Lesson 9: Understanding Fear of Change - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Lesson

9: Understanding Fear of Change

CoachingSlide2

Step 1: Be Present to Coach

Step 2: Connecting as a Coach

Step 3: Coaching to Extend Learning

3 Steps to Powerful Interactions Coaching

In order to “connect” with our

coachees

, it is helpful for coaches to understand individuals’ fear of change and constructive ways of navigating

that fear as well as what motivates people (and then trial and error learn what motivates the person you’re coaching

).Slide3

Discussion/Reflection:

Why is any kind of major change hard? (personal or professional)Slide4

Why is Change Hard?

3

Many resist change because they aren’t sure what it will involve and what it will “look like” so they aren’t really sure what to do.Change is very

hard

to do without

motivation but most initiatives don’t adequately motivate those involved to embrace the change.Many involved have a hard time seeing the good things about a new way of doing things or why the new way is better than the old way.Slide5

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

All change efforts usually have one thing in common:“For anything to change, someone has to start acting differently

.”

But

the question is always: “Can you get people

to start behaving in a new way?”

Have you had thoughts or even worries as a Coach about being able to “get people to start behaving in new ways?”Slide6

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

“In our lives, we embrace lots of big changes . . . babies, moves, marriages, new homes and new technologies and new job duties.”

- Chip and Dan Heath

So that means that it is quite possible for people to change.Slide7

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

Each of us has two parts to us:We have the emotional sideand

the rational

side

(the elephant)

(the rider)

Who ultimately has the power to “take control?”Slide8

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

“Anytime the six-ton Elephant and the Rider disagree about which direction to go, the Rider is going to lose. He’s completely overmatched.”

The Rider appears in control, but the Elephant is much bigger, stronger, and has more endurance.Slide9

Rogue Elephant Tramples 15 to Death

in India

"Villagers are living in fear, especially the Paharia tribe that lives on the upper hillier regions where the elephant roams. Something must be done." “The environment ministry estimates a person dies every day in India in clashes with these endangered, jungle-dwelling animals -- the vast majority crushed by elephants.”

© Provided by AFP

8/9/2017

Elephants

kill roughly 60 people every year in India's forested eastern state of Jharkhand

In our Rider / Elephant metaphor, what would

something like this be symbolic of?Slide10

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

Our emotions can overwhelm our rational thought and “trash the village.”But relying solely on rational behavior can “overanalyze and

over-think

things.”

Have you found this to be true? How so?Slide11

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

The elephant most of the times seems to disagree with the rider making it very difficult for the rider to go in the correct path

.

Consider

a person who wants to wake up at 5:45 a.m. to workout before work but the other side of us when the alarm clock goes off doesn’t like waking up to plain darkness in the morning and just wants to snoozes for a few more minutes. That’s an example of your heart and your mind having a disagreement

. Slide12

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

When we are making decisions we're often torn between our rational, logical reasons and our emotional, intuitive feelings.Tell

the

Rider what

to do, provide a good argument and the Rider will do it. The

Elephant, on the other hand, represents our emotions, our gut response and may not “buy” the argument. Slide13

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

What looks like laziness is often exhaustion when the Elephant and Rider are on two different pages.

Trying

to

push the Elephant by persuasion exhausts the Rider (mind). Dieting example:When dieting, if a person works hard at meal planning, meal prepping, and staying away from fattening foods because he/she is on a diet, the mind will get

exhausted and it no longer wants to fight the temptation any longer – so, the dieter gives in.

The Elephant will usually win over the Rider.

It is important to note

that things are not always as they seem. Slide14

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

And, what looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity.“If the Rider isn’t sure exactly

what direction

to go, he tends to lead himself in circles

.”To “switch” or change practice, we have to tune into both sides of our mind – The Rider and The Elephant and understand these facets of those we coach.

To “prepare a path” we have to DIRECT the Rider (clarity/facts) and MOTIVATE (support, encourage) the Elephant.Slide15

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

And, what looks like a people problem

is often a

situation problem

.Case study:Researchers gave free popcorn to movie goers in large and extra large containers (both too big to finish). The popcorn had been popped five days earlier and was quite stale.

The goal? To see if people given larger buckets ate more (buckets weighed before distribution and after the movie when the moviegoer had finished).People with the larger containers ate more popcorn.Slide16

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

Case study:The study was repeated in different cities and with different genres of movies and the results were always the same:People eat more when you give them a bigger container. Period.

Now, imagine someone showed you the data from the popcorn study but didn’t mention bucket sizes. You might conclude that some people are reasonable

snackers

and others are big gluttons.A public health expert might get worried about the gluttons and decide “we need to motivate these people to adopt healthier snacking behaviors and educate the public about the health hazards of eating so much!”

