Don't challenge the status quo. Change it.

You know what I’m sick and tired of being told to do? Challenge the status quo!

It’s seen as a power move. Leaders do it. Heroes do it.

Enshrined in vision statements and implored from the keynote stage, challenging the status quo is what we need to do to succeed, right?

Easy to say, hard to do.

Pointing to what needs to change or setting a vision for what a changed state looks like is the easy part – it’s hypothetical.

Actually embedding change is a behavioural influence exercise, which requires significant time, money and effort.

If you want to move beyond just challenging the status quo and actually change it, here’s what to do.

1. Anticipate reasons for resistance

There are three predictable, but often unspoken, reasons for resistance to change. While your customers or colleagues may not cite them, behavioural science has revealed these barriers underpin the decisions we make:

• Apathy - people can’t be bothered. They aren’t interested in what you’re suggesting because effort exceeds reward.
• Overwhelm - people might want to change but they are confused as to what they need to do.
• Anxiety - people are worried about making the change because they have something to lose.

By anticipating these behavioural barriers, you can design ways to reduce their impact.

2. Design to change behaviour

Overcome Apathy
Ensuring there’s a benefit for bothering, and that this exceeds any effort people have to go to, is key to overcoming apathy. You have two levers to engage them:

• Maximise reward, make sure there’s a clear “What’s In It For Me (WIIFM)”.
• Minimise effort, reduce the number of steps or time something takes or how much it costs.

For example, when screw tops were introduced to replace wine corks, a big benefit was opening the bottle without the need of a corkscrew and the ease of recapping the wine.

Reduce Overwhelm
The fastest way to frustrate people in your change program is to make them care by overcoming Apathy, but then confuse them with too much or unclear information.

To reduce overwhelm, clarity is your goal. Limit the options you provide or space the timing of when you provide them so they have enough time to process and act on what you are suggesting. Be clear in what you are asking them to do.

For example, Apple didn’t launch multiple versions of the original iPod, it introduced one.

Allaying Anxiety
If people are interested in changing, know what it takes, but are still resisting, it’s likely because they are anxious about proceeding. There are two ways to allay anxiety.

First, give people nothing to fear if they proceed. For example, Thomas Edison ensured the electric light bulb mimicked its gas predecessor so people would not be scared of it. The bulb ran at 13 watts, just like a gas lamp, and he used a lamp shade even though it was no longer required to protect the gas flame from wind. By making the strange familiar, Edison was able to encourage adoption of this new technology.

Second, give them something to fear if they don’t proceed. Make the downside of sticking with the status quo painfully obvious so they are encouraged to make the change. For example, screw tops help avoid wine being ‘corked’ and going off. With colleagues you can point to competitive challenges and eroding market share, and with customers, the fact that they are missing out on faster/better/cheaper services.

When you next hear the rallying cry to “challenge the status quo!” you now have a roadmap for actually changing it. Move beyond platitudes and move behaviour instead.

This piece also appeared in Smartcompany.

If you want to know more, here's how to become an expert in changing behaviour.