The elephant and the rider – part 1

It is a fact that change is hard; even when we know there is a good reason for changing, we still struggle to live into our good intentions.  Phrases like “Well I know I shouldn’t …BUT” emerge from our lips.  Two American brothers called Dan & Chip Heath wrote a book called “Switch”, where they borrowed a metaphor first coined by Jonathan Haidt, which neatly explains this, the rider & the elephant.  There are a three key components to change:-

1. The rational mind (the rider)
2. The emotional mind (the elephant)
3. The environment (the path)

The video below explains it very succinctly.

I have long said that people need a reason to change, the What is in it For Me factor.  However, if it is just a rational reason, we tend to waiver.  How many of us have failed in our resolve to lose weight or get fit?  There has to be something to fight the need for comfort and instant gratification or just bad habits.  This is the path, or our environment.  If we want to lose weight, don’t fill the fridge with yummy treats.  You have to make it easy for people to build new habits and behaviours and reward them for doing so.

    More on this tomorrow…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2015 at 07:38 and is filed under Business Change, Culture Articles, Hints, Tips & Techniques, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.