January 2018 // 2-minute read
As a new year begins, resolutions and revised targets fly from everywhere. With these brand new objectives, comes the inescapable need for making and managing CHANGE.
Shifts require effort, as it will inevitably involve adjustments in how you think and do. By its very purpose, it disrupts your routine. Changing challenges people to take a different approach even when they were not ultimately responsible for making the decision.
Going into the new phase of a project (or a new year) can give the chance or a leader or collaborator to go back and review how things went. It is also the perfect time to identify opportunities to improve them – thus driving change.
This approach seems reasonably straightforward, but the reality can be far from it: research has indicated that people tend to have a negative bias when faced with the prospect of change. People tend to see a star performer that starts to log worse results as going on a downward spiral, and average collaborators that are doing well are seen as just being lucky.
This perception that people are more likely to see shifts from a downside spectrum translates into a more negative approach towards change – and worse results.
On the flip side, if a change driver manages to neutralise the negative bias, the success rate becomes significantly higher. In a study from the University of Chicago, researchers informed participants that most people who decide to make a change would succeed. The result? Study participants were quicker to identify the positive outcomes of change rather than having a negative focus on it.
A simple but effective strategy when driving and managing change: champion an optimistic approach. You will be surprised how much the positive bias will improve the outcome.
Interested in reading more about the subject?
Studies around perceived change from Ed O’Brien, Assistant Professor of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Harvard Business Review article Stop Using the Excuse “Organizational Change is Hard” by Nick Tasler
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