GBTA –Wisconsin Chapter January 10, 2018

Changing By Doing:

Overcoming Resistance

Jerry Jellison (jellison@usc.edu)

J CURVE of CHANGE

Positive

1 2 3 4 5

TIME

Neutral

Negative

NE

T P

ER

FO

RM

AN

CE

(S

uccesses —

Mis

takes)

Stage 1: Status Quo

This won’t be good for me

Why do I have to change?

FEAR

I’ll lose a lot and gain very little

So, I’ve been doing it all wrong

ANGER

This will never work

I won’t be able to do this

SELF-DOUBT

UNCERTAINTY MONSTERS

COMMON UNCERTAINTY MONSTERS

Loss of job

Financial losses

Less autonomy/power

Greater time demands

Work load increases

Challenging learning curve

Mistakes & possible failure

People won’t like this or me

Stage 2: Taking the Plunge

I have no idea how to do this

It’s only going to get worse

OVERWHELMED

I just keep making mistakes

I don’t know what I’m doing

LOSS OF CONTROL

I want my mommy

ESCAPE

Stage 3: Bottoming Out

I’ll never learn to do this

I may as well quit now

DISCOURAGED

I’m not failing every time

Maybe I can do this

RELIEF

Stage 4: Gaining Control

I’m getting the hang of this

This benefits me

PLEASURE

I can actually do this

This is really working

CONFIDENCE

Insights from Experience

This isn’t as frightening as I anticipated

I actually can learn to do things the new way

The new way can work to my benefit

Stage 5: Mastery

Yes!

Why did I wait so long?

JOY

This old dog can learn new

tricks

I like the new me

SELF-IDENTITY

IMPLICATIONS OF J CURVE

Transformational & incremental change

Incremental Js lead to Transformation

Positive

Neutral

Negative

Build trust - discuss with people

Realistic expectations – persistence

tolerant of setbacks

APPLICATIONS OF J CURVE

Common language for change

INFLUENCE STRATEGIES

INFORMATIONAL - Communicate, persuade, educate

Act

Think

Feel

REACTIONS TO PERSUASION

FULLY ACCEPT

AMBIVALENT

RESISTANT

Information changes beliefs

New attitude changes feelings

Adopt new pattern of behavior

TOP DOWN MODEL

INFLUENCE STRATEGIES

INFORMATIONAL- Communication, persuasion

EXPERIENTIAL - Activation

Attitudes and feelings change

Experience the benefits of new way

Take action despite doubt & fear

GROUND UP MODEL

Act Think Feel

REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY

Incremental Js lead to Transformation

Positive

Neutral

Negative

FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS

Acceptors & 1 resister

1 Change initiative

1 Project in initiative

1 SMART goal in project

1st Steps to 1st smart goal

Ground Level action steps

Incentives - front load benefits

ACTIVATION TOOLS

CHANGE APPLICATIONS

Task you’ve been procrastinating – postponing

PROCRASTINATED TASK:

SUB-STEPS:

CHANGE APPLICATIONS

Task you’ve been procrastinating – postponing

People problem at work – someone to change

COMMON PEOPLE PROBLEMS

Not a team player

Domineering

Inflexible

Is always right

Negative attitude

Passive-aggressive

Entitlement mindset

Unmotivated

SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR OR OUTCOME

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES

Doesn’t: Care…understand…want to… think strategically

Isn’t: Open-minded… creative…self-confident…

BROAD PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR

Non-communicative ● Lacks people sills ● Weak sales ● Errors

FOCUSED BEHAVIOR PATTERNS

Overlooks high performance ● Criticizes people ● Usually late

40,000 ft.

30,000 ft.

20,000 ft.

10,000 ft.

GROUND LEVEL

GLOBAL INDICTMENTS

Prima Donna ● Lazy ● Unprofessional ● Rigid ● Insensitive

COMMON PEOPLE PROBLEMS

40K Not team player

40K Domineering

40 K Inflexible

40K Is always right

30K Negative attitude

30K Passive-aggressive

40K Entitlement mindset

30K Unmotivated

Problem seems too big to solve

DRAWBACKS OF

HIGH-ALTITUDE WORDS

Easy for people to resist

Easy to make promises

5 WHAT QUESTIONS TO GET TO GROUND LEVEL

WHAT actions do you want the person to take?

In WHAT situations does the problem occur?

e.g. meetings, 1-on-1, planning sessions

WHAT would a top performer do?

WHAT would it look (sound) like?

WHAT would s/he do first, second, etc.?

SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR OR OUTCOME

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES Mind-set ● Motivation ● Buy-In ● Understand ● Values

BROAD PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR More communicative ● Better People Skills ● Diversify Sales

FOCUSED BEHAVIOR PATTERNS

Praise high performance ● Don’t publicly criticize colleagues

40,000 ft.

30,000 ft.

20,000 ft.

10,000 ft.

GROUND LEVEL

GLOBAL GENERALIZATIONS

Excellence ● Innovations ● Engagement ● Customer Service

General words of

encouragement

Front Loading Incentives

Praise, praise, praise

Ground Level Praise

Use people’s name when you praise them

Explain how it helped you, the team, or the company

Praise specific aspects of what they did

Comment on how much effort it must have required

Ask their permission to tell others what they did

Point out how they’re changing as a person

World’s 2 Most Influential Words

IF

THEN

you take action X

you’ll receive reward Y

Use the Experiential approach to:

Influence colleagues and friends

Marketing and sales - freemiums

Coaching skills for managers

Power of Positive Doing

Focus on one small goal at a time

Define steps at ground level

Front load benefits until actions are successful

A lapse is not a relapse

Create opportunities

PROCRASTINATED TASK:

SUB-STEPS: