natural resources of one area after another, humanity has been doing business in a fairly irresponsible way. However, changing climate patterns, decreasing global water availability, concentrations of toxins, and the fact that over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50/ day means that something has got to change. In response to our global situation, more and more business are responding by incorporating sustainability values into the way they operate. They know it is a good move for the future of their business and the health of the communities and ecosystems they work in, but bleep it’s hard work!
For any one person, organization or business, change is hard because well, “it means you have to start acting differently”. Chip and Dan Heath have added to the ocean of literature on change management (or self-help) with their new book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard. It’s not the most thorough on the topic, by any means, but true to their claim to fame, it is the most sticky I’ve ever come across. And when you’re just starting out on the change path, that is exactly what you need.
According to the Brothers Heath, for change efforts to be successful, you’ve got to appeal to the instinctive and emotional Elephant, the reflective and rational Rider, and you’ve got to clear a Path to make it easier for them to take their journey.
Why Elephant and Rider? The Heaths paint the picture this way (based on The Happiness Hypothesis, by Jonathan Haidt). “Perched atop the Elephant, the Rider holds the reins and seems to be the leader. But the Rider’s control is precarious because the Rider is so small relative to the Elephant. Anytime the six-ton Elephant and the Rider disagree about which direction to go, the Rider is going to lose.”
It’s true the heart and head often disagree with each other, but to say emotions are uncontrollable and reason is the natural leader would be too simplistic. Each has its weaknesses and strengths.
The Elephant’s weaknesses are clear. Our emotions and instincts will always choose quick-payoffs for instant gratification. It’s hard to take short-term sacrifices for rewards in the future. Often the Rider can’t keep the Elephant on a path for change long enough to arrive at success. However, if you can get the Elephant’s heart into the job with hope, joy or love, the harnessed inspiration can really get a job done with enough energy to get to the final destination.
The Rider on the other hand, excels at thinking about the future and making plans, but even this can go too far. Riders can over think situations and get so paralyzed by analysis that they never act.
The Path needs to be made as clear and easy as possible, because, let’s face it, the Rider and the Elephant often disagree with each other about which way to move next. The Rider can tug on the reins for a while with sheer will power, but after a while exhaustion will take over and the Elephant will probably choose not to move. Who wants to hack through the thick undergrowth of change if the watering hole is still a fair ways off?
The “ah ha!” that the Heath Brothers point out about this stalemate, is that it’s not about the people. They are not lazy or misguided. The problem, rather, is situational. Changing ingrained behavioural patterns is hard work. It is an exhausting act of self-discipline. Our habits are automatic — our brain does not have to put any energy towards them — but learning new behaviours or skills requires deliberation and concentration. The way to get around this stress, suggest the Heaths, is to tweak the environment or situation as much as possible to make the Path obstacle free. This will free up the mental and emotional energy that can be put towards creative problem solving and staying positive.
For examples of strategies on directing the Rider, motivating the Elephant and shaping the Path, please continue reading at Part II.
© 2012 
