Irrational Change

Irrational Change is here! Over ten years in planning, we have known for a while we have something ‘special’. A disruptive way of looking at how we go about change. The hard to do stuff. We have a simple premise: Humans are not rational, so why is your change? Irrational Change works with our biases, our emotions, our fears, our humanity to create the pull for change, change which becomes sustainable. We have created tools to overcome our own biases and powerful tactics that deliver. #change #irrationalchange #leadingchange #leadership #worksmarternotharder

Your change does not operate in isolation, many other priorities are competing for the same resources. Know your competition. In our slimmed down, lean and efficient organisations there is a desire to maximise effort, minimise cost as well as delighting customers day to day and delivering day to day performance. Changes often sit in mostly in the current or future opportunity, even if they fix a small current problem. It is easier to live with today’s friction than take on the effort the change gives us. An uncomfortable reality. When you look around you, you quickly realise that there is a highly competitive market operating within your organisation - for resources, budget and leadership time and effort. Too much to do, not enough time. Know where you stand. Plot it out and ask yourself, ‘So What!’ #IrrationalChange #LeanThinking #BusinessStrategy #CompetitiveAnalysis

Break big changes into small steps for easier adoption It is time to think about change and the way we do it differently ... not just in the design cycle where Agile is the flavour of the month. We steal from parallel examples that work, entrepreneurship for optional change, viral marketing for communications and smartphone app developers for chunking change. Yes, smartphones. We know humans hate surprises, yet when have you really been surprised by a new update to an App. Each change is small and easy to adopt. You may notice it, even have a preference for the way it was, that is soon forgotten as you adapt. We believe in Evolution not Revolution, a small step approach. When working with leaders, we make each request to 'do' something differently small and reasonable, hard to say No to. It may feel less dramatic than climbing the face of the Eiger, but you are more likely to make it. When you pause and look how far you have come, you will be surprised. In our cognitively overloaded world, we need to find the easy if we want to make changes. Pay now (invest in chunking) or pay later (when you have to rework, recover, redo). Remember: Humans hate surprises. #IrrationalChange #SmallSteps #EvolutionNotRevolution #Entrepreneurship #CognitiveLoad

Too many choices overwhelm us, we risk paralysis. If you have ever walked away from a purchasing decision because it felt too hard with too many choices or too many features to compare. If so, you are human. We put off decisions at work too, especially when they feel hard, and we don’t have the time to work our way through them. There is an optimal balance when we create an environment for humans to make choices: No choice: feels out of control. Too many: feels too hard. In our world of change, recognising our biases and getting smart about the choice architecture that we lay out is more likely to lead to the behaviour you want. #IrrationalChange #ChoiceArchitecture #DecisionMaking #HumanBehavior #BusinessDecisions

Changing habits is hard. Our Brains like routines, things that are predictable and can be automated so that our System 1 brain can take over. Inside our brains, the pathways for the thoughts that trigger or make the habits become well-worn and comfortable. To shift a habit, you have to know your trigger and create a new one. Then practice, practice, practice creating new pathways. When it is organisational habits, we may be a less emotionally or chemically driven to change. Our pathways may be less worn. But we still need a something to spur us into a different direction and a new habit. Often we are motivated by what pleases our leaders. If they think a new process is a good idea, we are more likely to adopt it. Sustaining can be hard too. Our brains try to go back to the well-worn pathway, which is how small steps can help nudge the path rather than try to completely rewrite our thinking. The more we create or nudge a habit, the more we can automate the response and make it part of what we do. Repeat, repeat, repeat to become a habit. #IrrationalChange #HabitChange #BehavioralScience #CognitivePsychology #MindsetShift

