This document summarizes a presentation given by Bret L. Simmons, Ph.D. at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital on embracing change. The presentation discusses how to help individuals and organizations successfully adapt to change by directing the rational decision-maker (the Rider) and motivating the emotional side (the Elephant), as well as shaping the environment (the Path). Specific strategies presented include following successes, creating a clear destination, scripting critical moves, finding motivation, making progress visible, shaping identity over consequences, encouraging growth mindsets, managing exhaustion, building habits, using triggers and checklists, and rallying others. The presentation also discusses how to identify organizational citizenship styles and promote a focus on others' interests for

1. Embracing Change
Bret L. Simmons, Ph.D.
Rawson-Neal Psychiatric
Hospital
November 1, 2013

2. www.bretlsimmons.com
http://www.slideshare.net/BretLSimmons
(775) 336-9576

3. What do you want
to learn today?

4. Why does the work
you do here
matter?

5. Why does this
hospital matter?

6. Agenda
• How you can learn to embrace
change
• Break
• How you can help yourself and
this hospital be more successful

7. Primary Sources

8. Exercise 1
Identify a change that is
happening right now at work.
Why are you resisting that
change?

9. For anything to change, someone has to
start acting differently. Can you get
people to start behaving differently? (p.4)

10. If you want to be effective
at helping others change
their behavior, then build
a reputation for
proactively changing your
own behavior

11. Change Metaphor

12. Rider - Rational
– Deliberates,
analyzes, looks into
the future
– Provides planning
and direction
Elephant – Emotional
– Feels pain and
pleasure
– Provides the energy

13. Direct the Rider
Follow the bright spots:
Investigate and clone the successes

14. Destination
postcards:
Shows the Rider
where you are
headed and the
Elephant why the
journey is
worthwhile
Change is easier
when you know where
you are going and why
it is worth it

15. Script the critical moves
Be specific about the behavior you want to change

16. Direct the Rider
• What looks like resistance is
often a lack of clarity
• Clarity dissolves resistance

17. Motivate the Elephant
Find the feeling
Motivation comes from
confidence. The
Elephant has to believe
that it’s capable of
conquering the change

18. Shrink the change:
Break down the change until
it no longer spooks the
Elephant
Sense of progress is critical

19. Make change a matter of identity, not consequences
Who am I? What kind of situation is this? What
would someone like me do in this situation?

20. Grow your people
Encourage a growth
mindset by praising
effort rather than skill

21. Growth Mindset
• Talent is NOT fixed unless you
believe that it is. Treat talent as
something almost everyone
can earn, not that just a few
people own.
• Everyone can learn to work
smarter
21

22. Motivate the
Elephant
Change is hard because people
wear themselves out. What looks
like laziness is often exhaustion

23. Shape the Path
Tweak the environment. When the situation
changes, behavior changes

24. Build Habits
Supportive habits that are easy to embrace
and advance the new behavior

25. Action Triggers: Decisions you make to
execute a certain action when you encounter
a certain situation

26. Checklists help educate
people about what is best
by showing then the right
way to do something

27. Rally the Herd
Behavior is contagious; help it
spread

28. Shape the path
What looks like a people problem is
often a situation problem. When
you shape the path, you make the
change more likely, no matter
what’s happening with the Rider
and the Elephant

29. The law of
crappy systems
trumps the law
of crappy
people
29

30. How can you partner with others at this
hospital to help fix crappy systems?

32. This sucks and so do you

33. Here is my suggestion

34. This system does not work as well as it
could. I have a few suggestions. Here are
some things I can do to help make it better

35. Break!
Start again in 15
minutes

36. Organizational Citizens
Taker, Matcher, or Giver

37. Takers view success as attaining
results that are superior to others

38. Matchers see success in terms of balancing
individual accomplishments with fairness to
others

39. Givers characterize success as
individual achievements that have a
positive impact on others

40. How you give determines if
you will achieve long term
success or languish at the
bottom

41. Concern for Other’s
Interests
LOW
HIGH
LOW
Apathetic
Selfless:
Selfsacrificing
givers
HIGH
Selfish:
Takers
Otherish:
Successful
Givers
Concern
for
SelfInterest

42. Exercise 2
How can you improve the citizenship
behavior in your organization?
Discuss ways you can direct the Rider,
motivate the Elephant, and shape the
Path to create more otherish givers in
your organization.

43. Questions?