Alex Nottingham JD MBA highlights the need to balance both rational and emotional elements to effectively drive and sustain change.
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About Alex Nottingham JD MBA
Alex is the CEO and Founder of All-Star Dental Academy®. He is a former Tony Robbins top coach and consultant, having worked with companies upwards of $100 million. His passion is to help others create personal wealth and make a positive impact on the people around them. Alex received his Juris Doctor (JD) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Florida International University.
Episode Transcript
Transcript performed by A.I. Please excuse the typos.
00:02
This is Dental All-Stars, where we bring you the best in dentistry on marketing, management, and training. When it comes to change, only a baby with a dirty diaper wants to get changed. We often find initiating change to be a daunting task. How does the system in our brain work when it comes to motivation? Fortunately, the book Switch, written by Chip and Dan Heath, provide a valuable psychological framework to assist us with change.
00:31
In the book, they provide a metaphor. And this metaphor can help us understand how our mind works. You have the writer. This is the rational side that analyzes and solves problems. Think about your left brain. You have the elephant, which is your emotional, instinctual energy drive, your right brain. And then you have the path, which is our environment that supports change. It reduces resistance from the writer. So the writer is the one that goes on top of the elephant. Understand this.
01:01
If the elephant or the emotion gets triggered, it will easily overpower the rider, your rational side. However, the tactics to follow can help encourage our system to optimize change. Here are the key principles to change. You want to direct the rider because the rider can be an over-thinker. So you break things down into manageable steps, highlighting positive processes. You wanna motivate the elephant, appeal to the emotions and sense of urgency of the emotional mind.
01:31
celebrate the small wins, engage with your emotions, and shape the path. Even the rider and elephant can falter if the path is unclear. So shape your environment to facilitate change, remove barriers, provide yourself resources, and create supportive structures. Here’s switch and application. When you look at organizational change, clear communication benefits the rider, motivating the team with incentives, the elephant,
02:00
and the systems, processes, technologies will set the path. When it comes to leadership and management, address rational and emotional aspects of your team. Gain buy-in, rider, and elephant. Then the policies and procedures and structures, the path. When it comes to personal development, set clear, achievable goals for yourself, which is the rider. Find emotional reward and support, the elephant, and facilitate a new habit, the path.
02:30
Let’s look at another example. You want to get healthy, that’s the goal. The rider needs clear goals to be healthy and exercise. The elephant, you have to make it fun. Provide meals and exercise that the elephant enjoys. And the path is the system, the environment, making sure there’s good food in front of you. In the great book, Atomic Habits, there’s this quote, and I’m gonna include Switch in it. And the quote goes like this. Whenever you want to change your behavior,
02:58
You can simply ask yourself, how can I make it obvious? That’s the rider and the path. How can I make it attractive? The elephant. How can I make it easy? The path. How can I make it satisfying? The elephant. When looking to change yourself or influence change around you, empower the following three aspects of motivation and change. The rider, your rational side that analyzes and solves problems. The elephant, your emotional side.
03:26
that’s instinctual energy drive and the path, our environment that supports change, reducing resistance. Always start with yourself first. How can I change? What can I do? Then see how you can influence others. Thanks for joining me. Remember to like, subscribe, follow, comment, and share with your friends. And until next time, go out there and be an All-Star.
03:56
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Dental All-Stars. Visit us online at allstardentalacademy.com
