Jul 10, 2021
The Rewards and Science of Writing a Book on Change Management
Writing a substantial non-fiction book is a significant and worthy challenge. Book-writing is a game of mental endurance. As I wrote, I struggled with ideas, words and motivation. The writing process is painful yet incredibly rewarding. I am not complaining as there are far more difficult challenges in life that don’t have such intrinsic rewards. When my writing reached a pain barrier or impasse, I could retreat and return when I felt like it.
What can I share with you about what I learned from creating my book — The Change Manager’s Companion? In hindsight, I was a participant in an experiment on the science of motivation and creativity during my book writing journey. If you have gone down the same book-writing path, perhaps you have had a similar experience?
Imposter syndrome
I would have to say that writing is quite intimidating. After all, who has made me the expert or anyone worthwhile listening to? I am far from a decent writer. This is not about fishing for compliments or sympathy. I have had considerable feedback about my writing from those I respect. I still dread the first change communications draft.
Feelings of intimidation and thoughts of “who made me the expert?” suggests a mild dose of imposter syndrome 1 . The imposter syndrome has been alive and well in me, especially in the beginning days of writing. Yet I plunged on ahead. What are three ways I fought imposter syndrome?
- I built on previous successes. In my mid-twenties, I wrote three books. Today they sit on my bookshelf unpublished. After six solid months of writing and editing, I produced a 150,000-word document that became three books. In a Kinkos 24-hour, 7-days-per-week printing centre at 2 am on a Saturday morning my three A4-sized book children came into the world as hard copies. A bleary-eyed retail assistant handed three bundles over the counter. As a proud “book dad”, I looked down at the beautiful colour covers and proudly flipped through the magnificent pages which I wrote. I enjoyed the substance — the weight of the books in my hands.
Few people knew of the mental pain barriers I went through to write and edit over months. Only my close family and one potential publisher ever saw these manuscripts. I grew shy and never made that last step to publication. My psychology thesis was another easily-overlooked “success” which few have (or may want) to read — this sits on my bookshelf too, and a copy is in the university library. In the end, these experiences now bear fruit in giving me greater confidence in the writing “long game”. Small victories help overcome the demons of self-doubt.
2. Outlines show your progress. Progress is gold for writers struggling with imposter syndrome 2. Writing a clear outline of the many topics I was fascinated in helped reinforce the small glimmer of confidence on the harshest days of uncertainty and doubt. Also, I knew that writing a book is excellent practice in conveying ideas, which is part of my stock in trade as a Change Manager.
Creative insights
I found the creative process quite straightforward at first 3. Yet the creative process doesn’t always start from positive, “warm and fuzzy” feelings. At least not with me- how about you?
Frustration was the fuel for my book. Frustration was the initial driver of a need to write my emerging ideas down. I channelled frustration into productive outcomes. Learning to channel raw emotions productively was something I learned much earlier in life.
Maybe my book would not have happened without this experience? Channelling emotions like frustration and disappointment can lead to some worthwhile creative endeavours!
The idea of codifying ten change management principles started to emerge. Like many parting thoughts and emotions, I thought this feeling about writing would eventually go away.
Instead, the ideas became more articulate and persistent. These ideas seemed like toddlers angrily yelling out for attention 4. I started drafting an outline. I did not judge the ideas and initially thought this might be a series of blog posts. Over time I had a collection of nearly seventy. Many of these were drawn directly from my experience, while others needed a bit of research.
There was also a selfish side to my ideas. I wanted to codify many of the skills I had learned from psychology and business studies and my experiences in facilitating change. Some of the ideas in my outline were quite transdisciplinary in nature and I had to research these ideas to add to my repertoire.
Even so, I could see change management authors merging other contemporary business concepts. For example, agile and lean methodology 5–7 and design thinking. I could also see gaps in change management literature and sought to articulate novel takes on what I did for a living 4. Idea mash-ups are a great start to your creative process if you don’t know where to begin. Some idea mash-ups are hilarious, some repulsive and all are thought-provoking.
