In a compelling discussion on the HBR IdeaCast, Dan Heath, Senior Fellow at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, shares powerful strategies for transforming workplace systems that simply aren’t working. His new book, “Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working”, offers practical wisdom for organisations caught in the quicksand of “that’s how we’ve always done things”.
Let me walk you through Heath’s two-part framework for meaningful change. I have found his approach particularly insightful: first, we need to identify leverage points – those sweet spots where small actions can create big impacts. Then, instead of hunting for new resources, we need to get creative with what we already have. It’s a practical approach that reflects what I see in most organisations – we often have to work with existing resources to make real changes happen. This framework resonates because it’s grounded in reality rather than assuming we can throw more money or people at the problem.
A standout example from the discussion involves a hospital’s receiving department, where packages took three days to travel from the basement to upper floors. The new manager, Paul Suett, demonstrated exemplary leadership by engaging his team in the solution. Rather than dictating changes, he spent time with staff examining the entire delivery process, ultimately discovering that unnecessary batch processing was causing significant delays. Within just six weeks, delivery times were halved.
Heath emphasises the importance of understanding “the goal of the goal”. He illustrates this through the story of a truck dealership’s customer satisfaction surveys, where the original intention of improving customer experience became corrupted into a mere numbers game. This exemplifies Goodhart’s Law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure”.
The concept of “bursts” – concentrated periods of focused effort – proves crucial for breaking through initial resistance. Heath likens this to raising a stuck window; the initial force required is substantial, but maintaining movement becomes easier. He challenges the common obsession with efficiency, suggesting that effectiveness should often take precedence.
For leaders seeking to implement change, Heath offers a refreshing perspective on employee buy-in. Rather than trying to convince staff to adopt leadership’s vision, he advocates finding the intersection between necessary changes and employees’ existing desires for improvement. This approach recognises motivation as the crucial fuel for transformation.
The discussion concludes with practical advice for managing resistance. Heath suggests a three-pronged approach: offering trades or concessions, adjusting roles to align with preferences, and demonstrating early wins to build momentum.
It reminds us that meaningful change requires more than just identifying problems – it demands systematic thinking, careful resource allocation, and above all, a deep understanding of human motivation. Success lies not in pushing harder against resistance, but in finding smart leverage points and building momentum through early wins.
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