Jennifer Bezoza Coaching

I am a huge fan of the brothers and authors, Chip (a Stanford business professor) and Dan Heath (a columnist at FastCompany and former educational publisher). After reading their book, Made to Stick, on effective communications, I was excited to hear that the Heath brothers are applying their engaging, “Malcom Gladwell-like” writing style to the topic of change; their new book, coming out in February, is called Switch; How to Change When Change Is Hard.

In the most recent issue of FastCompany, Chip and Dan provide an excerpt from Switch.  One of their main ideas is inspiring in its simplicity.  So often, when we think about leading an organizational change or making a personal change, the process feels daunting and arduous.  The Heath brothers offer up the insight leading/making change does not always require complex solutions, extensive research, outside experts or reinvention.  Here is the idea:

FIND A BRIGHT SPOT AND REPLICATE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE

So, what does that really mean, you might ask?  In Switch, the authors cite the example of a Save the Children executive fighting malnutrition in Vietnam in less than a year by identifying, learning from, and replicating patterns of eating from families that had children thriving, despite the poverty and low food supply.

From an organizational perspective, it means that you don’t always have to be a creative innovator when it comes to leading change. Instead, you can seek out existing pockets of success, study and learn from their experiences, and apply the best practices in a new area of the organization.

From a personal perspective, it means studying your own patterns and learning when, where, how and why you are able to have success on certain days with particular circumstances, and building more of those factors into your patterns and rituals.  Or it could mean applying lessons of success in one dimension of your life to another.

What are current challenges and changes you might apply this “bright spot” concept?