Take Two Aspirin And Wait

When It Comes To Creating Change, You’ve Got To Give Your Campaign Time To Work.

On September 3rd, 1967, at 5 a.m., Sweden changed the rules of the road from driving on the left to driving on the right. While this may not seem like a big deal to those not living in Sweden, trust me–it’s a big, big deal.

By changing the rules of the road, 8,000,000 people had to change an old ingrained pattern of behavior. And, if they got it wrong, the consequences would be dire.

To inform Swedes of the change, a marketing campaign of seldom experienced proportions was put into place. Every conceivable communication channel was leveraged–brochures, radio spots, tv announcements, newspapers, school lessons, and public announcements–in an attempt to get the word out.

In addition, billboards were constructed every three to five kilometers on every single highway in the country!

And even with this kind of communication campaign in place, accidents and head-on collisions skyrocketed.

Which tells us something very important.

No matter what the behavior, it’s going to take some time for people to change their habits. And while we may not like to acknowledge this fact, it is the reality associated with creating change.

Thus, when attempting to bring about change of any kind, you’ve got to take two aspirin and wait–you simply have to allow time for people to learn and change.

This is where many people suffer some serious limbic hijacking and, in a panic, they try to call the whole thing off. This is not only the wrong reaction, sometimes it can be the kiss of death–literally.

I mean, can you imagine if Swedish officials came to the conclusion that they needed to switch back to the old rules–it would have brought the country to its knees. Put simply, they had to take two aspirin and wait.

And that’s a key lesson.

When implementing a change initiative, be sure to allow plenty of time for your intervention to work. Too many people give up too quickly–and in their wake, leave confusion and chaos as their legacy.