Breaking Free From the Bracelet: Provoking Change

Animal trainers shackle young elephants with heavy chains to deeply embedded stakes. Consequently, the elephant learns to stay in its place. Later, an older elephant never tries to leave, even though it has the strength to pull the stake out of the ground and move on. This conditioning causes the older elephant to remain in one spot with only a small metal bracelet around his foot, attached to nothing.  

Likewise, many organizations stay in the same place year after year, bound by earlier conditioned constraints. The “We’ve always done it this way” mentality resembles the small metal bracelet around the elephant’s foot. Does this describe your team? 

Author Lyle Schaller relates that leaders regularly serve as change agents because they keep vision in the forefront through the process of change. Since change is not always easy or popular, leaders teach their team members to observe the need for modification, loosely holding onto methods in case they need to be altered. When leaders create a culture of continual improvement, team members feel comfortable advocating changes themselves to implement better ways of doing things.  

Winston Churchill stated well the importance of adapting: “Unless you take change by the hand, it will take you by the throat.” 

Ironically, success can also tie many groups to the past. The very factors that produced today’s successes can create tomorrow’s failures. Hence, it is vital to be adaptable and willing to adjust methods. Team leaders mustn’t be content with yesterday’s standards; they forge corridors into the future. As an agent of change, the leader sets a fire so that staff and clients see the flames with their own eyes and smell the smoke with their own nostrils without anyone burning the tent down. 

So, how can you lead your people through change?  

• First, leaders build a sense of urgency by pointing out the need to change. Infuse the concept of, “How do we get better?” 

• Second, leaders create a clear tomorrow by directing attention to critical factors that produce long-term success. They ask, “Is my action keeping with the vision?”  

• Third, leaders develop a migration path, reproducing key behaviors by their example. 

• Lastly, leaders reinforce team members’ new behaviors and give positive reinforcement to others as they embrace new ideas and practices. 

Not only must astute leaders understand the phases in the change process and how to implement them, but also the reasons for people’s resistance to change. 

Conner lists in his book, Managing at the Speed of Change: How Resilient Managers Succeed and Prosper Where Others Fail, nine key reasons why staff are change-resistant: 

1. Lack of trust in the people that propose it. 

2. Belief that change is unnecessary, not convinced of an obvious need for it.  

3. Belief that the change is not feasible and unlikely to succeed.  

4. Economic threats to personal loss of income, benefits, or job security.  

5. Relative high cost to familiar routines, with some inconvenience, requiring more effort.  

6. Fear of personal failure by exposing the need to learn new ways to do the work.  

7. Loss of status and power through cutbacks. 

8. Threat to accepted values and ideals.  

9. Resentment of interference or perceived control of others. 

Organizations, like conditioned elephants, often remain constrained by outdated habits and past successes. Effective leaders break these invisible bonds by fostering urgency, clarifying the vision for tomorrow, modeling the path forward, and reinforcing new behaviors. By understanding both the phases of change and the common reasons people resist it, leaders can build a culture where continual improvement feels natural rather than threatening. Ultimately, guiding teams through change requires courage and a commitment to helping others embrace better ways of moving ahead.