Attractors

Before humans decide to spend energy, something motivating needs to be present. Each individual weighs this motivation and an internal check of whether or not they will consume energy.

An Attractor is a type of motivation, and we often see it used in marketing campaigns and in products designed to become habit-forming. The most common sales strategy is one human asking another if they have a problem with a given situation and then aligning their products and services precisely to that need hoping it creates relevance and a willingness to learn more or perhaps make a purchase.

The power of natural attractors

Change Management is complex; however, why is it that we also see human systems being capable of rapid change? An example would be the introduction of the intelligent device; Apple did not need to run a complex five-step program to convince humans to move in the direction of their products. What is the difference then between something novel like a smart device and something else like migrating to a new application in a large business?

Attractors instead of Governing Constraints

Governing Constraints are often applied when it feels too challenging to get people to do what we need them to do. These would sound something like this:

• “You have to start using X within the next month” (deadline is a governing constraint in this regard, it was not set collaboratively or does not provide an expiration time),
• A situation where a leader introduces a new way of working and expects the entire organization to get on with it.

Change management heuristics, or recipes, if followed, will fulfill the required steps a human system needs to adapt.