Chris Bond's Review of "Switch: How to change Things when Change is Hard"
Posted by Tom Gledhill on Fri, Jul 01, 2011 @ 09:45 AM
Do you find it hard to change? Your habits, your manners, your style? If so, you may want to pick up this month's selection,
"Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard." This is Chip and Dan Heath's follow-up to their page-turning debut, "Made to Stick" and, while their latest is not quite as "sticky" as their first, it is still an outstanding book for anyone - a manager, parent, global citizen - who has a desire to understand
direction and motivation on the path to change. The heart of the book centers on this analogy: your emotional side is an elephant and your rational side is its rider. Most people reading this - perhaps not you! - have overeaten, procrastinated, and/or dialed up their ex at midnight. The Heath brothers argue that "any time the six-ton elephant and the rider disagree about which direction to go, the rider is going to lose."
It is for this reason we do things we later regret. When out of the blue you blast someone at the office because he/she is driving you nuts, you now know who to blame - it's the damn elephant's fault! Then again, if you're looking for someone or something to blame for your missteps in life, this probably isn't the kind of book you'd be seen reading.
Let's say you're trying to affect change in others, e.g. your clients or employees. One of the more powerful case studies the authors use centers on Dr. Donald Berwick, CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. In 2004, Berwick, frustrated by high medical defect rates that lead to thousands of patients dying unnecessarily every year, challenged a room full of hospital administrators to save 100,000 lives. And he set an exact timetable: by June 14, 2006 at 9AM the goal was to be met. The result: 122,300 lives saved from preventable mistakes. You can read the book to understand how the good doctor was able to
rally the troops and shape the path toward change, but you can note here that he started by saying, "Some is not a number, soon is not a time." It was his exact goal-setting approach that caused the switch. If you need to make changes, pick up Switch.
Good reading!
Chris