Disputing with your Horse

What usually happens is that the Horse tries to convince you of why you should not yet make the change.

I know this sounds as though the Horse is a separate personality, but we all have conversations with ourselves, either inside our heads or, sometimes, out loud. It is not a sign of madness, more a reasoning process where we examine two aspects of something.

Let’s take the waste bin situation. You have moved this from the right-hand side of your desk to the left. These are some of the rational reasons your Horse may come up with to restore the bin to its original position:

• The cleaner will move it back anyway.
• It takes too long to remember where it is.
• Somebody will trip over it in the new position.
• Other people have got used to it being there and won’t like it in its new position.
• I have to stop work every time I use it because I have to remember where it is.

Part of the problem is that you have no real reason to move it – other than as an experiment. However, if you would fail a health and safety check if you left it in its original position, you would probably be more inclined to try to get used to the new position. It would not stop your frustration level each time you threw paper in the previous location, but you would persevere and, eventually, your Horse would learn the new habit.

The secret of successful change is to dispute with your Horse – and win!

This is what anyone trying to change goes through. Your job as a manager is to provide sufficient motivation, benefits, preparation and support to ensure that the process is not too painful.