Emotions vs. Logic: How to Win the Battle for Buy-In to Change

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

  Change Management  

Like it or not, getting people to buy in to change is more about their emotions than logic. Sure, there are tons of concepts, process and approaches for implementing organizational change. But at the heart, the key component to success is getting individuals and groups—at the project level or whole organizations—to connect with that change at an emotional level.

Successful change requires people to find the leverage they need to give up their old ways in favor of new ones. The big difference is the magnitude of the change in terms of the number of people involved and the gap between the way things are now and the way they might be in the future.

Working against change is homeostasis—the natural nature of an organism to resist change and maintain the status quo. Even if people don’t like their current state, they tend to favor it versus moving to a new and unknown one (thus the old adage about “the devil you know”). Here are a few examples that might better make the point:

Personal Level: You have a dream vacation planned, yet you find yourself getting a little depressed or tired a few days before you leave. Even though you know it promises to be fun and exciting, homeostasis sets in…just a little. Yet, once you arrive, you are glad you went.

Project Level: You have been assigned as the project manager of a new automation …

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