Notes on Influencer to Change Anything_8 potx

We also found the same norm of silence in a year-longstudy of health care where we were trying to discover why manyhospital patients contract unnecessary infections.* When we asked neona

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verbal persuasion typically leads to resistance But the tioners didn’t back away either Instead, they created a serialdrama containing likable characters who talked about thesocial problem in the privacy of their home—while thousandslistened in The beloved family discussed the pros and cons ofthe tradition, and each show ended with the words of a re-spected narrator who merely asked questions

practi-As the radio family experienced its tragedy, family membersmodeled healthy dialogue They helped others first think aboutthe issues and then talk about them with their friends, cowork-ers, neighbors, and family As a result, the topic moved fromthe dark into the light An undiscussable became a discussable,and what had remained underground for centuries wilted inthe light of public discourse

This particular example may sound a bit far removed fromthe world you experience, so let’s bring it a little closer to home.Obviously the tongue-tied manufacturing leaders who weren’tallowed to discuss productivity fell victim to this same code ofsilence We also found the same norm of silence in a year-longstudy of health care where we were trying to discover why manyhospital patients contract unnecessary infections.*

When we asked neonatology nurses and doctors how tions find their way into the pristine environment of a neonatalunit, people would lower their voices, look both ways, and thenrelate very similar stories First was the story of the physician whowould periodically fail to gown up, glove up, or wash up as he

infec-or she should The second stinfec-ory was of a nurse who, when ing an IV on a very tiny baby, would clip a finger out of his orher sterile glove to expose his or her finger tip The nurse had agood reason for doing this; it’s extremely hard to find a vein on

start-a bstart-aby who cstart-an fit in the pstart-alm of your hstart-and Nevertheless, ing the finger was an egregious violation of safety practices—aviolation that helped spread infections to babies

expos-*For a full report of the health-care study, visit www.silencekills.com.

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Let’s not lose the point here The problem in this lar hospital was not merely that a doctor or nurse broke rules.The problem was that there was a conspiracy of silence held

particu-in place by powerful norms that kept people from speakparticu-ingwhen colleagues violated hygiene, safety, or any other proto-col The existing social norm called for silence If someonescrews up, you must circle the wagons against lawsuits andinfamy Never speak to outsiders about the real cause And nowfor the bigger point: It is silence about the norm of silencethat sustains the norm If you can’t talk about it, it will never

So we went in search of the cause behind these ing results At first we learned that 88 percent of those we sur-veyed were currently working on projects or initiatives whichthey predicted would eventually fail—and yet they continued

embarrass-to plod along Most agreed that the expression that bestdescribed the state of their current project was “a slow-motiontrain wreck.”

Then we learned the reason behind the reason: Fewer than one in ten respondents said that it was politically acceptable to speak openly about what was going wrong Most suggested that

problems such as weak sponsorship, unreasonable constraints,

*For a full report, visit www.silencefails.com.

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or unmotivated team members were eventually going to killtheir efforts, but that no one—including the project managersthemselves—could bring the issues out into the open

So, what could the project managers, health-care sionals, or the rust-belt change agents have done to solve theirpressing problems? When it came to productivity, we hadbeen routinely told that speaking about the issue in publicwould make people angry We were told that talking about theproblem would cast us in a bad light and only make the prob-lem worse And we listened

profes-Here’s what we should have done First, we should neverhave accepted the argument that it’s wrong to talk openly andpublicly about a problem Critics often do their best to shutpeople up by labeling a topic as “undiscussable.” To confrontthis attack on open dialogue, we should have gathered data thatshined light on the problem Then we should have presentedthese data to the leaders of the organization as well as to theopinion leaders of the workforce Next we should have dis-cussed the inevitable consequences of not changing

We should have insisted on a frank discussion of the prosand cons of the existing productivity levels—along with theunderlying causes The productivity norms had to change.That’s a given But, more importantly, the norm that mandated

silence had to change first The same is true in all the

exam-ples we’ve shared—from hospital-transmitted diseases to ect management failures When you make the undiscussablediscussable, you openly embrace rather than fight the power

proj-of social influence

Create a Village

Now for our final use of social support Some problems willnever wilt at the mere glance of a stranger in a white lab jacket.These challenges are so large that they require opinion lead-ers to step up and lead the way Other problems will go away

