Can people truly change?

by Seth Sinclair

“How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?” goes the old joke.  “Only one,” is the answer.  “But the light bulb has to want to change!”

Light bulbs can’t change themselves, of course.  But on April 11, 2014, Jack Zenger, an expert in the field of leadership development and an executive coach himself, published an article on Forbes magazine’s blog addressing the issue of whether it’s possible for human beings to change.  The article, titled “Are people changeable, or are they cast in cement?” can be found here.

Zenger trots out the old clichés, “a leopard can’t change his spots,” and “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” to demonstrate the common belief that people basically are who they are.  Then he reminds his readers that there are libraries full of self-help books, and an entire adult education and development industry, predicated on the belief that not only is change possible in adults, there are no limits to the abilities of people to grow and learn at all stages of their lives.

As any good researcher would, Zenger accepts neither position as fact, but uses data to cast some light on the subject.  His company (Zenger Folkman, a consulting firm that provides consulting and leadership development programs for clients) has digitized more than half a million 360-degree feedback instruments written about 50,000 managers and executives.

(A 360-degree feedback evaluation involves obtaining different sources of information, including supervisors, peers, direct reports, and sometimes customers, about a manager’s performance, in order to help that manager become a better leader.)

By mining that data, he learned that forty-eight percent of those who received 360-degree feedback more than once had feedback scores that either stayed the same or declined over time—but fifty-two percent improved, many of whom had received “shockingly” low scores in particular leadership competencies in their first evaluation.

These “shockingly” low scores, Zenger believes, had the effect of “a whack on the head”—a strong message that change is needed if the leader is to continue in his or her position.  That group significantly improved their scores between evaluations—and their ratings overall were two and a half times better in the second rating than the first.

From this, Zenger concludes that those who receive strong messages are the most motivated to change, especially to change behaviors that significantly detract from their overall performance. 

Many people, however, don’t want to change, and if there’s no compelling reason to do the hard work involved in changing behaviors, they don’t.  Leaders can help that process along by taking an interest in the development of their employees and getting involved with their career development.  If they believe their employees can change, they will.  If they don’t, they won’t.  According to Zenger, it’s a self-fulfilling process.

As a coach, I’ve seen many dramatic instances where people have changed behaviors that were keeping them from reaching their full leadership potential.  Usually, but not always, those people needed a trigger, whether from a 360-degree assessment, a supervisor’s comment, or even their own acknowledgement of prohibitive behaviors or ways of thinking, that made them understand change was essential. 

A good coach will enthusiastically partner with those clients, providing a framework to learn the behaviors they need to make them more mindful and successful.

It turns out, therefore, that the old light bulb joke holds true about employees.  It takes only one executive coach to improve an employee’s leadership skills—but the leader, like the light bulb, must want to change.

Thanks to Kaveh Naficy, Program Director of Leadership Coaching for Organizational Performance at George Mason, and a founding partner of Philosophy IB, for sharing the Zenger article with me.