Formula for Change: First Steps and Resistance

Last week, I shared the Formula for Change 

and talked about the first two variables, Dissatisfaction and Vision. Today, we’re going to get into the Doing part: taking the First concrete steps, and overcoming Resistance.

First Steps

Taking the first step is often the hardest part. When you take a step, the important thing is that you are moving into another position. You need to change what you’re doing in order to create change. Just by doing something differently than you did before or trying something new, you gain perspective, more information, and maybe some feedback. You are stepping away from the old and toward the new. You are creating momentum, and you know more than you did before, whether you failed or succeeded. And maybe doing it the second time feels a little less daunting because you have survived and know what to expect. 

The key is to have a plan for your first steps. It should be specific, but discrete. You don’t need to have your entire path mapped out towards your destination. After all, you don’t know who or what you’ll encounter along the way. I have personally found that looking at these first steps as part of an experiment can make it feel less daunting. It’s not a test to see if I am really good enough. It’s a small investment in my future vision, but without serious consequences.

The more you take risks, the more you increase your confidence. It might take a lot of steps, and there may be some setbacks, but in the long run you will make progress.

Resistance

In order for you to succeed in meeting your goals, you need to be able to overcome any resistance. There are a lot of things that can hold us back from taking action, and it depends on the individual. The good news is, working on the left side of the equation (Dissatisfaction, Vision, and First steps) is often the best way to address potential concerns about the change. It can also be really helpful to reflect ahead of time about the things that might hold you back. Here are a few of the most common obstacles:

• Fear of failure - there are a few ways to change your perspective. One is to go down the path of failure and think about what you might do in a worst case scenario. Have a plan. Another way is to make your steps low-risk, so even if you do fail, it’s not a big deal. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again or try something a little different. You can also ask yourself, if you were not afraid to fail, what would be different?

• You feel unqualified - This is normal. If you’re doing something new, you might need to become a learner again. That’s okay! You’ve done it before. If you’re reading these words right now, you learned how to read in English. That’s no small feat. What can you do to build the skill or capability that is missing today? Or, do what I often do and Fake It Till You Make It. A lot of times the best way to learn is by doing.

• Inertia - We might want something to change, but we are still used to the way things are and find comfort in the familiar. Or sometimes, we’re just not motivated to get started. This is when it’s helpful to go back to your Vision and remind yourself why this is important to you. If there is something about your Vision that doesn’t feel quite right, figure out what it is and tweak it. What is it you really want and how are you going to get it?

• Perfectionism - I predict this one resonates with many of you reading this. I’ll take action once I’m sure I’ve got all my ducks in a row. I think this is a close cousin of Control. As long as I do things just right, I can make sure everything goes the way I want it to. But guess what - things can still go wrong. If you want a change, doing something in an imperfect way is still better than inaction. At least now you’ve moved and not in the same spot as when you started. A method I find helpful to counter perfectionism when I’m creating is to timebox, or allocate a fixed amount of time to an activity. For example, I could easily spend another hour editing this blog post in the pursuit of perfection, but what use is it if it doesn’t get published? Instead, I allow myself a certain amount of time and then just put it out there.

• Fear of criticism - What will my family say? What will my friends say? Well, criticism is a form of feedback, and feedback is just a reflection of what someone else believes. It’s not any more valid than your own beliefs. You know yourself better than anyone else. You may go out of your way to avoid criticism. But when you look back on your life, will you feel better about the criticism you avoided or what you did do? Keep your eyes on the prize.

You can find lots of great free articles about how to overcome all of the above obstacles once you identify where your resistance is coming from. And once you know have named your adversary, you’re already weakening its power over you. 

So as you prepare to step into the Doing stage, ask yourself:

• What is one action you can take to move toward your goals? If that goes well, what will you do next?

• What might hold you back? How can you conquer that resistance?

At my first job after college, my boss gave everyone in the team a gift - a pack of sticky notes customized with the message “Just Do It”. This was back in the 90s when that was Nike’s slogan. This message became ingrained in my brain early on, so I’ll sign off with this:

Make your New Year’s Resolution stick with Beckhard’s Formula for Change

Happy New Year! Are you one of the millions of people worldwide who set New Year’s resolutions? I admit I’ve generally steered away from setting New Year’s resolutions, but only because I believe we should feel free to make changes at any time. 2022 was a particularly challenging year, so I like the idea of a fresh start in 2023 and have set some new goals for myself.

