Podcast Guest – Book Recommendation ‘Switch’
One of things we love when speaking with tech industry leaders on the Get Amplified podcast is discovering new practical business books. In our conversation with Darren Thayre we heard about the book recommendation for change management called ‘Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard’ by Chip and Dan Heath.
For anyone experiencing change (that’s anyone in the tech industry!) we cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Switch is an introduction to an incredibly pragmatic but powerful way to implement lasting change, even when change is hard.
The Switch Framework
The Switch framework complements the Patrick Lencioni Five Behaviors® methodology, helping us to combine both the human and business elements to support the requirements of our clients. Not only is it super simple to understand, but it is also very memorable and practical. The framework expertly guides us through the nine elements required for change.
To do this, the authors use the concept of a Rider on an Elephant, travelling on a path. The authors help us to understand how our minds function, in particular how our emotional brain (depicted by an Elephant) is 5x stronger than our logical brain (depicted by a Rider) so that we can find those levers to switch our behaviour.
We learn what it takes to direct the rider, motivate the elephant, and shape the path. What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem.
“What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity. If you want people to change, you must provide crystal-clear direction.”
– Dan & Chip Heath
You need to remove as many barriers as possible and eventually the small changes will become habits that ‘the herd’ will adopt. We learn from the book this methodology can be applied from an individual to an entire population.
Our key takeaways – a flavour of the 9 elements required to drive lasting change
- Look for the bright spots
- Script the critical moves – clarity is key!
- Point to the destination – you need to know where you are going
- Find the feeling – what emotions are we going to tap into to really motivate change?
- Shrink the change – small achievable steps to keep ‘feeding’ the elephant and keep motivated
- Shape the path – remove all obstacles, to make change as easy as possible
Please get in touch if you would like our cheat sheet with all 9 elements.
Want to learn more?
Listen to the Get Amplified podcast, Discovering the Secret behind Successful Change Management – Darren Thayre CEO Advisory & Professor of Digital Innovation (buzzsprout.com), where we delve into the book and discuss the practical application of the Switch framework.
Watch the intro video, narrated by Dan Heath: The Elephant, The Rider and the Path – A Tale of Behavior Change – YouTube
If you want to encourage your team members to think differently and to expediate improved ways of doing things, we have a workshop that can help. Please get in touch to find out more.
Useful links
Discover further book recommendations from our Get Amplified podcast guests here.
Listen to our first conversation with Darren Thayre on Get Amplified: Happiness = Personal Growth = Business Growth – Darren Thayre Head of Innovation, Global Strategic Initiatives, Google | Advisor to G20 | Professor of Digital Innovation
