Changing Colours: Why do people resist change?by | 01-09-2015 17:25 |
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Dear friends, I hope you will listen to me....our Earth is dying and we need you to give her a kiss...and by doing that, you will do your children a big favour! Now, all you need to do is to stop eating meat, start using less electricity, cut down on gases and farts..... Sounds familar? Sounds like one of those grass-eaters who have been praying in vain for the people of this Earth to start their green evangelising? Or have you been one of them? Like the graphic in this article, there are many unknown feelings in us, feelings that yearn to be released.....to be free and to fly into the sky...... Today's article focuses on why people resist change. Now, according to two intellectuals who wrote a change management book called 'Switch', Chip and Dan Heath, there are three reasons why people push against change: 1. Lack of Clarity on what they need to do! 2. Psychological exhaustion (decreased 'self-control' energy) 3. Situation Factors Let me explain. Why do people seem not to want to do something that is good for them, albeit something that is a change in their habits? This is because they do not know exactly what do to! According to these two intellectuals, people need to know the clear and specific behaviours they need to adopt. Thing you need to do: Instead of getting people to eat less meat, how about....pleading with them to replace a meaty side dish per day with a vegetable-based one? And tell them that this will result in a ___ % cut in emissions in a year! Amazing eh? What about 'self-control energy'? Scientists have found that it is an exhaustible pool of resources, believe it or not! When people tire their self-control energy, they tire their mental muscles need to withstand the frustration they will encounter. How can we counter this? Offer the low-hanging fruit to new converts in other words, offer milstones they can celebrate before they go the 1000 miles required to become new earth-lovers. Change cannot happen at too fast a rate people have to be assimilated into their roles as earth-lovers. Things you need to do: Offer a roadmap to becoming full earth-lovers. For example, offer people a reward-filled path to reusing plastic bags. If they use the plastic bags more often, they receive a chance at a lottery. Lotteries keep costs down, instead of traditional rewards where you need to reward people for every plastic bag NOT WASTED. What about situational factors? There is a deep-rooted tendency by people to attribute people's behaviours to their personal attitudes rather than the situation they are in. Why assume people are resistant when they could be in a situation that compelled them to be that way? Things you should do: Change the situation, change their behaviour! An experiment conducted at Cornell University showed that payment situations actually affect food choices! Students with restricted debit cards were found to eat more healthily than those who paid in unrestricted ones. The former ate less calories and more nutritious foods! Conduct your own experiments to see if people wold change when placed in a new situation! :) What do you think? Write your opinion down and share case studies, my dear TUNZA peops!
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