Break Your Own Rules: How the Immunity Map Exposes Hidden Barriers to Change
Ever feel like your organization is stuck in a loop, repeating the same mistakes despite countless strategy sessions, workshops, and pep talks? You’re not alone. The problem isn’t a lack of effort—it’s an unseen force working against you. Enter the Immunity Map, a tool designed by Lisa Lahey and Robert Kegan to reveal the hidden barriers that keep you and your teams locked in place.
Why We Get Stuck
We all talk about change like it’s a straightforward process: set goals, take action, rinse, and repeat. But when was the last time that really worked? The truth is, your deeply ingrained habits and beliefs are working overtime to keep things exactly as they are. Like an invisible security system, your unconscious, often competing goals pull you back, no matter how deeply you wish the change to happen or how motivated you are.
“The truth is, your deeply ingrained habits and beliefs are working overtime to keep things exactly as they are.”
What’s the Immunity Map?
The Immunity Map isn’t your typical problem-solving tool. It’s a four-column framework that exposes the conflicting commitments and assumptions that quietly sabotage change efforts. Here’s how it works:
Commitment to Improvement: What is the change you want to achieve that is within your control? (e.g., more innovation, better teamwork)
Actions Against Your Goal: Reflect and take your time - what are you doing, or not doing, right now that directly undermines this goal? (e.g., micromanaging, avoiding feedback)
Hidden Competing Commitments: What underlying, often unspoken, commitments are driving the actions you noted in step 2? (e.g., maintaining control, avoiding conflict)
Big Assumptions: What beliefs are fueling these commitments? (e.g., “If I give up control, everything will fall apart.”)
The immunity to change map
How It Exposes Your Inertia
Mapping this out isn’t comfortable or easy. Done with an open mind and trust, you’ll see how your actions, fueled by deep-seated fears, keep you and your team from the very change you’re trying to drive. The Immunity Map helps you pull back the curtain, showing that your biggest obstacle isn’t “out there”—it’s you.
How to Use It to Break the Cycle
Gather Your Team: This isn’t a solo mission. Get your team involved—everyone has hidden blockers, and tackling them together builds accountability and shared understanding.
Get Real: Dive into each column with brutal honesty. Don’t gloss over uncomfortable truths; face them head-on. Your goal is to expose what’s lurking beneath the surface.
Be Honest and Open: This process only works if you’re willing to be vulnerable and trust each other. Acknowledge your fears, biases, and contradictory commitments without judgment. The more candid you are with one another, the clearer the map becomes—and that clarity is the first step toward meaningful change.
Challenge Your Assumptions: This is where the magic happens. Test those “big assumptions” in the real-world to see if they hold up or are just fears dressed as facts.
Create New Commitments: Now that you’ve exposed your hidden fears, set new commitments or adjust the ones you have so you directly confront your hidden commitments. Then, make them visible, trackable, and part of your everyday actions.
Why It Matters
We love to think of ourselves as agile, innovative disruptors, but the Immunity Map shows how even the boldest rebels are held back by self-imposed limits. If you’re serious about shaking things up, it’s time to confront the internal saboteurs.
The Immunity Map is not just a tool—it’s a mirror. And if you’ve got the guts to really look, it’ll change how you approach transformation forever.
How to start?
Download the Immunity to Change template here
Ready to uncover your hidden barriers but not sure how? Let us help! We work with leaders, teams, and complete organizations to uncover their barriers, design new systems, and develop new skills for how to become more sustainable, for people, planet, and profit.
Written by Tove Chevalley
Co-founder Formation. My days are filled with writing, listening, and connecting people, problems and tools. Anything that makes growth more sustainable, for people, the planet, and business.
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