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How Perspective & Sweet Emotion Trumps Knowledge

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Many of us assume that facts rule.  Although I fall in to this trap like everyone else, it still amazes me how we constantly act against the facts.

We inconvenience ourselves to get to the gas station which is $0.03 cheaper per gallon on our way to dinner where we indulge on an extra dessert.  Savings from gas: $0.45.  Waste from the dessert you never needed: $6.00.

Why is it that we refuse to pay the extra pennies per gallon so we can save money, but then carelessly spend it many times over in many other ways?

We spend our time and resources so that the endangered spotted owl has an area to call home yet at the same time neglect our families and raising fabulous kids who can have an incredible affect on the world?

We focus so much on avoiding war and much less time thinking about clean water for developing nations, even though the unsanitary water kills more people per year than war does (infographic).

Why do we focus on those things which are obviously of less worth according to the facts?  The keys here are perspective and emotion. We focus on that which falls within our perspective of life and to that which we are emotionally attached.

As I mentioned in the last post, stats only go so far – same goes with our personal knowledge.  What drives what we do is our perspective and emotions.  Think about any bad habit (and we all have at least one).  Take smoking.  We all know it isn’t good for us, yet those who smoke have a different perspective with an emotional element.  Knowledge is great – but perspective and emotion drives action.

Want to change behavior in yourself or others?  Focus on perspective and emotion and less on the facts (but always have the facts to back you up in your pocket).

Social Business Failure #2: Rely on Stats

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(THIS IS THE 2nd POST IN A WEEKLY THEME OF SOCIAL BUSINESS FAILURES WITH THE INTENT TO LEARN FROM EACH OTHER. PLEASE ALLOW US TO LEARN FROM YOU BY POSTING YOUR COMMENTS BELOW.)

When I first tried to introduce social technologies to a company I learned one of my biggest lessons: Stats can only go so far.

I was asked to create a presentation for the Executives on social technologies and why we should use them. The charts focused on facts and figures: what social technology is, why we would benefit from it, the assumed ROI, etc. Honestly, it was a poor attempt because there were very little information about this working inside an organization. Coming up with numbers and facts was difficult.

Two (out of many) hurdles loomed in front of me: my boss and the Director of IT.

My boss thought it was a good idea, but he wasn’t sold.  At least until he experienced the value first hand.  At that point, I could have given him lousy stats and facts – it would not have mattered because he experienced it and knew for himself the value.

The Director of IT was against me during this whole process.  One day he came to me and said, “I was going to shut this whole project down yesterday (because it was not going as smooth as other IT projects).  But I decided to give it one more chance and I spent all night researching what you were trying to do.  I get it now and I am behind you 100 percent.  Tell me what you need me to do.”

From these experiences I learned that 1) experiences & 2) stories (in that order) are much more powerful than stats. Granted, we have to have the stats, but the heart will beat out numbers any day.  Stats don’t move us to action – our emotions do.  When we hear stories that resonate and when we have an experience, our emotions play a big part in how we will react.  Shoot for the heart, not only the mind.

Questions to answer:

  1. How can we capture stories?
  2. What should we do with the stories?
  3. What if an executive only wants the stats or only gives you time to present stats?
  4. How do you help people create their own experiences?

I’d love your feedback!

Changing the Mechanics of Education to Focus on Learning

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There is education and then there is learning.  The former should lead to the other, but it doesn’t always.  Yet the latter does not need the former to exist.

Let’s say the goal is to learn (actually, there are higher order goals than that, but let’s start there).  There are different ways to approach this and how it can be governed.

Earlier this year I finished my masters in Instructional & Performance Technologies.  One of the classes I took was on motivation.  I came out and told the professor and the class what most people feel. “My motivation behind studying is to get a good grade and get a diploma, it is not to learn.  If learning was the main part, I would start the class and go in a totally opposite direction – or I might stop and study something much more in depth because it strikes a cord with me.  But I can’t.  So in a way, this formal education is hampering my learning and passion.  I understand that there must me metrics to show I have learned so I can obtain the degree.  But I pay for education with money, I pay for learning with time, effort and excitement.”  The professor fully understood and agreed (thankfully).

Ever since then, and after reading Macro Wikinomics I have some up with the beginnings of a new higher educational system – one that mentors and helps fan the flame of discovery and at the same time rewards those who apply themselves and learn.  Soon I will go into the details, but not in this post.

This infographic from OnlineEducation.net shows this sway.  How we learn and teach is broadening.  Will formal education be able to keep up?  From the experiences I have had, if they intend to keep up, they better get going because they have a long way to go.  But I really hope they do.

 

(Click to see higher res version.)

Social Business Failure #1: Going Cheap

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(This is the first post in a weekly theme of social business failures with the intent to learn from each other. Please allow us to learn from you by posting your comments below.)


