I was quite disturbed when I found out that I had spent a career in managing change and creating improvement that hinged on logical decisions, only to discover in fact, decisions are emotional and unconscious. Was everything I had been taught bunk? No, but it definitely needed to be re-purposed, revised and resolved.
Perhaps you have worked with a consultant and know how it works when it’s person to person, rather than just in your own skin. A consultant is hired to add weight to an argument. Delicately and cunningly, they ask what you want to hear, then they write a report with colorful charts, big words and difficult language. Always, I am surprised to hear the glee when the brass exclaims, “Yes, that’s exactly the solution!” They smile, pay the bucks and walk away. Perhaps you were one of the drones who feed them the information, only to find out that no one cares when you point and declare that the emperor has no clothes. Or rather, that the consultants didn’t have any new ideas or information. It was a role that made me lose sleep at night, but I lost more sleep when I told the truth of the outsiders detached perspective and everyone was upset. Finally, I clued into the game, and wanted none of it. Why can’t everyone win was the question I asked when I undertook this project or rather, how can we undertake change that doesn’t result in internal strife and struggle like the drones, consultants and brass experience.
Instead of arguing against fact, I let the paradigm shift. Goodbye facts, figures and data, hello emotional decisions. It’s the way of opinion management. The tools I had learned only served to reveal and justify those decisions, not to make them or change them, even while they were state of the art. It explained a lot, especially why results were haphazard, confusing and inefficiently causing as many or more new problems than the old ones they solved.
Scientists know that decisions happen up to seven seconds before we think they do. Psychologists can tell us all about how confirmation bias means we can prove that unconscious decision, even if there is more information to the contrary. They also tell us that when we are faced with the truth that we made a mistake, we have uncanny abilities to not see it, admit it or do anything about it.
When enough is enough, work with the way your brain really does work to get off that hamster wheel and harness the change you might not realize is the right one. Open new doors with tiny little changes.
Change isn’t always easy, even when we know to, want to, or have to, but it’s possible. It’s much easier when you know the five steps that works with your human nature. It’s sustainable when you know tricks to make it last. You know where you are headed, but this guide will take you there as quickly, easily and efficiently as possible.
Five steps: Train, Watch, Evaluate, Alter and Keep neatly form the word and work of tweak. May I say kindly and with utmost respect, go tweak yourself. You will be happy you did. Say goodbye to failed resolutions. Follow the easiest way to master and sustain the change you desire and accomplish your goals.
