How to move Elephant for Dance!

Switch, book written by Chip and Dan heath, tries to answer the question What makes the change so hard to accomplish?

The elephant: our emotional side
The rider: our rational side

The rider controls the elephant and seems to be the leader.
But the rider is small compares to the elephant that at any time can disagree and go another way.

If you want to change things, you have to appeal both the rider and the elephant.

The rider provides the planning and direction, and the elephant provides the energy.

Our emotions can overwhelm our rational thought, while relying solely on rational behavior can “overanalyze and over think things.”

What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem.The book considers change at every level- individual, organizational, and societal. All change efforts usually have something in common: “For anything to change, someone has to start acting differently.”

What looks like laziness is often exhaustion.

When a task feels too big, the elephant will resist.

The Elephant and Rider are usually on two different pages and trying to persuade the Elephant often exhaust your mind. The Elephant will usually win over the Rider.

The Rider part of our minds has many strengths.“The Rider is a thinker and a planner and can plot a course for a better future. But as we’ve seen, the Rider has a terrible weakness- the tendency to spin his wheels.

The Rider loves to contemplate and analyze, and, making matters worse, his analysis is almost always directed at problems rather than at bright spots.

Keep the Switch Going.

Few advice from the book for me to use.

1. I am not going overcome change issue by talking to the Rider. Instead I have to find the feeling elements. Need to find a feeling that will get the elephant moving.
2. I have to create empathy. I need to show the people problems with not changing
3. I need to find the bright spot that is invented here and clone it.
4. I need to create a destination post card. How to go from point A to point B. Give it to rider.Let rider use it.
5. I have to create a new habit. Habits are behavioral autopilot. Script the critical move.
6. I have to create a smooth path so that any unmotivated person can slide into it? Don't assume the new moves are obvious.
7. I have to shrink the change so that we can start today, if not today at least ensure it triggers tomorrow
8. Find a person from the team , who thinks it will work, create a free space for them where they can catalyze the change without facing direct opposition
9. How can I tweak the environment so that we are forced to change
10. Behavior is contagious , I need to find someone else who will be involve with me in this change process, so that he/she can reinforce each other.
11. Let me focus on building habits. Once we create habits, we get the new behavior
12. I have to keep motivate the Elephant by reminding how much they have already accomplished. Sense of progress is critical,because the Elephant in us is easily demoralized.
13. I have to teach the growth mindset( We will struggle, we will fail,we will be knocked down - but throughout, we will get better and we will succeed at the end)
14. What looks like Resistance, is often lack of clarity.
15. Do not speak to the rider when we should be speaking to the Elephant