Why is change so hard to achieve, even when we know it is good for us? For good reason… We as humans are hardwired to resist it.

• Familiarity and routine are associated with safety and survival. New situations pose potential threats, ones that we may not be able to handle.
• Change often requires us to adopt new beliefs or behaviors that may conflict with our existing ones. This can create cognitive dissonance, a psychological discomfort we naturally try to avoid.
• The cognitive bias of loss aversion is so strong that we will walk away from greater potential gain to keep what we already have.

You can see why sticking to our comfort zones (whether as individuals or as a group) is the tempting option. But it is only in stretching out of that that progress can be made.

To overcome that natural barrier, one unique technique we at BOxD have successfully used with our clients is to shrink the change by treating it as an experiment. It empowers leaders, teams, and whole organizations to try new behaviors on for size, see what results emerge, and actively decide whether or not the new behaviors are worth adopting.

Why focus on behaviors? Apart from getting desired results, changing our behaviors allows us to change how we think…which then in turn drives how we behave. By intentionally redirecting this mind-behavior loop, we are able to create a positive cycle of change for ourselves.