I once heard a Winston Churchill quote that stated, “There is nothing wrong with change, if it’s in the right direction.” The book that I read this semester, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, provides a nice framework for leading people to change in right directions. As the semester has gone by I have found that the book was extremely relevant in relating to the lessons that have been taught in class and the experiences that I have had in my life. The book provides a nice analogy of an elephant and a rider, which symbolizes the emotional and rational sides, respectively, to all individuals and groups. As this framework is presented in this paper, I will relate the books lessons to the theories that I learned in class and to my own personal experiences to give a strong analysis of its teachings.
Before digging into this view on change, I am going to define what the elephant and the rider actually is and how they affect each other in the road to change. This analogy is important to visualize because the image of a small rider and a large elephant really symbolizes how hard it is for the rational side of individuals to direct and motivate their emotional side. A few examples of the elephant overtaking the rider are when people procrastinate getting tasks done or overeating when they are trying to lose weight. These examples highlight the weaknesses of the elephant—the emphasis it places on quick payoff versus long term payoff. This is the reason why changes often fail because the rider cannot keep the elephant on the road long enough to reach its destination. When attempting to lead change both the rider and the elephant have to be reached and influenced because if you reach the riders, but not the elephant’s team members will have understanding without motivation. If it’s reversed there will be passion without direction.
The elephant-rider dichotomy is related to motivation theory that we learned in class. Particularly, this framework is aligned with the process-based perspectives of motivation that we learned. The expectancy theory really focuses on the emotional side of individuals. People have to understand that they value the potential outcome of the change that is going to be created. This is relevant in the elephant-rider relationship in that the rider’s ability to show the elephant that the destination is worth travelling affects the elephant’s desire to make the journey and eventually if the change is actually successful.
The first section of the book is entitled “Direct the Rider” and it deals with getting the rider to gain the ability to find the bright spots and point to the destination in their pursuit of change. It’s important that the rider knows why a change is warranted and where they are going on the path. This will give them better direction when leading the elephant on this journey. The book tells a story of a man named Jerry Sternin and his journey to Vietnam. He visited villages that were suffering from malnutrition. Jerry saw that this was an opportunity for this village to have a healthy and nutritious community, but also knew that an outsider’s lecture would not be effective in getting this point across. He allowed the villager’s to learn about the healthy foods and when they initiated the change they saw the result. It was important for the villager’s rational sides to see the impact their change was making. It was important to notice that the change was their change, something that arose from their village; it was their creation. The villager’s ability to initiate and sustain this change showed the strength’s of the rider. The villager’s ability to take on this project highlights that the rider is a thinker and planner who can plot a better course for the future. Next, the rider needs to point to the destination for the elephant to strive to reach. This is performed by having a compelling destination that corrects the riders weakness of getting lost in analysis. The key here is that when an attractive destination is seen the rider answers the question—How do I get there? This redirect’s the rider’s energy to more efficiently get to that destination.
In analyzing the organizational change lecture I noticed that the idea of needing to direct the rider’s of individuals within organizations relates most to Kotter’s third step to leading organizational change. This step is to develop a vision and strategy to guide the change process. The two major aspects of this step was very relevant in the Vietnam village example that was given previously. First, Jerry Sternin created a vision to help direct the villager’s change effort. He showed them the possibilities that existed, but allowed them to take control of the process. He also developed strategies with the villager’s (different food options, recipes, etc…) to achieve this vision. In class, we talked about the importance of having individuals be committed to the goals that organizations implement. The best goals that should be set forth are goals that are specific and challenging that can lead to higher performance. This highlights the importance of creating a system of change that motivates those individuals that the leaders are trying to change.
I have actually had experiences in leading a change effort. I played high school football and my high school had a long history of losing seasons. During my senior season I took on the role of captain and In constructing the desired change (to have a winning season) I knew the team needed to have a vision of success. I decided to put fake newspaper clipping highlighting success in each of the player’s lockers. This emphasized to them that winning was an option and was possible if we put in the effort that was possible during the offseason. I developed strategies, such as a new cardio-based workout, that had proven successful for other team’s and this enabled the team to gain confidence that this blueprint would lead to success.
