What you think affects your success

Did you know that your organisation’s change readiness depends on what and how people think? We could express this relationship in as simple formula:

WT + HT = CR

The WT part of that equation refers to what people believe to be true – about themselves, other people, the context in which they operate, and how the world works.

When stakeholders’ WT is not quite right, they will struggle to make change work. Their motivation to engage will be lower, their persistence and resilience will decrease, and their chances of success will fall.

That’s not what you want from your people, but there is some good news. WT is not what it needs to be because WT (what people need to believe to be ready for change) is learnt informally. In other words, education systems generally don’t have courses on ‘How to Succeed at Change’ Or ‘What Change Fitness Thinking Looks Like.’

Some people are lucky enough to learn it when they are young, usually from their family. Others pick it up from their experiences in life, but unfortunately, many people never learn it properly.

What many people learn does not help their WT. They learn to avoid taking risks, to play it safe, and to stay close to the shore, and often, this is what their employers want them to do.

Until it isn’t: avoiding risks is risky. The safest pathway involves adaption to an ever-changing environment. And when you want people to adapt, you want them to succeed. And that’s why the WT matters.

Here’s some more good news. I have spent over 20 years researching the nature of WT. With the proper programming, WT can be improved by 38% in less than 90 days.

When WT improves, so does success. What people think affects how they behave. You can learn more about this on this website.

In my next post, I will write about the other part of the formula: HT.