Leading Fearless Change in Organizations Mary Lynn Manns Crescent PPO       March 2010 Intrigue them: How many people will change when told that if they don’t change their life is likely to be shortened. Tell PART of the story of the heart patients and the criminals.

What are your challenges in leading change?

In order to persuade someone to change, you need to create… (1) tension between the present state and the desired state (2) a belief in the ability to change How do you, as the change leader, create these two feelings? Tension – exercise person who always finds excuses Belief – I tried this before but it didn’t work; this is too hard Yeh, something needs to be done but we’ve tried this before

Tension Belief

How do we attempt to persuade? Fear What not to wear…. Ask Chip Chance you will change if given the facts – 10% Heart patients We like to think we are rational people. Facts can contradict Info overload You have to care about the facts Fear: Ah, that will never happen to me Rationalize Learned helplessness Short term wake-up call Need clear steps or will deny Force: Push back What happens when force goes away Fix: People hate change Facts Force Fix

Attempting to persuade with…. Force treats the symptoms rather than the underlying causes Laws, directives, policies, etc. do not create a fundamental change in thinking and behaving Criminals Rules in organizations Vision statements!

Attempting to persuade with…. Fear : works in the short term Too frightening to contemplate People use coping mechanisms to “justify” Example: an Inconvenient Truth Can backfire: Learned helplessness “Preventive innovations” have a low rate of adoption Wake-up call

Attempting to persuade…. you get frustrated and… Fix But what happens when the “fix” is gone? Money Medical pills I’ll just do it for them Solution not sustainable

Attempting to persuade with…. Facts Facts provide knowledge “factual battle” versus a “motivational battle” Information overload Conflicting facts – climate change Experiment – what caused you to buy your car?

Is there another ‘F’ word that can create a fundamental and sustainable change in thinking and behaving? Why did you buy your last car?... Honestly!

Feelings… Behavior change happens mostly by speaking to a people’s feelings. (John Kotter) Our emotions drive our decisions and then we use logic and reason to justify our decisions. People will forget what you said, forget what you did, but not forget how you made them feel. (Maya Angelou) First bullet: Back to the heart patients and the criminals – finish the story Second bullet: Why you bought your car Third bullet: Mary – recycling My decision to speak to Leadership Asheville Guy who had brain problems – orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) Our emotions are easy to draw on

knowledge – persuasion – decision – implementation – confirmation Knowledge (facts) – help the person understand the facts Persuasion (feelings) – help the person care about the facts

Knowledge: communicate information Stress the core of your message Elevator Speech Just Enough Concentrate on the possibilities Small problems Step by Step; propose a strategy Keep your message visible and frequent In Your Space Tackle preconceived notions Myth Buster Capture attention Wake-up Call Avoid the Curse of Knowledge “Anchor and Twist”

Persuasion: transform information into action Create an Emotional Connection Show a truth that influences feelings Match your idea to needs Personal Touch Use stories rather than statistics Hometown Story Allow people to imagine the future Imagine That! Show a truth that affects their feelings

Persuasion: transform information into action Recognize what people are losing Shoulder to Cry On Address the fear Fear Less Build ownership Group Identity

Making an Emotional Connection Show a truth that influences their feelings Other ways you can do this?...

Take-aways… Facts, Fear, Force, Fix do not persuade people to make a sustainable change Persuasion calls for an appeal to emotion rather than to logic Help individuals feel something (rather than only think about it). Inspire them to act. Show a truth that influences their feelings rather than only their logic. Feel something rather than only think about something Change happens one individual at a time

Leading change is hard, but… You miss 100% of the shots you never take. Feel something rather than only think about something 19

Leading Fearless Change in Organizations Mary Lynn Manns manns@unca.edu www. fearlesschangepatterns.com Crescent PPO       March 2010