The old adage is….one bite at a time. As in, how do you eat an elephant?
To me, the strategic question is…where do you take the first bite?
In Switch: How To Change Things When Change is Hard, Chip Heath and Dan Heath talk about a series of steps to take when you wish to achieve big changes.
The part that sticks with me most is the first step: Find the bright spots. Find a lever point, something that works already that you can double down on – with money, focus, talent…whatever it takes to make that small flower burst into a field of flowers. In other words, achieve a small success. Then scale it.
Here is an outline of their method:
- Direct the Rider:
– Find the bright spots
– Script the critical moves
– Point to the destination - Motivate the Elephant:
– Find the feeling
– Shrink the change
– Grow your people - Shape the Path:
– Tweak the environment
– Build habits
– Rally the herd
It is a great step by step methodology, and I highly recommend it. However, to me the hardest part is finding or creating the first successful “bright spot”. If you are frustrated with a need for change, go hunting. Talk to others who feel like you do. Get them engaged in the hunt. Let’s find out what IS working.
Illustration courtesy of www.simplyteachme.co.uk