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By Ellen Pearlman
Strategic Thinkers: Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey
Credentials:
Kegan is the William and Miriam Meehan Professor in Adult Learning and Professional Development at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education; Lahey is the Associate Director of Harvard's Change Leadership Group. Both are founding principals of Minds at Work, a leadership-learning professional services firm, and coauthors of How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work published in 2001.
Big Idea:
Hard-to-change personal and organizational behavior can be overcome with a developmental process that addresses the emotional mindset behind a person or group's immunity to change.
Book:
Immunity to Change: How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization published by Harvard Business Press, February 2009
How many of you know a heart patient who has received a warning from his doctor that he will die if he doesn't change his health habits? According to Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey, the authors of Immunity to Change, a recent study shows that only one in seven of such patients were able to successfully alter their health behavior after receiving such dire news. That doesn't surprise me. I know many people, myself included, who do not always follow the best health advice to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly and practice moderation in eating and drinking.
Despite the ample evidence that suggests health and longevity are tied to how you take care of your body, people still have a hard time changing their behavior.
And when it comes to the workplace, how many of you have thrown up your hands about an employee who promises she will change her unproductive habits, but never does? What's wrong with Jane you wonder? Can she ever change? Doesn't she realize what's at stake?
Traditional performance improvement plans might include asking such an employee to attend a training class or program to work on her issue. But authors Kegan and Lahey believe that many of these traditional approaches don't work or are not sufficient to bring about transformational behavior. That takes a different plan, which the authors spell out in their latest book, Immunity to Change. People have an immunity to change, they say, "that actively (and brilliantly) prevents us from changing because of its devotion to preserving our existing way of making meaning."
Next: Overcoming Resistance to Change
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