What David Bowie can teach us about embracing change

Visiting the David Bowie exhibition at the V&A in London, I was struck by his ability to seek out and embrace change. I am not particularly a Bowie music fan; however, for me, one of the things that set Bowie apart was his willingness to change and reinvent his work.

He was not prepared to simply keep playing the same old music. It’s hard to believe Ziggy Stardust was killed off after such a short time, making way for Bowie to follow his next project rather than being stifled by the persona of Ziggy. Bowie inspired many people to follow their dreams and ideas, to dare to be different and stand out from the crowd.

Bowie constantly evolved throughout his long career, with the ability to reinvent himself into something new. He was many different things: a songwriter, singer, musician, designer, mime artist and artist, to name just a few. His collaborations included artists and designers in the fields of fashion, sound, graphics, theatre, art and film. He had vision and chose his own path, the people he had around him, the opportunities he could shape and the way that he thought about what he could do.

Every day we are faced with many choices: choose one path to go in one direction or choose another path to go in a completely different direction. The choices we make can influence the direction we take, even though not every part of change is within our control. Some of us fear change, and others thrive on making changes.

How we navigate individual, team or strategic change can be influenced by where we choose to focus our attention, the people we have around us, the opportunities available to us and how we respond to them.

Change is like walking down a footpath. We may know where we want to go, but the route isn’t always straightforward. Determination and self-discipline can help us continue along the path, while sometimes we may need to adapt our route as circumstances change.

We embrace huge changes many times in our lives. People have babies, get married, move house, adapt to new technologies and start new jobs. Changing careers, developing a new habit or changing a long-established routine can be difficult even when we genuinely want the change.

Some things are outside our control, while others may be open to influence or change. Even when change is possible, wanting it doesn’t necessarily make the process easy. Changing ourselves can take time and effort and often requires a strong reason for wanting to do it. Change can sometimes require us to move beyond what feels familiar or comfortable.

In order for things to change, somebody somewhere may need to start acting differently. Maybe it’s you or your team. But behaviour is only one part of the picture. Our motivation, thinking, and the environment around us can all influence whether a change is easier or harder to make.

In their book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, Chip and Dan Heath use the metaphor of a rider, an elephant and a path to explain change. The rider represents our rational side, the elephant our emotional side, and the path the environment or situation around us.

Their framework suggests that change can be easier when we give ourselves clear direction, engage our motivation and shape the environment to support the behaviour we want.

This is relevant for organisations as well as individuals. Behaviour is an important part of turning an intention to change into action, but it doesn’t happen in isolation.

Whether we’re changing something in our own lives or leading change within a team, it can help to think about all three: what direction is clear, what will create genuine motivation, and what needs to change around us to make the new behaviour easier to sustain.