What Does It Take To Get Us To Move? Even Improve?

I’ve been thinking about the relationship between decision-making, especially in the light of board governance, and actual change in a board’s or anyone’s) behavior. Here are some thoughts:

To change people must:
1. Be searching for applicable truth - be curious and have a sense of our need, even urgency in seeking truth–and be willing to seek truth in areas where you do not want it!
2. Hear truth - be open and looking. We naturally resist or deny truth that is, or may be, contrary to our present course of action or our beliefs. We rationalize why it doesn’t apply or may not be true. This, of course, also means testing the information we’ve received concerning its reliability and truthfulness–its alignment with reality.
3. Receive/accept/believe it. Without being convinced that what we have learned is true we will not go to the next step which is…
4. Internalize/absorb/grasp it - Not only be convinced that what we have learned is true but that it true for us and has meaning and impact for us. It is part of our reality and it creates emotional energy in us. We must apply it to ourselves and our situation. If not, we will not act, (unless compelled against our will.)
5. Begin to act on it. - practice doing it. Without practice there is no learning and growth in proficiency.
6. Continue doing it. Inertia works against us when starting something but in our favor when we have begun something and are developing the practice, (such as sticking to an exercise regimen or a diet). Author Jim Collins talks about the flywheel effect - that by giving small impulses repeatedly and persistently in the right direction we can get even a large, heavy flywheel spinning faster and faster. Excellence absolutely depends on persistence–getting better and better.

These principles apply to governing boards. I see boards all the time that get interested, profess the desire to improve and only begin before they falter and fail. Board members must believe in what they are being coached to do to improve their governance. It is almost always uphill against their current practices and often involves greater rigor for them. So the strong tendency is to begin with good intentions but then increasingly resist the need to change and then slide backwards. Generally someone on the board must take the role of the one who gives the flywheel a shove.
We experience this in our everyday life. Our spouse encourages us to keep doing something that for a variety reason we might fall back from, e.g., a diet or going to the gym. He or she gives our flywheel a shove. We need that.