This is a picture of a survival kit (which, BTW, I could not take with my iPhone because I went swimming with it last Saturday – another failure I won’t get into now) – one of the many hiking/camping type knacks I received for Father’s Day.  Everything is packed in there very tightly  When I opened it for the first time, safety clips came flying out.  I know if I took anything else back out, I would never be able to get it all back in.

Notice the top zipper part.  Would it have hurt to spend an extra penny to extend the top just a little bit so that it wasn’t busting at the seams (one of my pet peeves for packaging)?

Yet this is often how we buy social business.  Some buy the cheapest platform that can be found, put it on the cheapest hardware and then hire as few people as we can to make it look like it is working.  And then they are disappointed when it doesn’t work like they hoped.  Can we really be surprised?

At one organization, budgets were really tight, so it was decided by management (against the team’s best judgement) to put up an environment that did not meet technical recommendations.  It worked fine for the pilot with limited usage.  Then launch day approached.  The promotions were genius which drove the usage and… Crash #1.  Mad dash for technical adjustments & restart #1.  Up for a little… Crash #2.  Mad dash  for technical adjustments & restart #2. Stable, but not where it should be.  That night more adjustments were made.  Finally, after a few more adjustments over the next few days they felt comfortable.  It was a bitter sweet moment – great usage, poor execution.

In the end they had to spend more resources to do it right than had they configured it correctly in the first place.

Another organization didn’t put the personnel in place as was recommended.  The months following the launch, they were disappointed by the adoption.  Yet another organization chose a tool because it was not as expensive.  Their requirements seemed fulfilled, but they went cheap.  In the end, they spent more time in upkeep and no one used it because although it had all the bells and whistles, the user experience was weak and it was very difficult to use.

Here are some questions you might think about.  Please let us learn from you by commenting below.

  1. What can you do to ensure you don’t go cheap on your social business efforts?
  2. What if management is set on going cheap – how can you ‘convince’ them to spend the money it will take to do it right?
  3. What if you have already launched, but there isn’t enough of a budget from your sponsoring department to do what needs to be done?

Please add your answers below!

(Also, please consider sharing your social business failure with me to use in a future week’s scenario. I promise it will be anonymous!)

2 Reasons Why We Have Rules – #2: Trust

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The shoe laces on my shoes just broke.  I bought the shoes two months ago, so they should have been fine.  When I finally found the time, I went into Kohl’s where I bought them and was looking around for shoe laces, thinking they might give me an extra pair.  I asked an associate and they said they don’t carry laces.  But they would just trade shoes – no questions asked.  I was amazed.  So, I found another pair and exchanged them.  Easy.

Kohl’s trusted me that I, as a consumer would make the right decision and not abuse the system.  Guess where I am going back next time.  A similar circumstance happened at Costco.  I will go back to these two stores forever because of the trust they place in their customer.  And because of their trust they will have this family of 10 visiting their store.

Why do we make rules? In this video I talk about consistency.  But very often it is because we lack trust.  Take a look at any person or organization and often you can tell how much they trust the people they serve by the number of rules they make.  A jail has MANY rules – and probably for a good reason.  But what about our workplaces?  Do they need to be filled with so many rules?

I often hear people complaining about the rules, trying to find ways around them and, in general, being less productive – the very opposite of why the rule was made in the first place.

What would happen if we trusted more? Would we get burned or would we realize that there are hidden benefits to trust?  I bet on the latter.

 

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Why do we make rules?  When I talk about rules I mean laws, company policies or procedures, sports rules, chore charts for our kids or anything like it.First, you have to have a goal.  Unless you have a goal there are no need for rules.  You can do whatever you want and get whatever result you get!  Just ask the Cheshire Cat.

But let’s assume we do have a goal – we make rules based off of two factors: trust and consistency.  This video, is about Trust.

(TRUST) Why do we put up railings on balconies?  It’s because we don’t trust that someone won’t accidentally look too far over the edge.

Every day we make trust judgements.  And it’s only natural to have few rules for those we trust, and more rules for those we don’t.  While it’s important we make these judgements, sometimes we can get a little carried away.

I saw an email recently where a company reminded its knowledge worker employees that they were not allowed to come in to work late, leave early nor take unplanned time off unless it was previously approved by a manager.  If they didn’t follow the rules, they may face company discipline, up to and including dismissal.

There is a big contradiction in life here – For 12 years up through high school we were reprimanded if we were late or left early or didn’t show up for class.  Then in college we were told we are an adult and could do whatever we wanted to.  But now that we are in the work force, we go back to grade school rules.  Why is that?

Guidelines like these are important if they are working a shift and production depended upon them.  I get that.  But most people are knowledge workers now.  The models are really very different.

But it isn’t just an 8-5 work time issue.  It’s also applies to sick and vacation time, internet policies, lunch breaks, social media restrictions and a host of other company policies.

