Pain and Pleasure -- What creates change?
Tuesday, September 13 , 2005
What does it take to motivate someone (manager, team member) to change their behavior back in the office AFTER the teambuilding workshop?
I'd like to believe that a one day (once a year) teambuilding workshop will create long term change in a person but it usually doesn't.
The teambuilding workshop can create an "opening" - - a place for someone to create the initial shift. The workshop will not sustain the change. And some who attend the workshop will refuse to change their behavior (during or after the workshop).
What is it then that keeps a person "stuck" in old disruptive behavior?
The reason people don't change is that they associate pain to changing. Change requires moving into the unknown and many people associate pain to the unknown. The pain they experience now as a result of not changing is (they believe) LESS painful than going through all the effort of changing.
People are motivated by two factors:
1. The need to avoid pain
2. The need to gain pleasure
The brain is setup to do these two things on a moment to moment basis. It helps us survive. The brain is asking "Will doing this thing help me avoid pain? Will doing this thing help me gain pleasure?"
My dad was a near chain smoker for many years and had made feeble attempts at quitting UNTIL he had a heart attack. Prior to the heart attack he had associated more pain to quitting than not. After the heart attack he linked the intense pain he was experiencing to the smoking and he never picked up again. The pain of quitting became LESS painful than the pain he associated to remaining a smoker. When presented with two painful choices we will choose the less painful of the two.
The key here is what the person ASSOCIATES the pain to. Did my dad have to have a heart attack to stop smoking? No. He could have used his imagination to clearly associate intense (intense!) pain to smoking and he would have dropped the habit just as fast.
To get someone (a team member) to change their behavior long term they must associate massive pain to the existing old negative behavior and intense pleasure to the new (higher conscioussness) positive behavior.
When comparing pain and pleasure as motivators, pain is the greater motivator - - short term.
Long term, pleasure is the greater motivator.
How then to bring in the pleasure component?
Many people (many teams) are very clear about what they don't want. By helping someone become clear about what they do want in their life (the pleasure) I help them create a clear and powerfully articulated VISION that absolutely inspires and uplifts them. A powerfully articulated vision helps a person (a team) be drawn toward that which they desire. A powerfully articulated vision will help people have the courage and discipline to stay the course.
Are you ready to receive the benefits of a clearly and powerfully articulated vision for your team?
Tuesday, September 13 , 2005
What does it take to motivate someone (manager, team member) to change their behavior back in the office AFTER the teambuilding workshop?
I'd like to believe that a one day (once a year) teambuilding workshop will create long term change in a person but it usually doesn't.
The teambuilding workshop can create an "opening" - - a place for someone to create the initial shift. The workshop will not sustain the change. And some who attend the workshop will refuse to change their behavior (during or after the workshop).
What is it then that keeps a person "stuck" in old disruptive behavior?
The reason people don't change is that they associate pain to changing. Change requires moving into the unknown and many people associate pain to the unknown. The pain they experience now as a result of not changing is (they believe) LESS painful than going through all the effort of changing.
People are motivated by two factors:
1. The need to avoid pain
2. The need to gain pleasure
The brain is setup to do these two things on a moment to moment basis. It helps us survive. The brain is asking "Will doing this thing help me avoid pain? Will doing this thing help me gain pleasure?"
My dad was a near chain smoker for many years and had made feeble attempts at quitting UNTIL he had a heart attack. Prior to the heart attack he had associated more pain to quitting than not. After the heart attack he linked the intense pain he was experiencing to the smoking and he never picked up again. The pain of quitting became LESS painful than the pain he associated to remaining a smoker. When presented with two painful choices we will choose the less painful of the two.
The key here is what the person ASSOCIATES the pain to. Did my dad have to have a heart attack to stop smoking? No. He could have used his imagination to clearly associate intense (intense!) pain to smoking and he would have dropped the habit just as fast.
To get someone (a team member) to change their behavior long term they must associate massive pain to the existing old negative behavior and intense pleasure to the new (higher conscioussness) positive behavior.
When comparing pain and pleasure as motivators, pain is the greater motivator - - short term.
Long term, pleasure is the greater motivator.
How then to bring in the pleasure component?
Many people (many teams) are very clear about what they don't want. By helping someone become clear about what they do want in their life (the pleasure) I help them create a clear and powerfully articulated VISION that absolutely inspires and uplifts them. A powerfully articulated vision helps a person (a team) be drawn toward that which they desire. A powerfully articulated vision will help people have the courage and discipline to stay the course.
Are you ready to receive the benefits of a clearly and powerfully articulated vision for your team?
posted by AcrosticGuy at
8:18 AM
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