Connect the dots, include the why? Any vacuum will be filled by the worst possible invention, a simple thing, but one we often miss as we jump to then solution and talk excitedly about that. How our new insight / talent / AI / org design platform is just wonderful, and look at how clever it / we are. Stop! Go back to your why? Why is this good. Less friction, better customer service, survival of our organisation. What is the outcome you are trying to cause? What does it look and feel like (use your senses, avoid subjective words)? Sometimes it is about more profits for your shareholders, the people who invest in your company, the owners and their expectations. By keeping them happy, you build the trust to do new things Sometimes it is about doing the right thing for the employees, the environment, those you touch. Sometimes it is about survival of your company in a highly competitive environment with aggressive challengers. Sometimes it is not the optimal option, which is not available to you. Remember your why? Then, when your team have to make the inevitable choices, they will have great judgement. #IrrationalChange #StrategicThinking #PurposeDriven #Leadership #BusinessStrategy

A random act of kindness, write to someone and let them know how much you appreciate them. If you have ever wondered what makes us most happy and content. It isn’t money, it isn’t that new car, it isn’t that elusive table at the oh-so-trendy restaurant. It is our social connections. Deep and long (80 year+) studies show that, even if you are an introvert, the depth, frequency and number of friend and social connections you have drives your happiness. The people who lift your spirit rather than those who are mood-hoovers. Surprise them with a card or email. A way to stay connected even if you can’t be with them. It does not need to be war and peace, just a note to remind both of you of your connection. Random acts of kindness make you and the person receiving them feel good. Double the benefit. #IrrationalChange #KindnessMatters #RandomActsOfKindness #EmotionalWellbeing #SpreadLove

Humans hate surprises, we feel out of control. We like predictability. For many years (decades, I am that old) I thought humans hate change. I was wrong. It isn’t change we hate, it is surprises, when our expectations are disrupted. We lose our predictability and our sense of being in control, which makes us feel safe. This is a massive insight. It isn’t change we hate - it is surprises. We don’t react or resist the change, we resist the fact that you have surprises us, and we are not ready to invest in rebuilding the mental models in our head. We will get there, but in our own time. Think about it. To be a better change agent, mitigate the surprises humans feel and things will go better. This is harder than you think. It takes investing ahead, which our overloaded brain is biased not to do as it triages our immediate priorities. No surprises = fast and frictionless change. How can you reduce the surprises in your changes today? #IrrationalChange #HumanBehavior #Predictability #EmotionalIntelligence #MentalModels

The secrets to being inspiring; value others, be positive, know your why, be you! If you have ever wanted to be a more influential or inspiring leader, or create followership, then this is for you! We teach inspiring leadership as part of both our Irrational Change Agent Bootcamp and our Leading Change Masterclass. One of our highest impact sessions. We start with a simple introduction to emotional intelligence, which gives a great foundation in awareness, then we get to the good stuff. The benefit of working with and delivering workshops on resilience in our corporate clients is that we test and prove these concepts with large audiences. When we ask the audience on what an inspiring leader did to inspire them, we get consistent responses: ▷ they made me ‘feel’ valued. ▷ they listened to me, I felt heard. ▷ they included me. Three things that make the difference. It isn’t about you, it is about how you make others feel. Leave others feeling valued, listened to and included, and you are well on your way to being more inspiring. *** This is one of our ‘gold-dust’ posts. Hit the save or share button! #IrrationalChange #InspiringLeadership #EmotionalIntelligence #ValueOthers

Keep it simple. Sounds easy, but is hard. Simplifying concepts and communications in a way that is understandable and succinct takes effort. We have made it our life’s work to simplify the concepts of change and project management. Our journey to simplification started with a one-minute challenge from some of my change buddies. Finding a way to distil change or project management into one minute is not easy, but is a powerful exercise and ensures you know your stuff - what you can leave out and what needs to stay in. It is an art worth learning. The journey to simplifying an idea helps you understand it better. Oh ... it makes it easier to read, understand and adopt too, in case you are wondering. Stand out from the crowd! #IrrationalChange #SimplifyChange #ClarityInCommunication #BusinessTransformation