See how easy it would be to turn an

easy change problem

(shrinking buckets) into a

hard change problem

(convincing people to think and behave differently)?

And that is the first surprise about change: What looks like a “people problem” is often a situation problem.Slide17

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

So how does the rider work with the elephant to move it along the path?“If

the Rider can direct the Elephant down

a

well prepared Path then there is a goodchance for change.”What do you think “the Path” represents?Slide18

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

So how does the rider move the elephant along the path?Direct the Rider

Motivate

the

ElephantShape the PathEffective change processes manageboth aspects — direct the rider and motivate the

elephant. Then, when they’re “on the same page,” shape the path they will take. Slide19

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

1. Direct the Rider= Script the critical movesThe rider needs crystal-clear directions and help finding “bright spots” rather than a problem-focused orientation.

You

want to show him exactly where to go,

how to act, and what destination to pursue. Slide20

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

The Rider part of our minds has many strengths

. “

The Rider is a thinker and a planner and can plot

a course for a better future.”

But the Rider has a terrible weakness- the tendency to spin his wheels because the Rider loves to contemplate and analyze, and, making matters worse, his analysis is almost always directed at problems rather than at bright spots.

The Rider will spin his

wheels indefinitely

unless he’s given clear direction.Slide21

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

2. Motivate the Elephant = Take away the fear by shrinking the change into small, manageable steps

so

the Elephant doesn’t get spooked

“Find the feeling.” Behavior change happens mostly by speaking to people’s feelings.Engage people’s emotional side, provide motivation.

Slide22

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

The

Elephant has enormous strengths: Love, compassion, sympathy, and loyalty – the ability to stand up for what is right. To reach a goal requires the energy and drive of the Elephant.

But the Elephant has some serious weaknesses – they’re skittish and can be lazy, unwilling to make short-term sacrifices for long-term payoffs.

The

Elephant’s hunger for instant gratification is the opposite of the Rider’s ability to think long-term.Slide23

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

If you want to change things, you’ve got to appeal to both. The Rider provides planning and direction and the Elephant provides the energy.

If you reach the Riders of your team but not the Elephants, team members will have understanding without motivation.

If you reach the Elephants and not their Riders, they’ll have passion without direction.

A reluctant Elephant and a wheel-spinning Rider can ensure that nothing changes.Slide24

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

3. Shape the Path = Build a habit. Good habits/practices are behavioral “autopilots” (Rider doesn’t have to take charge)

Behavior is contagious because people have a natural tendency to want to fit in. “Positive peer pressure” helps people move along the path.

Remember: What looks like a “people problem” is often a situation problem (including the surrounding environment). When you shape the path, change is more likely to happen.

The situation is “the path.”Slide25

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath

More on Shaping the Path:Facilitating change often requires a change in the environment – even small tweaks can assist in forming habits (why teachers use cubbies for young students and have “centers” for various materials).But there’s a mental component to shaping habits: action triggers

Just thinking about changing (losing weight, for example) won’t change behavior unless you actually mentally formulate action steps or “action triggers” by thinking of food changes and make a plan to pick up healthier items at the store, set a time to exercise, etc.Slide26

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

Most people think that change happens in this order:

ANALYZE



THINK  CHANGE

But big change situations don’t work like that. In most change situations, the parameters aren’t well understood, and the future is unclear. Because of the uncertainty that change brings, The Elephant is reluctant to move onto the path. Analytical arguments won’t overcome this reluctance.

Chip and Dan HeathSlide27

Switch: How To Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard

In successful change efforts, the sequence of change is:

SEE



FEEL  CHANGE

Individuals are presented with evidence that makes them feel something. It might be a disturbing look at a problem or a hopeful glimpse of a solution, or a sobering reflection of current habits but it is something that impacts the participant on an emotional level – it speaks to the Elephant.

Chip and Dan HeathSlide28

Discussion/Reflection:

In our overview of Switch, what stood out to you and why?

How do the principles of change in

Switch

align with either the 5 Principles of Coaching with Powerful Interactions or the 3 Steps of a Powerful Interaction?Slide29

Putting It into Practice:

Coaches’ Homework for Lesson 9:Consider the professionals on your team that you coach (or may be coaching) – your colleagues.

What are some ways you can break down something huge like

“practice change to implement DEC Recommended Practices”

into smaller bits that won’t frighten the Elephant?

What are some ways you can provide crystal clear directions to a colleague you are coaching (or may one day coach) to support his/her Rider?

Coaches will post their answers in the blog space on the team’s site: http://upcoaches.weebly.com/blog-spot

prior to Lesson

10

to document their work and to be accountable to the team!