Rex Huppke is a humorist and writes a twice weekly workplace column for  the Chicago Tribune titled
“I Just Work Here“.

The Sunday, June 21, 2015  Dallas Morning News business section featured one of his columns titled “Trick the Brain Into Change“.  Huppke interviewed Art Markman, Director of the Human Dimensions of Organizations program at UT Austin for the article.

According to Markman, there is a habit based side of the brain and an intellectual side.  To effect change, you must convince the intellectual side that the change is worth the time it takes to change the habit.  Therefore, the best way to get people to change is to make the new idea easy to do.

Do you have an upcoming change you need to implement?

• Analyze how to reduce the complexity of the change.
• Brainstorm the impact of the change on yourself and others
• Determine what can be put into place to change the current habit in order to create the new desired habit
• Communicate the change and its impact

And remember to make the change easy to do!

You may also listen to a recorded interview with Rex on the same topic on WGN.