Values
I am a voracious book reader, and in my early twenties, I pretty much lived in bookstores. When feeling stressed out at work, I would pop up to the local Dymocks bookstore and hang there during my lunch break, seeking solace and inspiration from many non-fiction business books. After writing an outline, I knew that I had both a book and an online course.
For fun, I take a well-regarded positive psychology assessment every couple of years. The Values in Action (VIA) assessment is free, confidential and illustrates your leading values 5. The assessment takes 30–40 minutes and ranks your top values from twenty-four values. Since 2012, my top values are consistent — a love of learning 6, persistence and creativity. The VIA might help you clarify your unique “why” and “how” for writing a book. Another free values assessment is available online 7. Your unique values signature may point you towards other challenges like leading events or achieving other career outcomes.
Circumstance and environment shaping success
It was not long before COVID hit in earnest, and not long after this many of us on the same project had our contracts wrapped up. Scarcity mentality can easily creep into anyone’s psyche during this time. We had toilet paper shortages and plenty of fights in supermarkets in Sydney during COVID lockdowns in 2020. During lockdown between contracts, this time was certainly a breeding ground for other ideas, refinement, and chasing the occasional fruitless idea. I discovered my unique writing and research flow, and The Change Manager’s Companion emerged as a document turning into a book.
Retreat
Linking research articles to various parts of my manuscript took considerable time, as did the process of indexing and editing. The actual writing did not take all that long despite periods of writer’s block. When I started my new work contract, earnest efforts to further my book stopped while I focused on my exciting new contract.
Focus
Focusing on my research topics helps me in my work as a change professional. I have also dabbled in video production, an interesting detour from writing! Again my early video production experiments were failures. Yet each failure provided small skill uplifts for explainer and training videos in my change work.
Grit
In the end, writing my book needed routine, space for deep thinking and enough passion to push through pain barriers 8–10. Grit and determination are both tested and forged during this challenge. Previous experiences in writing lengthy articles, books and academic papers gave me useful experience in remembering to check in for signs of burnout or feelings of overwhelm. I found that taking rest and pacing myself meant I was in a better position to write — and enjoy the process.
Accountability
I did advertise on LinkedIn to my peers that a book was on the way, and I also took the step of posting the first chapter. Pressing the LinkedIn post button was a mildly terrifying experience. How would my peers, former bosses and the broader network respond? What if my book is poorly received? But if I thought about the downsides too much, I would avoid writing.
Instead, I challenged my thinking and sought a more balanced, sustainable way to think about it. Maybe there are people out there who will appreciate my unique way of looking at change management? Openly stating that my book was on the way had a two-fold impact: while it kept me accountable, it also added to the feeling of pressure to get my book out the door in mid-to-late 2021. Small commitments, like buying ISBNs for my book after drafting the manuscript showed how real things were becoming.
Intrinsic motivation
I take inspiration from Seth Godin, a popular and prolific business author. Robert Green and Ray Dalio are just as inspirational to me 11–13. Seth Godin says not to write to make money but because you have a book inside you and you have to “get this book out” 14. To me, this was the right motivation.
It is like another inspiration of mine — an accomplished martial arts that I had the great fortune to learn from. In speaking of being a martial arts teacher, he said that you would have to be an idiot to do it. The hard work that goes into each student, especially to see them leave after years, plus the legal responsibilities and the ongoing training yields bitter yet hardy fruit. Yet my teacher found that self-expression was a significant motivator for returning to the dojo mats each week to teach myself and fellow students. I guess writing a book is a similar undertaking.
10,000 hours of practice
While studying the final structure of my master’s degree, this book has been there, waiting for me to put the rest of my weekends and free time into it. While anecdotally 10,000 hours of practice helps you master a skill, research suggests a nuanced view of skills acquisition 15. My writing practice also tested my ability to create better imagery and templates.
Yet despite the difficulties, even though I am mediocre at best at writing, I want to write more to become a better writer. Writing forces you to sharpen your thinking. It has been an engaging hobby that becomes a business at the moment one person pays hard-earned money for my book.
