Today I learned a new concept: Activation Energy. It is a Chemistry term and the dictionary defines it as ‘the minimum quantity of energy which the reacting species must possess in order to undergo a specified reaction’. Well, I am good, but my Chemistry degree is a still in the oven, so I am going to go with the Behaviourist definition given my Mel Robbins in her TedxSF talk about self-sabotaging.
Mel defines Activation Energy as the energy it takes to do something different. If, she says, you want something, then you have to make yourself move to get it. She sees the brain as having 2 spheres: The automatic sphere and the hand-brake sphere. The automatic sphere is where everything you do is on auto-pilot, you live life, but you are only going through the motions – there is no thought given to what you do – everything is “Fine”. In the hand-brake sphere, you think of something, but your natural response is to not do it i.e. pull up the brake. She says that you will only get what you want if you stop yourself from activating both the automatic and the hand-brake spheres.
As people make up organizations, I believe and have seen Management of organizations apply the “automatic and hand-brake spheres” thinking to their organizations. They stop or prevent new ideas, ambitious people and out of the box-thinkers from prospering, immediately killing any progress. This could be because they don’t see the solution the way the other person sees it, the idea did not originate from them so they have to kill it, they are afraid that should this idea actually work that there could be changes that they themselves cannot manage or handle, the idea is new and therefore untested and therefore there is a possibility of it failing so they won’t put their name to it, etc, etc. You know who I am talking about.
On the personal level, Mel goes on to explain that many of us do reach a point where we are unhappy or dissatisfied with our situation/our position/know that things need to change, but both the automatic and hand-brake reactions are ingrained and difficult to circumvent even if the situation is life-threatening (eg. Obesity) and you know you have to do something before it kills you. What is the trigger? Mel believes that it takes 5 seconds after the idea has manifested that you have to act on it or write it down for future activation.
On the organizational level, I guess like the personal hand-brake reaction, it does not take management too long to shoot down a new thought or idea. How can we use the 5 second rule in business to keep the idea alive and for it to make a difference that we can see it can make to the organization, its environment and its people? You have heard the saying “it is better to ask for forgiveness”. Well, perhaps those of us who do have some ideas that could bring change and betterment to our organizations should start activating these in our own microcosm – if it works – the boss can take the credit, if it does not – well at least you have tried.
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