I’m a fan of Michael Hyatt’s blog on which I often comment and tweet his articles, especially those on leadership.
Michael’s blog on the ‘stand up movement’ hit a nerve for me. Michael was sharing a message from what I generically call the unenlightened protesters movement, i.e., people who have some valuable information to share, but loudly insist that they are right and that everyone else must change immediately. As Shakespeare might have said, “The protestors doth protest too much, methinks.”
I totally agree that standing up and taking exercise is necessary for our short and long-term health. That said, discovering that sitting down is ‘killing’ us is another example of how we humans, when faced with a perceived crisis go into overdrive to prove that we must change our ways.
The ‘stand up’ message is communicated in a black and white, do-or-die, alarmist fashion. It will convince a proportion of people to change (I’m going to buy a stand up desk asap), yet fly over the heads of many, and likely create a group of resisters, a la the climate change deniers. We know that putting health warnings about cigarette smoking changed the habits of millions of former smokers, but that took an extraordinary amount of time and it still remains a habit of too many.
What’s my point? How we communicate the need for change matters. The climate change fanatics have been over-stating the case and using bad information for over 20-30 years and not a lot of substantive change has happened. They have de-legitimized their claim. We still don’t know how much of an issue / problem global warming is – we’re arguing if it exists instead of doing something. Sadly, the government of my country, Canada appears to be in reverse gear on climate change.
The agents of change have not done their job! They are unaware of the line, ‘Never try teach a pig to sing. It will frustrate you and irritate the pig’.
What’s the solution? I suggest (not insist) some strategies from the world of change management and solution focus.
- Expect societal change to happen slowly
Why: Not everyone can agree with you all at once. Everyone changes in different ways.
- Clarify your passion (fixing the problem), but don’t ‘prove’ your point by ranting with statistics that can be challenged or ignored.
Why: Making people feel bad about themselves for non-compliance to your point of view simply deepens their resistance
- Dramatize the problem message and what could be different, i.e., sell the outcomes from which people will benefit – take the long view
Why: If they can see a future mutual benefit, they will more likely buy into your assertion that things have to change. In the process, you may also hear what’s legitimately troubling them
- Help people make small steps towards the solution
Why: Everyone changes in different ways. Radical change is almost impossible
- Remain passionate but calm when inevitably some don’t listen to you. Go back and take a look at what needs to change in your messaging
Why: Everyone changes in different ways
As Covey puts it, to change other’s behavior we must first change ours.
Back, to the ‘stand up’ movement. I actually like what they are doing because they are also talking about the benefits. I could see them moving balancing the problem / benefit message.
Needless to say, for those interested in speeding up change I thoroughly recommend my easy to read and apply handbook for solutions facilitators, i.e., Fry a Monkey, Create a Solution.