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only after opinion leaders take previously undiscussable topicsand interject them into public discourse

But there’s more Still other problems are so profound thatthey won’t vanish, even if everyone talks openly and newnorms are formed For instance, some personal changes are sosignificant that asking people to embrace many new behaviorsrequires that you shape them into entirely new people; thislevel of transformation calls for the work of an entire village.You have to draw on the social support of virtually everyone.And when it comes to creating an entire village, Dr Silbertonce again leads the way

It’s semester break at Delancey Street All 500 residents inthe San Francisco location have gathered in the family roomwhere they quietly jostle and joke with one another There’s

an air of excitement After all, it’s graduation day This meansthat some of the residents are about to advance to more respon-sible positions Others will move to a new job, and some willearn their GED Even greenies may be ready to graduate frommaintenance, where the requirements are pretty basic But theaccomplishment will be no less celebrated than the person who

is about to receive a college degree—as a number will

So here the residents sit, waiting for graduation to begin.Those who haven’t been through the ceremony before look ter-ribly uncomfortable They know they will be singled out infront of 499 of their peers, and they have no clue how to dealwith the moment Then before you know it, their name iscalled They stand up and are told that they have graduatedfrom maintenance They have done good work and are nowassigned to food services Congratulations!

All of a sudden new residents hear a sound that has neverbefore been directed at them They stumble forward to beacknowledged as they experience the most pleasurable wave ofdiscomfort they’ve ever felt Everyone is clapping for them

“It’s the most wonderful time,” says Silbert “They’re ing Huge clapping You’ll see this huge guy who doesn’t know

This means that from day one residents are hit by an relenting wave of praise and punishment Remember, one ofDelancey’s vital behaviors calls for everyone to challenge every-one—and residents do Silbert has gone to great pains to struc-ture positive and negative peer feedback into everyday life Andsince frequent and crystal-clear feedback comes from peoplewho have lived the same life, it’s hard for new residents to dis-miss the data

un-Part of Delancey’s enormous force for change stems fromthe fact that there are 20–30 formal and informal leaders whoknow everything that’s going on with each resident “If yourmom died,” says Delancey resident James, “others learn about

it and all are saying, ‘Are you okay?’ We’re all checking on eachother all the time If we don’t watch out for each other in allregards, we’ll go down.”

Powered by an incessant wave of positive and negative back from people who matter a great deal to them, Delanceyresidents find that change is the path of least resistance That’swhy 90 percent of those who graduate from Silbert’s commu-nity stick with the changes they’ve made for the rest of theirlives

feed-And yet it would be easy to escape the tendrils of thenew culture All the ex-cons need to do is walk out the door.There’s nothing to stop anyone from exiting; the locks keep

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people out, not in But a strange, new, and powerfully magneticpull draws residents into their new social network For the firsttime in their lives these former drug dealers, hookers, andthieves belong to a group of people who care about their long-term well being Sure residents receive more direction thanthey’re used to, and it’s often served up with the bark on, but

it always comes with their best interest in mind And when idents hit their daily and weekly goals, they’re embraced andpraised

res-Best of all, for the first time in their lives Delancey residentsbelong to a social unit that promotes pro-social behavior.Previous colleagues (usually gang members) wanted something

from them, not for them, and they continually propelled them

away from everyday society and into the hostile confines of

state and federal prisons Their new friends are real friends,

rather than accomplices They’re hell-bent on shaping theircoresidents into healthy people who can make it on the out-side

So here’s the key to still another source of socialinfluence—one that works for Delancey Create an environ-ment where formal and informal leaders relentlessly encour-age vital behaviors and skillfully confront negative behaviors.When this happens, people make personal transformations thatare hard to believe

Of course, not everyone is about the business of creating

an entire new social network, but there are social elements fromSilbert’s work that apply to any influence effort Reformed crim-inals aren’t the only ones who respond to praise The need tobelong—to be accepted and admired—is deeply human andaffects everyone from riveters to royalty

For example, Dr Don Berwick and his team routinelyinfluence one of the most sophisticated populations imagina-ble—doctors and health-care executives Yet despite theirsophistication, he generously offers praise He constantly talks

up what’s working For instance, when he appears on Dateline,

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it’s always with a doctor or health-care leader who’s enactingvital behaviors and saving lives “I learned a long time ago,”Berwick tells us, “that credit is infinitely divisible Give it awayevery chance you get, and there’s always plenty left for you.”

