Some Good Influencers to Tame the “Cookie Monster”

“You are a product of your environment. Choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective …. Is it helping you toward success—or holding you back?” — W. Clement Stone

In last week's blog, we continued the journey of trying to understand why, when it comes to behavior change, it is often so difficult to travel “the longest yard” – the distance between our knowledge (head), our beliefs (heart) and our action (hands).  We concluded that, try as we might, we’ll never outSMART our emotions, so we need learn how to better direct their powerful energy in the direction we desire to go.   

Using the analogy of the rider (knowledge/“skill”), the elephant (emotions/“will”), and the path (environment), it is now time to explore what I have come to believe is a greatly underutilized  aspect of behavior change – the path.  How do we create the circumstances that will optimize the chances that change will both occur and be sustainable?  Well, it turns out that behavior change at its best requires both the support of others and the right conditions and tools.   

In their book Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, Joseph Grenny and colleagues proposed that for change to really take hold, it must maximally tap into 6 sources of influence, and that personal “will and skill” are only two of them.  This provides some hope for me, since we established last week that while I have the skill to resist those cookies, I appear to be lacking the will, so I’m going to need some help!  The other 4 influencers comprise the “path” of behavior change – the social and structural environment within which the change is to take place, and both of these has their own “will and skill” component as well.  The authors argue that unless at least 4 of these 6 sources of influence are leveraged, any attempt at change doesn’t stand a chance.  One down, and at least three to go for the Cookie Monster!  Let’s get started.

The “social” aspect of the path has to do with how others are helping or hindering the desired change.  This is where your PeerRxMed partner can start taking on a major role in impacting your road to change!   Consider how powerful receiving encouragement has been on your professional journey.   This is because encouragement is the ultimate “elephant fuel.”  Indeed, to encourage literally means “to cause to be in heart,” and as we learned last week, it's the "heart" (emotion) that drives the "will" of any behavior change.  So inviting others to encourage my desire to forego my cookie-eating tendencies (can’t have just one) becomes a significant influencer for that change.  But encouragement is not enough.  Think back to your own medical training and reflect on some of your best teachers.  They not only encouraged you, but also helped to equip you through their teaching and example.  I need to find a friend who has cracked the “cookie code” to share their wisdom and help me do the same.   

The final 2 major influencers for change have to do with the structural part of your change path.  This has to do with creating the right conditions and using the right tools.  In my quest to tame the Cookie Monster, not having cookies in the house (will) and having healthier snacks readily available that I also like (skill) would be an important way to modify that “pathway of least resistance” that we humans are hardwired for. 

What’s the path you are creating on your way to change and how can you modify your “influencers.”  When I do the math for my cookie “conquering,” it appears I’m well on my way.   For too many of us, however, we keep our change efforts to ourselves to avoid a sense of vulnerability, and in doing so, fail to tap into the powerful structural and social “capital” that surrounds us.  Don’t let that be you!  Your PeerRxMed partner is an invitation away from helping to provide vital support on your change journey.   Allow them to help you check off 2 more “influencer” sources, then perhaps together you can plan how to create the optimal structure for change success.  With all these resources at your disposal, it seems like sanity that no one should try to change alone.

Next week, in our final segment of this series, we’ll return back to you as the ultimate catalyst of change and explore how applying a few key principles can create the circumstances for your new “that’s just what I do.”