How many psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb?

We've probably all heard the old joke.

Question: "How many psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb?

Answer: "Only one - BUT the lightbulb has really got to want to change!"

I heard it again the other day and it got me to thinking about the nature of change.

For years we have been advocating that our clients look at a more flexible working environment.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that for many roles the idea of everyone making their way to a central location is a ridiculous throwback to the needs of the industrial revolution.

But the pushback we experienced was severe and at times people were so aggressive in their defense of the traditional office that you would think you were attacking them personally.

"It won't work." "Productivity will suffer." "People won't work as hard as they do in the office." "Communication will breakdown." "People will miss the social interaction."

You name it - we had heard it - every reason known to man justifying why we should maintain the status quo.

Then along comes a world wide pandemic. In the vast majority of situations, almost overnight, organizations had to adapt to new ways of doing things.

Sure there were some teething issues, but by and large the move towards home working went pretty well.

Three years down the line and many studies show that the vast majority of people's fears were unfounded.

Productivity has actually gone up and flexible working is now considered a major draw for top talent.

So far from the ruination of commerce and industry, the ability to work from various locations turns out to generally be a good thing.

This got me to thinking about why we resist change.

Perhaps all we need is a really good incentive.

Or is it?

In their excellent book "Immunity to Change", Lisa Laskow Lahey and Robert Kegan explain only one in seven people who are diagnosed with a life threatening heart condition are able to make the changes necessary to diminish the chances of an early death.

Wow!

So much for only needing the right incentive. What could be more motivating than being told you are going to die if you don't change?

So how come organizations adopted a flexible work environment when those with a death sentence hanging over them find it hard to?

Well there was a subtle difference.

Although the medical situation, isn't great - change or die - at least I have a choice.

I can still proceed from day to day with no real implication, my health may not be good, but on the surface things carry on as is. I can still eat junk food. I can choose not to exercise and lie on the coach watching trash TV. Those choices are still there for me. I get instant gratification from these whereas getting fit and healthy invloves a lot of pain and a long wait to see a return on my investment (and with no guarantee that I will be successful either!). All of this is fine of course, until the day l keel over as a result of my inaction and refusal to change.

But the point is - I still had the choice. It was my decision to make.

But with the pandemic no-one really had a choice.

You either made the change or went out of business not at some unpredictable point in the future. But right here - right now.

You have a business today but you won't tomorrow if you don't make changes.

That's the kind of ultimatum we need it we are to make serious and difficult changes.

And in making that change, things by and large worked our pretty well.

So next time you feel you have a difficult decision to make, don't think of it as something you should do, don't look at all your other options.

Take all other routes off the table. Look at the change as the only thing you can do.

If you were able to do that, how would that change your approach?

Although people went into flexible work mode with great trepidation, many people now say they couldn't work any other way. How many times have you heard people say "I don't know how I used to do it before? Getting up at the crack of dawn and commuting into an office. What was I thinking?"

So take the plunge. Make that big scary change. What lies beyond could be so much better than what we have today.

PS. Don't worry about the lightbulb. It was a change for the better after all......