How to Create Change That Sticks

In this episode of Change Agent Leadership, host Jonathan Hankin breaks down the core framework from the book Switch by Chip and Dan Heath: the Rider, the Elephant, and the Path. Whether you’re leading a team, shifting organizational culture, or tackling personal habits, real change requires aligning emotion, logic, and environment.

Jonathan shares key strategies to:

• Direct the Rider with bright spots and clear moves
• Motivate the Elephant with emotion and identity
• Shape the Path through habits and social momentum

Packed with leadership insight, actionable tips, and weekly challenges, this episode will help you lead meaningful, lasting change—starting today.

00:00 Introduction to Change Agent Leadership

00:26 Understanding the Elephant and the Rider

03:15 Directing the Rider: Clear Directions for Change

06:05 Motivating the Elephant: Emotional Engagement

08:32 Shaping the Path: Creating a Supportive Environment

10:07 Weekly Action Plan and Final Thoughts

10:44 Conclusion and Call to Action

Watch full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oC4sIkKEHW8

If you are looking for a coach reach out through this form: https://journey-coaching.com/contact

Want to be on the Change Agent Leadership Podcast: https://www.honeybook.com/widget/journey_coaching_202854/cf_id/680c13dc44c3fb0019b775ab

Catch full episodes of video versions and other leadership videos on my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Jonathan-Hankin

Download Free Leadership Toolkits → https://www.jonathanhankin.com/leadership-toolkit-library

-

Schedule a free 30 minute discover call: https://calendly.com/jonathan-jonathanhankin/30min

Follow me here:
Website: www.jonathanhankin.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-hankin 

Transcript

 Welcome back to Change Agent Leadership.   Today we're unpacking a book on behavioral change called Switch, how to Change Things When Change Is Hard By Chip and Dan Heath, whether you're leading a team  through a major shift,  trying to change a culture. Or just working on improving yourself. This episode is for you.

 Ultimately, all change boils down to the same mission.   Can you get people or yourself to start behaving in a new way? In this book, the authors argue that successful change shares a common pattern. It requires the leader to do three things at once. Appeal to both people's hearts and minds. And shape the environment that they're in. 

We all know that is way easier said than done, especially when people's hearts and minds. My heart and mind often disagree. The tension between our hearts and minds is captured by an  analogy they use throughout the book that our emotional side is an elephant, and our rational side is the rider.  So purse to top the elephant, just picture a rider on top of an elephant.

The rider is holding the reins and seems to be the leader, but the rider's control is very precarious because the rider is so small compared to the elephant. Anytime the six ton elephant and the rider disagree about which direction to go, well, you can guess it. The rider is going to lose. Most of us are very familiar with this situation because many times our elephant, our emotion overrides our rider, our brain.

You've experienced this. If you've ever slept in overeating, procrastinated, given into fear, and the list goes on. The weakness of the elephant, our emotional side is clear. It's often lazy and skittish often looking for the quick payoff, like maybe I'm looking for an ice cream cone over the long-term payoff of being in fit or staying in shape.

So  when change efforts fail, it's usually the elephant is triumphing in that situation since the kind of change we want typically involves short-term sacrifices to get a long-term payoff,  and that's what's not happening. The rider is the opposite. His or her strength is long-term thinking. This doesn't mean the elephant is all bad.

Emotions is the elephant's turf, and it's important to have love, compassion, sympathy, loyalty, et cetera. All of those are necessary. I mean, we can all relate to. We hear about the fierce instincts of parents to protect their kids from harm. Well, that's the elephant. It's a good thing, but you have to address both for change to be effective.

Chip and Dan Heath used this metaphor throughout their book and what I'm gonna talk about today.   So we all have two sides inside of us, the rider. They'd say that's our rational side. It plans analyzes and thinks. Long term Elephant, as I mentioned, is our emotional side. It's powerful, instinctive, and driven by feelings.

And then there, as I mentioned earlier, they have a third part of the path. That's our environment, the situations we're in, the habits and systems that influence our behavior.  So if we want change to happen, whether in ourselves, our teams. Our organization, you have to line all three, the rider, the elephant, and the path.

So let's break these three sections down one by one.   The first one is the rider. We want to direct the rider, and that's because the rider needs crystal clear direction. And we do this by identifying bright spots. Bright spots are places where things are working, where the change you want. Is already happening. 

The rider is a thinker and a planner and can plot a course for a better future, but the rider does have a weakness, the tendency to spin his or her wheels. Why? Because in tough times there's stress in many factors involved, and the rider sees problems everywhere and analysis paralysis can often kick in.

Therefore, to make progress on change, you need to direct the rider, show him or her where to go, how to act. And what destination to pursue. That is why Bright spots are so essential. They're your best hope for directing. The rider when you're trying to bring about change.  To pursue bright spots is to ask the question, what's working and how can we do more of it?

Sounds simple, doesn't it? But in reality, this is actually the question that's very rarely asked.  Instead, what question do we often hear in meetings? What's the problem and how do we fix it? We naturally tend to focus on the negative, but in times of change, many times this is not helpful. Our rider needs to have a solution focused, the mindset.

