Change can be difficult, but it's a lot easier when you know how it works. In Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, authors Chip and Dan Heath lay out a framework to help bring about change in every area of life, whether it's a person trying to lose weight or a company hoping to increase quarterly sales.
Change, they argue, requires aligning the rational part of the brain with its emotional side. Or, in the authors' metaphor of choice, getting the rider and the elephant he's on to go in the same direction. And don't forget about how the environment, or "path," can help or hamper change.
Dan Heath, a senior fellow at Duke University's CASE Center, which supports social entrepreneurs, offers insight on how to change some pesky office problems:
People checking their BlackBerrys at meetings
Direct the rider: There's no need to spend much time on rational persuasion here. "People know exactly what to do - shut off the BlackBerry," Mr. Heath says.
Motivate the elephant: Truly desperate companies should set up a "nanny cam" to record meetings. "If people could watch themselves and see how absurd they look, I think that would solve it," Mr. Heathsays.
Shape the path: Set up a 'no-BlackBerrys-at-meetings' rule under which all PDAs are collected upon entering the room. "It's free. It also doesn't feel punitive because it's happening to everybody. And it's self-reinforcing. By the time you've had 12 BlackBerry-free meetings, I promise you the people in the room won't have those cravings any more," Mr. Heath says.
Teams don't communicate with one another
Direct the rider: "Find the bright spots," Mr. Heath says. That is, look for a time when they did communicate well, even if it was just one day, and ask what was different about that time. "If I could understand what the circumstances were that yielded good communication, I could potentially replicate that."
Motivate the elephant: "We need to call attention to the harms caused by the lack of communication," Mr. Heath says. For example, a video could be made of a customer who was negatively affected by bad communication. That would help "put an emotional face on the problem."
Shape the path: Does the office have six-foot high cubicle walls? If so, get rid of them. Are conference rooms easily booked? Make sure they are. Can people in different offices get on video chats easily? "Literally, is the office environment conducive to communication?" Mr. Heath says.
There's too much gossip going around the office
Direct the rider: Inform staff about how gossip affects productivity and make it known that gossip is both unprofessional and unwelcome at the office.
Motivate the elephant: Have someone who's been the victim of gossip come forward, either in an informal meeting or an e-mail, and talk about how it hurt them. "It creates empathy for the person and also a sense of shame," Mr. Heath says.
Shape the path: Changing values within the workplace is not easy, but it can be done. In this case, it's a matter of having managers and others - the people gossips always go to first, for instance - chastising gossips or otherwise refusing to be party to gossip by walking away whenever it comes up. Doing so can help to create "a new social norm," Mr. Heath says.
The office uses too much paper
Direct the rider: It should be easy to marshal numbers here, including how much paper is consumed each year and its cost. Some simple rules can help, too, such as only allowing colour copies to be printed if they are going to a client.
Motivate the elephant: To show people at the gut level just how much paper the office goes through, pile up all the paper that was printed last week on a table where everyone can see it. "Imagine this giant stack of paper on a conference-room table with a sign next to it that says, 'This paper was wasted last week,' " Mr. Heath says. That will bring the point home better than numbers ever could.
Shape the path: Set the printer's default mode to double-sided and just like that you've cut down paper consumption by half. Or go an extra step and put the printer on another floor, far enough away that people will consider twice if they really want a printout. "It's not onerous, but it's just making you think about it," Mr. Heath says. "Little tweaks can make a big difference."
Lunches are being stolen from the fridge
Direct the rider: Do not put a sign on the fridge saying "No stealing lunches." People may see that and assume stealing is a widespread practice, and think that since everyone else is doing it they might as well, too. Messages like that can encourage the activity you're trying to prevent, Mr. Heath says.
Motivate the elephant: Encourage everyone whose lunch is stolen to send an e-mail to the entire office explaining that, while it's not the end of the world, they now have nothing to eat and perhaps can't afford to buy a lunch. A tactic like that can help create empathy and make people realize the consequences of their actions, Mr. Heath says.
Shape the path: A company could provide different-coloured bags for each person. "Then it becomes perfectly obvious when someone has the wrong bag," Mr. Heath says. Or have everyone write their names on their lunch bags to help make it clear that a person isn't just taking a lunch, he or she is robbing an individual. "It basically takes it from being like lost and found to it being theft … which is a much harder moral choice," Mr. Heath says.