If you look at the hours invested purely from a financial return perspective, maybe writing a niche non-fiction book is an outrageous waste of time better spent on Netflix?
Curiosity
My innate curiosity drives me. Julia Galef is co-founder of the Centre for Applied Rationality and author of The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t 16,17. Julia investigates how and why people change their minds. She challenges how open our minds are to change through the idea of a soldier or scout mindset. Are you a soldier, prone to defending your viewpoint at all costs — or a scout, spurred by curiosity?
Maybe our minds are open to new ways of leading change based on how we feel about our work? Perhaps we take inspiration from those we are helping through change? Our emotions provide the fuel to continue the hard slog to get through a book. The same emotions help bring a spirit of curiosity and “joining the dots”.
“This cluster of traits is what researchers have found — and I’ve also found anecdotally — predicts good judgment. And the key takeaway I want to leave you with about those traits is that they’re primarily not about how smart you are or about how much you know. In fact, they don’t correlate very much with IQ at all. They’re about how you feel. There’s a quote that I keep coming back to, by Saint-Exupéry. He’s the author of “The Little Prince.” He said, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up your men to collect wood and give orders and distribute the work. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.””
Julia Galef — Why you think you’re right, even when you’re wrong TED Talk 18
There is so much more to learn about how people adjust to change, both individually and as part of a team or organisation. I spent time trying to answer questions like:
- “What would a psychologist contribute to our understanding of organisational change management? Why do people struggle to change?”
- “Other mass influence professionals deal with creative and fluid projects — what habits and approaches can they reveal to change professionals?”
- “How can we fuse neuroscience with more compelling change messages?”
- “What is a unique perspective on rolling with resistance at an organisational level?”
- “How can change professionals elevate and reinforce their value to project teams and hiring managers?”
The first step — behavioural activation
Motivation is a difficult, multi-faceted beast — unpredictable and powerful at times. While I aimed for consistent, steady progress in my writing and editing, the reality was different. I found that I wrote in fits and starts over time — I couldn’t force or rush the process.
One helpful technique in the science of motivation comes from an unlikely source — people suffering from depression. Behavioural activation 19,20 is a cognitive behavioural therapy technique for depression. This technique establishes and rewards small achievable steps as part of therapy. The last thing someone feeling depression may want to do? Get off the couch and go for a ten-minute walk. Yet therapists work with clients on small, achievable goals like this to help them unpick the cycle maintaining their depressive symptoms.
So too with writers struggling to do something — anything. During times I struggled to produce any progress I used the behavioural activation technique on myself. I set myself a writing goal of twenty-five minutes. Why twenty-five minutes? This is a small window in most people’s day, short enough to fit in my commute to work or other parts of the day. This time links neatly with a technique called the Pomodoro technique 21.
With my mind focussed on one thing for a brief time, I now had a choice of what I could work on. It could be writing, preparing an outline, research or working on illustrations. Sure enough, once I started hours started to pass without me realising it — I got into a state of flow 22.
Distraction
I will admit it — sometimes working on one project is a welcome distraction from another. So I was meant to work on an essay for my degree? Yep, writing my book became attractive. Should be editing my book right now? Nope, writing this article is more appealing. Got to do my tax return? For some weird reason, I find myself exploring how User Experience interfaces with Change Management. As my mind chases another proverbial butterfly I know all about distractions and detours!
Writing on publications like medium.com can be affirming. Looking at my readership statistics on medium.com, I found the first twenty-six articles I wrote soon attracted some interesting statistics. My readers liked headlines and brief articles with a singular confident focus. From there I learned which articles people read all the way through, and it was very rarely my long-form articles. I couldn’t believe my luck when Igor Arkhipov, a publisher of Medium.com’s Analyst’s Corner wanted to publish my articles. Thanks to Igor and other publishers for keeping an eye out for unknown authors like me.
Would I write another book again? In a heartbeat.
My book — The Change Manager’s Companion — is available now. You can also check out my online course on Change Management.
References
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