BizSugar.com › Management › Why it's so hard to get people to embrace change

Companies that have struggled with change should take note: recent discoveries in how the brain functions have resulted in new conclusions about implementing change. In other words, it's time to rethink how we think.

Two years ago the magazine Strategy and Business published an article entitled "The Neuroscience of Leadership". The article's authors, research psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz and executive coach David Rock, asserted that long-held beliefs about change need to be replaced.

Research into neuroscience and leadership has been gaining fans, and, based on the fact that it's this month's cover story at HRMagazine, I believe it's finally reached a critical mass.

Here's why this topic is so important: Despite being presented with myriad facts on how a change will be beneficial, some people won't make changes even if they know it's in their own best interest.

The reason has to do with what we might call "hard-wired neurons." Change is not just a matter of deciding to do something differently. Any attempt to modify our habits literally requires a change in the physiology of the brain. To maintain efficiency, our brains create "hard-wired" cells with the sole function of making our habits and routine behaviors easy.