SUMMARY: SOCIAL SUPPORT

People who are respected and connected can exert an mous amount of influence over any change effort Understressful and ambiguous circumstances, the mere glance fromwhat appears to be a respected official can be enough to pro-pel people to act in ways that are hard to imagine Fortunately,this “power of one” can also be used to encourage pro-socialbehavior

enor-When a required behavior is difficult or unpopular or sibly even questionable, it often takes the support of “the rightone”—an opinion leader—to propel people to embrace aninnovation Learn how to identify and co-opt these importantpeople Ignore opinion leaders at your own peril

pos-Sometimes change efforts call for changes in widely sharednorms Almost everyone in a community has to talk openlyabout a proposed change in behavior before it can be safelyembraced by anyone This calls for public discourse Detractorswill often suggest that it’s inappropriate to hold such an opendiscourse, and they may even go so far as to suggest that thetopic is undiscussable Ignore those who seek silence instead

of healthy dialogue Make it safe to talk about high-stakes andcontroversial topics

Finally, some change efforts are so profound that theyrequire the help of everyone involved to enable people to makethe change When breaking away from habits that are continu-ally reinforced by a person’s existing social network, people must

be plucked from their support structure and placed in a new work, one where virtually everyone in their new social circle sup-ports and rewards the right behaviors while punishing the wrong

net-Harness Peer Pressure 165

ones Dr Silbert shows us how to do such an amazing thing

No influence strategy that is less socially disruptive offers asmuch promise

As it turns out, it’s the desire to be accepted, respected, andconnected that really pulls at human heart strings And as far

of the rest of us are concerned—managers, parents, andcoaches—learn how to co-opt this awesome power, and youcan change just about anything

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7

Find Strength in Numbers

SOCIAL ABILITY

Never run after your hat—others will be

delighted to do it; why spoil their fun?

—Mark Twain

Design Rewards and Demand Accountability

Change the Environment

Harness Peer Pressure

Find Strength

in Numbers

Make the Undesirable Desirable

Surpass Your Limits

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We start this chapter with an example of how

indi-viduals help each other solve problems and reachnew goals and objectives It’s based on a socialinteraction that, thanks to an important and powerful influ-encer, takes place in tens of thousands of places around theworld

Seated in a tight circle in a neat, tin-roofed building located

in a small village in central India, we find five housewives—Tanika, Kamara, Damini, Payal, and Sankul They’re in themiddle of the most important meeting they’ll ever attend.They’re selecting the first of five businesses they’ll start (oneeach) through small loans from SKS, a local microcredit firmthat has set up shop in the region

Despite the fact that none of these women has everheld a job outside the home or taken a single course inbusiness—and despite the fact that all are caring for fami-lies of their own with little or no help from their husbands orex-husbands—nobody will tell these five women what busi-nesses to start They will invent businesses on their own as ateam

Today Tanika plans to propose that she be the first of thefive women to start her own business She is desperate to getstarted because, like many women within a radius of severalhundred miles, she lives in gut-wrenching poverty

“Maybe I can start an egg business like my friend Chatri,”Payal suggests with a shy smile

“You can’t start there,” Sankul explains “It takes three orfour loans to work your way up to such a large investment Wehave to think smaller.”

“My cousin Mitali has enjoyed great success with the van she rents,” Kamara enthuses

mini-Once again Sankul sets her friends straight “That requires

an even larger investment It has taken your cousin over fiveyears to work her way up to a vehicle We’re beginners and have

to start much smaller.”