This leads us to the second section of the book—we need to motivate the elephant. The elephant needs to have an emotional connection with what is trying to be changed. The key example that is given in the book is when Robyn Waters changed the entire feel of the Target apparel line. Waters used the SEE-FEEL-CHANGE philosophy by setting up displays that let the merchants see what was possible. She let them see how certain pieces popped off the rack and how it catches the consumer’s attention and draws their attention. The key is that Waters had her team look internally to attempt to reach the elephant. She found ways to engage the fresh thoughts of her colleagues by bringing in other products, such as the new iMacs that had been recently been released and show Paris boutiques that Target could aspire to merchandise like.
Next, the leader needs to shrink the change so the change that is taking place doesn’t seem to be so daunting. The primary way that this is done by leaders is to limit the investment that you are asking for by focusing on small changes. This will make the elephant more willing to continue on his journey. The two attributes that these small must have is that they’re meaningful to the overall pursuit of the general change that is being pursued and they’re within immediate reach. This is crucial because the elephant can more easily conquer these “micro-milestones” and with each step they are less reluctant to go forward because they see that things are working. In short, once the change shrinks the elephant feels more confident and big compared to the obstacle. Once this change has been shrunk, the organization needs to grow its people. This is crucial because as the path to change continually evolves failures are bound to happen. The ability for the leader to ready their team for failure is crucial, failure not of the mission, but failures en route to that mission. The ability for an individual to recognize that failures are bound to happen is important and takes practice. This recognition enables their team to strengthen their minds and will power to complete the goal. The central challenge of change is that the elephant must keep moving forward. The key to motivation is having these people feel confident that they are able to conquer this change.
Again, these lessons can be compared to many of the theories and ideas that were brought up in class. The idea that small changes are necessary can be seen in need theories of motivation and Kotter’s final steps to leading organizational change. McClelland’s needs for achievement, affiliation, and power can be obtained by creating these “small victories”, The ability to maintain a sense of achievement, a realization of affiliation and a recognition of power can be utilized by separating change into smaller categories. Obviously, this also relates to Kotter’s steps to organizational change. The sixth step to generate short-term wins, the seventh step to consolidating gains, and the eight step of anchoring new approaches all relate very well to this section. The example of Robyn Waters shows all of these steps taking place. She segmented her team’s task to different areas (color schemes, merchandising, etc…), she combined these projects to have an integrated approach to Target apparel, and finally built on these successes to give Target the ability to move forward and progress in the future.
I have had professional where I have had to create small changes. I was the retail operations manager at US Lacrosse. Traditionally, they had a conservative approach to their apparel branding. My goal at the job was to create a lifestyle line of apparel that would attract the teenager’s—the company’s largest membership group. The leadership team was worried about the liberal approach so I took the new designs to multiple events and had customers rate the styles. This enabled me to gain the leadership team’s confidence that the styles would work and be desirable to this market. This example provides the SEE-FEEL-CHANGE ideas that were presented in the book with the idea that people have to be confident in the change to make it possible for them to want to change.
The last section of the book teaches the reader how to shape the path by tweaking the environment, building habits, and rallying the herd. When switches occur the rider has a burden because their hardest struggle is to keep the elephant motivated. The key concept in this section is that individuals should tweak the environment to relieve the rider’s burden. The individual needs to be in an environment that caters to their ability to build positive habits that fosters the change initiative. Finally, throughout this long journey the individual must maintain a social standing where they can persevere. Creating a support system allows the individual to look for other people for guidance and reinforcement on how to behave.
Throughout the semester the lectures have dealt with the social scene on various occasions. The motivation lecture talked about behavioral and learning theories. These theories really emphasize the importance of the social environment to the road of change. Vicarious learning can be very helpful in leading change efforts because the rewards that people get for jumping on board to change can be an incentive for people who may potentially resist the change the organization is attempting to make. I have seen this semester how the influence of people can help change behaviors. In the early parts of the semester I had a hard time learning how to successfully approach classes. When I saw how other people studied and got rewarded for their study habits (getting higher grades) it really made me want to change and improve my study habits and enabled me to get higher scores on future tests.
In conclusion, the book provides a solid framework to lead people in the right directions during change. The steps of directing the rider, motivating the elephant, and shaping the path are all very relevant to the lectures that have been presented throughout the semester dealing with change, motivation, and leadership. Additionally, I could apply my personal and professional experiences to these ideas as well. Overall, the book was a good companion to the course and gave me a good idea of how to handle change in the future.