Step Six of Making Change: Testing Your Big Assumptions

This is the final of a series of posts detailing the steps you can take to make lasting change using the Immunity to Change model. If you missed the first posts, you can catch them here: Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, Step 4, Step 5.

So you’ve made it. You’ve completed the Immunity to Change model and you know what big assumption is driving you to do all the things you’re doing (or not doing) to make the change you want to make. 

Great, all done!

(Kidding). The work now begins in earnest. What you get to do now is test your big assumption with little experiments. Put on your lab coat and pull out your Excel spreadsheet: you now get to be a scientist. 

Start by thinking of one little thing you could do to test whether your big assumption (which is fueling your whole immunity to change) is correct or not, or somewhere between true and false. Continuing with our example of your One Big Thing being speaking up more in meetings, your big assumption being that people who speak up in meetings will be thought of as stupid if there is any single mistake in what they say.

How might you test that? One easy way: commit to saying something at your next meeting. Don’t judge yourself about what you said, observe the outcome. Did people tell you you sounded stupid? Did you lose credibility? 

Keep running tests like these and eventually you’ll prove that your big assumption is either true or false or somewhere in between. I can pretty much guarantee you that it’s not going to be 100% true. Once you’ve tested this, you have overcome the biggest hurdle to making the change of your One Big Thing, which then proves false everything else you’re doing to NOT make the change. 

If you aren’t judged for speaking up in a meeting, even if what you say isn’t perfect, people aren’t going to think you’re stupid for saying something (your hidden competing commitment). Thus you don’t have to do or not do the things that are keeping you from making the change (fearless inventory) and you can make that change in your One Big Thing with confidence. 

This won’t happen overnight. It can (and usually does) take a few months to truly do it right. You have to design, run, and interpret tests of the big assumptions. Reflect on the the evidence you’ve gathered and see what beliefs you can let up on as you start having more facts. 

And there you go! That’s the full Immunity to Change model, covered in these blog posts. If you want expert help and accountability as you go through the process, schedule an appointment with me to learn more about how I help my clients through this meaningful process.