Switch
Organization
Design an environment that eliminates undesirable behaviors

Design an environment that eliminates undesirable behaviors

from Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath, Dan Heath

How to Apply This

  1. Penalize those who reject your changes
    If you’re a teacher struggling to get a few students to come to class on time, start locking the door when the bell rings. Let the latecomers stay out in the hallway. You can also have a quiz at the beginning of every class so that anyone who misses it fails the class. After a while, the troublemakers will start reporting to class on time.

  2. Establish “quiet hours” in your organization to prevent needless interruptions
    Let’s say you want to shorten the time it takes your team to develop new products. Introduce a policy where for a few hours a day, nobody is allowed to interrupt their colleague with questions or small talk. You can have these quiet hours on specific days e.g. Tuesdays and Fridays. This will ensure that everyone focuses exclusively on their work to meet the new deadline.

  3. Rearrange your office to make it easier to listen to your employees
    To ensure more active engagement with employees when they visit your office, set up a small meeting area away from your computer. Place two small couches opposite each other and a table in the middle. When someone comes to talk to you, get away from your desk and sit with them in this area. This way, they won’t feel ignored because you’re too distracted by your computer screen.

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