What about you? Did you do a Retrospective or Wheel exercise and identify some things you’d like to change? Unfortunately, studies show that the majority of people are not successful with New Year’s Resolutions. So, as you’re thinking about self-improvement, here are some considerations on how to increase your likelihood of success.

It’s based on the Formula for Change.

In plain English, Change is possible when the product of 

• Dissatisfaction with a current reality,

• Vision for what you want instead, and the

• First concrete steps toward that Vision

exceeds the Resistance to the change.

I first learned this concept in my coach training program as Beckhard’s Formula for Change, which comes from the field of organizational development. Through my extensive scholarly research (i.e., Google and Wikipedia) I learned that it was created by a scientist named David Gleicher in the 1960s and adapted to the version we know today by organizational design expert Kathie Dannemiller in the 1980s (see her in this video). Richard Beckhard used this formula in his book Organizational Transitions, and it started getting attributed incorrectly to him.

While it was created in the context of organizational change, this formula works quite well for changes in individuals too.

Did you happen to notice that the formula for change is a product, not sum, of the elements? My fellow math nerds (Quiz: Do you remember your grade school arithmetic lessons? You’re a nerd!) know that this indicates a multiplicative effect. If any of the elements are low, the product of the left hand side of the equation is low, making change less likely. And if any of the elements are missing, or zero, then the product is zero. Pause for a moment to think about that.

Now let’s break down the elements and how they apply if you want to make a change in your life. Let’s focus first on the first two variables, which are related to being - Dissatisfaction and Vision. This is about being present and mindful, before you take any action. Now if you know me, you are aware that I love Getting Things Done. But when the path to change is not easy or straightforward, investing just a little time in being can really strengthen your likelihood of success!

Dissatisfaction

Another way to look at Dissatisfaction, let’s say through a positive lens, is the desire for change. Ideally, this is coming from your core values. Something about the status quo is not okay and you want something better for yourself. This is an important part of initiation.

Let me be very clear that if you are perfectly satisfied and content with how things are in your life right now, you are fine! You don’t always need to be making changes. It’s normal and healthy to have phases in your life when things are going well. Enjoy having stability and predictability for a while. At some point in the future, that may change, but there’s nothing wrong with just being grateful for what you have and going with the flow.

However, if you have some areas of your life that are not where you want them to be, it can be helpful to consider why. What creates and strengthens the necessity of change? It might simply be a case of becoming aware of where you’re not satisfied. Perhaps you experienced an unexpected crisis, or conducted an intentional exercise that reveals this to you. Because most people don’t want to change things, you need a pretty compelling reason to be motivated to invest your time and energy into change.

What will change provide for you? What will it make possible? What else could change? If you’re not sure how to answer these questions, could this desire be coming from the outside, from what you hear from people in your life or society in general that you should do or want? Take a moment to make sure it’s something that actually meets your personal needs and is in line with your core values, whether directly or indirectly. Otherwise you’ll be less likely to succeed.

Vision

The second variable is Vision. Vision includes what you see as your end goal, and perhaps a little bit about your strategy for getting there. What do you want, and how are you going to get it? What will things look like in the future if you succeed on your change? And underlying all of this are your purpose, mission, and identity, as well as your core values. How can you make a hit if you don’t know what or where the goal is?

If you’re not sure, take some time to imagine yourself in the future, in your desired future state. What do you see? What are you feeling? Don’t worry about being right, just let the thoughts come to you, and write them down.

This is an area that I have personally struggled with in the past because I lacked confidence that I was coming up with the right vision. And yet, whenever I stumble upon old journals or worksheets where I’ve written down my vision of the future, it’s eerie how much of what’s there still resonates, and that often I have achieved many parts of my vision since I wrote it down!

I’d love to hear what you’re learning about yourself! And if any brave souls would like to share what their goals, dissatisfaction, or vision are, comment below! Feel free to hit me up with your questions and any suggestions for future topics you’d like me to cover.

Next week we’ll get into the action, the physics of change with First Steps and Resistance.