How what's driving change influences its success
Michelle Holsman
Behavioural Strategist | Corporate Trainer | Founder - JTMH Consulting | Making change easier for businesses with a blend of behavioural & decision sciences, change management, strategic foresight and creativity!
Did you know that there are three types of change catalysts?
There are the changes we're forced to do, the ones we convince ourselves we need to do and the ones we actually desire.
Depending on the driver or type of change catalyst, your ability to embrace and sustain the change can vary substantially.
Today we'll look at what these three situations are, how they influence the success of a change and what you can do to improve the odds of success.
Change by duress/necessity
What is it?
Change by duress or necessity is the type of change we have no control over. We don't get to shape it. We don't get to refuse it. We simply have to accept that it is happening and we'll need to find a way to tolerate it. For this to occur, there needs to be a difference in power between the person imposing the change and the one responding to it.
In addition to often playing out at a government or society level (think about how the public were told they were expected to respond when COVID first hit), this first type of change is the most common in businesses. Most typically, it's where top down management detect a threat or opportunity they want to respond to and decide on a way to address it. People affected by the change are then told that the change is coming and they'll need to adopt it.
Impact on success
Since we have no choice in the matter and often fear the consequences of opposition, unless met with the very unlikely possibility of a change that you actually want anyway, there's a good chance it's going to be met with resistance.
Because the implementer knows they're likely to be met with displeasure, these kinds of changes are often accompanied by threats of punishment or consequence. You will do this or... is a common feature of these changes.
How this plays out then depends on the situation.
What to do about it
When we feel like change is simply happening to us, our sense of agency and autonomy start to disappear. We feel more helpless and like victims. For this reason, the best way to improve success is to help people feel like the change is happening with them rather than to them. This can be done by bringing people into a change, inviting them to provide feedback or contribute to solution design so people feel more empowered and invested in the success of the initiative.
If this isn't possible and you're the recipient of unwanted change, consider whether you can reframe your perception of the change so that it doesn't have as negative an affect on you. Is there some benefit to you that can come from the change?
Change by perceived obligation
What is it
Changes driven by perceived obligation are the ones we impose upon ourselves (often because of fear of judgement or expectations we have of ourselves).
If the change starts with one of the following, there's a good chance it's something you feel obliged to do but don't really want to pursue:
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Sometimes, these changes are battles between our present self and our future self. We know our future self will thank us if we look after our health, finances, education etc and act as responsible individuals now, but often our future selves feel more like strangers than your local greengrocer, making it harder to focus on the future benefit and easier to dwell on the thing you'd have to give up in order to change.
Impact on success
Because deep down you don't 100% want the change, you're relying on a combination of desire for the outcome and investment of effort to bring it to light. The more effort you need, the greater the risk of failure. The more you fear consequence, the greater the likelihood of success that's tainted by spillover effects like the first scenario.
How to improve the odds
This type of change is most greatly challenged by inner conflict and the energy required to persist even when part of us wants to do the exact opposite. The less we want the change, the more effort we have to spend trying to convince ourselves that it's worthwhile or pushing through the discomfort where necessary.
For this reason, you want to try and do one of the following:
Change by desire
What is it
Changes we desire are those we wholeheartedly embrace. They're things like choosing to get married, have kids, accept a promotion.
Not only do we wait for and respond to these changes, we're typically proactive in trying to make them eventuate. This is because the focus is almost entirely on what outcome you'll achieve from pursuing the change and little attention is given to what you need to give up because you've already decided it's a willing change.
Impact on success
Because you're choosing the change, the likelihood of success is the greatest in this situation. However, that doesn't mean it's guaranteed.
For example, if you're pursuing the change in an environment that doesn't support it, you'll still need to put in a lot of effort to turn it into a reality. This means it becomes a question of how much you want the change to succeed and how much effort you're willing to put into it before you start running out of steam.
How to improve the odds
Here there are two key things you can do to improve the odds of success.
You already have your why or the goal you're striving towards. One of the most important things to do is to keep this at the front of your mind and make it salient. Doing this can help to boost your motivation, especially when times get tough as it reminds your brain to focus not on what it dislikes or will have to give up but on the justification and incentive for doing so.
2. Make the environment as supportive of the change as possible
Even with the best intentions, if an environment encourages you to do everything that would stop the change from eventuating, it will make the journey that much longer and more difficult. As such, look for how your environment is designed to keep you stuck where you are and what little tweaks you could make to nudge you in the right direction so that you don't need nearly as much effort to get where you want to go.