Switch: How to change things when change is hard

by Marisela Garcia

Change is a present and occurring phenomenon. It is evident everyday and in every area of our lives. However, why are individuals and/or groups of individuals so reluctant to change? Switch: How to change things when change is hard, written by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, provides three key elements necessary to create a change. Heath and Heath affirm that in order for things to change, somebody somewhere has to start ACTING differently by appealing to the emotional and rational sides of the person. 

Before beginning to understand the “how to”, Heath and Heath describe three surprises about change. First, what looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. They go on to emphasize that in order to change someone’s behavior, you need to change their situation. Secondly, Heath and Health state that change is hard because people ware themselves out. Therefore, the second surprise about change is what looks like laziness is just exhaustion. Lastly, what looks like resistance is often lack of clarity. Often times, the change process is made to be so complicated and lack of clarity and instruction can be mistaken for resistance. 

The analogies of rider, elephant and paths are introduced to represent the human rational and emotional sides. Both of which are critical in enacting change in a person, organization or society. Directing the Rider refers to appealing to someone’s rational by providing a clear direction. Three specifics to understand when directing the rider are to follow the bright spots, script the critical moves and point to the destination. By following the bright spots, we investigate what’s working and clone it. Rather than focusing on what’s not working and why it’s not working, we look for the solution. One story mentioned in the book that exemplifies directing the rider, is the story of Bobby. Bobby is a ninth grader who seems to find himself always in trouble at school. His teachers complain about his lateness to class, his disruptiveness and poor academic progress. Bobby was referred to a counselor in an effort to determine why Bobby’s behavior lacked. Murphy has a different approach when it comes to therapy and counseling. She utilized the solutions focused therapy which focuses on what’s working right and seeks to build on “workable” solutions. Bobby’s session went a little like this:

Murphy: Tell me about the times at school when you don’t get in trouble as much.

Bobby: I never get in trouble, well, not a lot in Ms. Smiths class.

Murphy- What’s different about Ms. Smith’s class?

Bobby- I don’t know, she’s nicer. We get along great

Murphy- What exactly does she do that’s nicer? 

This approach type of approach is an example of directing the rider by following the bright spots, or focusing on what’s working. At the end of the sessions, Murphy wrote up a report which included what Ms. Smith did different in her class. Bobby stated she greeted him at the beginning of class, and she was attentive when assignments were given. Murphy provided this information and suggestions to the rest of the teachers. Bobby’s behavior improved. 

Motivating your elephant means to appeal to the emotions of an individual. Way to appeal to emotion, as described in the book, is to find the feeling, shrink the change and grow your people. To find the feeling would be to make people feel something. An example of this is the case of Target. In 1992, Target was at a level of retail that did not compare to its competitors, Wal Mart and Kmart. Target’s sales were low and customers were complaining that the clothing was boring. At this time, Robyn Waters was hired in charge of the fashion designs of the store. At a time when the use of color was blooming, Water’s noticed that the designs and clothing of the store were bland and boring. She approached the CEO about changing things up. Being numbers driven, the CEO was motivated by reports of previous years which showed that colors weren’t selling. Waters knew that appealing to the rational was out of the question, so she figured a way to appeal to his emotional side. Water buys bags of bright-colored M&M’s and brings in sample bright colored clothing to the next meeting. The reaction: WOW! Water began to feed on the reaction by making statements such as: “see, look at your reaction to color, see how it catches and draws your attention?” This was the beginning of trendy fashion designs at Target. Many times, giving us the feel for a change is the driving force to enacting change. 

Lastly, to shape the path means to change the situation. Often times, the people aren’t the problem; the situation is what needs fixing. To shape the path would require tweak the environment, building habits and rallying the herd. In the example of Mr. Miller, we see how he uses each of these. Mr. Miller, a teacher, has problems with two boys who are always late to class and spend the time during class laughing and disrupting the class. Usually, Mr. Miller would just send the boys to the principal’s office. However, he realized this was not working; he needed to change the situation. His idea of changing the situation meant closing and locking the door after the bell rang (tweak the environment), giving daily quizzes at the beginning of class (building habits) and posting up an on-time record in the classroom (rallying the herd). 

This book is in direct correlation to Positive Deviance (PD). The drive behind PD is change through action. This book emphasizes that ultimately, all change efforts boil down to the same mission: Can you get people to start behaving in a new way? In the same way, PD emphasizes acting your way into a new way of thinking. 

Change isn't an event; it’s a process.