Second, to direct the rider, you need to script the critical moves, so be precise. In other words, buy 1% milk is way more directive than eat healthy because there's no ambiguity in it.  

Remember this clarity dissolves resistance.  Finally, make the final destination clear. The rider needs to know what the target is, he or she needs to know, what constitutes a win? So some key points here. I'm gonna break 'em down into  three. For recap, find the bright spots. Could be something along the lines of asking what's working and how can we do more of it?

An idea, maybe start your meetings by highlighting one bright spot on your team. Your team created last week. Two script the moves. An action step here is break change goals into micro behaviors. So in your next one-on-one, instead of telling one of your employees, hey, work on communication or communicate better, try start your weekly email updates with three point bullet summary.

In other words, give them specifics where to start, and then three point to the destination, create a vision statement for your change effort. Could be something like using storytelling to show what success looks like in action.  You need to decide what work for you. I'm just giving you some ideas, but it starts with being intentional and taking the time to work through these three tactics for your rider.

 Two, motivate the elephant. Successful change requires that you speak to people's feelings when change doesn't happen. People often think it's due to lack of information.  We think, well, if they just understood the dangers, they would change. Well, millions of smokers can tell you that this isn't true.

It's motivation that's needed, which comes from our emotions, especially the positive ones.  Motivation can come in several ways. I'm just gonna give three quick ones. One way. One way is to focus on small wins. These milestones build hope and momentum. Two, shrink the change so it doesn't feel overwhelming.

In other words, it's not a, in 10 years we're going to do this, or in one year we're going to do this. It's like this week, this is what we're going to do. And then three, help people connect with their identity or grow into a new one. What is the identity? Who are they? What do they believe in?  So some key tactics.

One, find the feeling an action step. Ask yourself, how can I make this problem feel real for them? An idea here could be to use stories, visuals, or hands-on demos. Find the way that will make it connect to them personally. Everybody has different lit learning styles and finding the different styles that work on your team is key.

Or for yourself, it's key to know how you learn. Two, shrink the change. Refine what success looks like today. So an idea here is use the five minute rule to get started and what? What is the five minute rule? What does that mean? Well, the elephant, your emotional side, resists big, daunting changes. So instead of saying.

Overhaul the entire process or finish the whole presentation, you simply commit. Commit to starting for just five minutes. I know it sounds crazy, but it actually works. Why one it slow. It lowers the barrier to entry. Starting is often the hardest part on a project. Two, it builds momentum. Once you begin, you usually keep going.

You don't have to stop at five minutes, but you usually keep going. And so then the last part under the elephant is to grow yourself and people. An action step here is use identity focused language, like you're the kind of leader who. Fill in the blank. These are positive, by the way. I'm the type of leader who, blank.

Fill in the blank. Fill in the in the blank with something there. Why? We want to normalize failure as part of growth. In other words, we're not identified by a failure. 

 And then step three, shape the path. The rider needs direction. The elephant needs motivation, but you need to shape the environment to make the change easier.

People are incredibly sensitive to the environment and culture they're in.  I know I am so. Fact traffic. Engineers know this. Grocery stores use it. If you want changed behavior to happen, tweak the environment and reduce the friction.   Some key ideas here. Three. Tweak the environment by possibly asking what friction can I remove?

An idea. Change the default settings, simplify systems, remove steps that aren't necessary. Are you just doing things 'cause you've always done it? So tweak the environment. Two, build habits. An action step here is to use action trigger our action triggers, excuse me, to preload decisions. So an action trigger.

After our Monday meeting, I'll spend 15 minutes reviewing last week's wins. So in other words, it's an if and statement. If this happens, I will do this. And then three, rally the herd. An action step here is publicly recognized early adopters. Change is hard. Yeah, so an idea here. Pair change champions to reinforce each other's behaviors.

 You don't wanna put someone together that's super excited, that was an old mindset. Someone that's really excited with someone that is not on board, and let's hope and pray that the person that's not on board is gonna get excited. Low chance of success. Put two people together that are excited what's gonna happen.

Multiplication factor.  So weekly, action plan, bright spot scan. Write down one thing that's already working. Two shrink. One, change. Break down a big initiative into smaller embraceable tasks. Three. Build an action trigger. Pick a habit, set a clear trigger and do it. Four. Rally the herd. Highlight someone living out the change.

 So some final thoughts. Change is not easy. But it's not magic either. When you align the rider, the elephant in the path, you create real lasting transformation. Let's be the leaders who don't just talk about change, but who make the switch and help others do the same. If this episode added value to your day, hit like and subscribe, drop a comment.

I like to know how this has helped you. If you're looking for a coach who want to or want to be in my Change Agent Leadership podcast as a client to work through a goal or a challenge you're facing. Click on a link in the show notes. Until next time, I'm Jonathan Hankin, your change agent, coach. Keep questioning, keep growing, and keep leading change.