Piper Bulletin November 2008

Change is hard. Nonprofits know that.

What if those of us in the nonprofit field could look at change as something to accept and use to our advantage?

Chip Heath, author of the best-selling book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, presented a Piper Academy in late October to discuss concepts for a new book that he and his brother, Dan, are writing on change. Some 40 executive directors attended.

The organizing concept for the Heath brothers is the metaphorical image of an enormous elephant with a rider atop.

"The rider thinks he's in charge," said Heath. "He is the rational analyst who looks at what's coming down the road and says, "We have to change."

"But the lumbering elephant, the emotional feelings underneath the enterprise, which are so important to embracing an organization's mission, moves down the track, not wanting to change," he added. "It is obvious that the rider's control is wishful thinking."

The idea is to align both sides—both rider and elephant—to create change.

Orient the Rider

Heath notes that the rider can become confused or distracted when in the midst of change. So, first, the rider must have a clear idea of what change would look like.

A lot of information surrounding a change topic is true but useless, according to Heath. Rather than plow through all the available information that can't help in creating immediate change, he says look for the “bright spots.”

These bright spots are the positive deviants that can point to a solution.

Heath told the story of a third-world hunger program where an organization looked at fourth daughters in impoverished households those who would be least likely to be fed well to see if there were any that thrived. They found healthier girls in village families that included common brine shrimp with their daily rice and offered several smaller meals. Shrimp was assumed to be a food inappropriate for children, yet, in households where fourth daughters thrived, all members of the family ate rice with shrimp not just the adults. A community awareness campaign then educated all village families about the efficacy of this nutritious addition and more frequent feeding, changes that could be implemented without an expenditure of resources.

Motivating the Elephant

Change is scary and hard, so the emotional underpinnings the elephant can easily get spooked or demoralized. Heath identified two ways to motivate the elephant when change is hard.

First, find the right identity. As an example, Heath noted that a group of environmentalists knew Wal-Mart employees were not particularly motivated by sustainability but were positively impacted by the concept of waste and being good stewards of resources. Finding the right identity can help people embrace change and say this is who I am versus this doesn't feel right.

Second, make a quick start and identify progress. Helping the elephant feel momentum is motivating. "Savvy change agents figure out how to make a quick start on change to make it seem that progress is happening," Heath said. "They can say: ‘The path is short - we've got momentum on our side.’"

Engineer the Path

Sometimes making changes in the environment or the situation can promote change. The idea is making the pathway easier for following good change behaviors and harder for bad behaviors.

Heath mentioned a campus food drive where providing concrete details, a map with date and time and explicit instructions: "Bring BEANS!" helped make even the most ungenerous students more able and willing to contribute.

Conversely, Kaiser Permanente helped make hospital medication management more reliable by having the person dispensing medications wear a medication vest, signaling they were off-limits for any interruption. "The medication vest at Kaiser made it hard for hospital personnel to distract someone who was engaged in a critical task where mistakes can be fatal," Heath said.

Coming Book
Heath's new book will be released in 2010. Everyone who participated in the Piper Academy looks forward to seeing how the Phoenix conversation adds to the new book.