I once worked at a company which gave everyone three weeks of vacation, but we were the only ones who would keep track of it.  And we could come in when we wanted to and leave when we wanted to.  If we wanted to watch a movie in the middle of the day, go for it.  As long as the work gets done and we worked hard – that’s what matters.

Although we never turned in our daily hours, sick or vacation days, I didn’t know anyone who took advantage it.  Simply put, they didn’t abuse the system.  In fact, I haven’t worked with a group who worked harder.

On the other hand, with all the restrictions in some companies, I hear employees often wasting time trying to find ways to get around or stretch the rules or complaining about them.  In the end, this makes them less productive – the very opposite of what all those rules are trying to accomplish.

Without the right level of trust from employers, employees often hold back and don’t give their all.  But, it goes the other way, too.  Employees need to give a healthy level of trust their employers.  There must be a good balance between the two.

Wisely letting go is actually liberating.  If you make too many rules with your kids, for example, you wind up spending all your time as an enforcer rather than actually enjoying them.

My philosophy?  Stop wasting time and making rules that, in the end, really don’t matter.  This allows you to give your attention to the things that are most important.  Trust your employees, focus on what will make you successful and let the small stuff take care of itself.

Will they make mistakes.  Sure, just like you do, I do, we all do.  In fact we need to give them that latitude and be OK with it.  What they do next will show their trustworthiness.

And if they’re not trustworthy, they need to leave.  But that also means you need to trust.  It initially might be a scary thing to do, but I bet you’ll find that on many levels, the payback is huge.

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I once heard a story of a newlywed couple going to marriage counseling. He complained that she didn’t trust him with the other women in the office.  After a little probing the councilor discovered this was his second marriage, she used to be his secretary and she had good reason to not trust him.  Ouch.

When to Make Rules and When to Let Go

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In our home of ten there must be some semblance of order.  If not, we would all be bumping into each other, trying to get things done (or trying not to get things done, if one is a teenager) and at the same time keep peace in the home.  With two adults and kids aged from 0 – 16, we all have different goals and interests.  But what keeps us sane is what we have in common – what unites us.

These things are, for the most part, our areas of consistency.  We know what we want and we work toward those goals as a family.  Goals may be achieved or change, but our desire to accomplish those goals do not.

There are MANY ways the goals can be achieved.  Instead a lot of strict rules that govern behavior, why not have guidelines that focus on goals.

Too often organizations come up with minute, tiny goals and wrap policy or procedures around them to be sure that something is accomplished.  They then force everyone to follow them.  But these rules too often are not at the core of what the company is really trying to do. They are tertiary and often not needed (although in the moment they seem very needed).  They distract from actually getting the work done in the best way possible.

We often hear of companies which try to do everything – their product line is thin.  They have a lot of breadth, but little depth and they wind up not doing much well and their company suffers.  I believe rules within companies are the same.  If we make too many of them (relative to the goals of the company) then we are distracting ourselves from what needs to get done.  In the end, we wind up wasting time, effort and resources on creation, enforcement and loss of productivity and overall company power.

Think of this: Every  $1,000 I spend on creating or enforcing a company policy is $1,000 I could have spent on R&D, marketing, product/service development or support.  So, is the rule REALLY important?

2 Reasons Why We Have Rules – #1:Consistency

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[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MdIIr2ADrs’]

My wife says I have multiple personalities.  In this one area, I might agree.

I am very “by the book”.  And yet, at the same time I could care less about the book.  At NASA, a civil servant was assigned to me to keep me out of trouble because I was stirring up the pot (it is actually part of my role, but that’s another story).  But at home, we have a number of rules we all (not only the kids) need to follow.

This dichotomy started me thinking about rules.  Why do we have rules?  And the rules I refer to can be in any form – laws, company policy, rules at home, etc.  After whittling it down, I came up with two reasons we have rules: Consistency and Trust.

There are some things we MUST have consistent.  Eating is one of them.  It is a principle that must be followed, or we die.  How, where, when and what we eat – that is another matter.  So in this regard, we are all “by the book” on eating for our nourishment, yet there are many books to follow to tailor it to our specific circumstances.

When creating a process at work, very often our main motivation is for consistency.  If it is a rudimentary function that doesn’t take a lot of brain power, it works well.  But if it even takes slight problem solving or judgement, strict processes start to fall apart.  All it takes sometimes is one variable to change and our perfect process goes from efficient to ineffective.  From there we have an internal struggle between what we SHOULD do and what process/policy says we OUGHT to do – between doing what is best or doing what the policy/procedure says.

We have all been there – which do we follow?  Our natural minds pull us toward adapting, yet the corporate side of us tells us to conform.

This video explains some more of these opposites.

 

 

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Why do we make rules?  When I talk about rules I mean laws, company policies or procedures, sports rules, chore charts for our kids or anything like it. 

First, you have to have a goal.  Unless you have a goal there are no need for rules.  You can do whatever you want and get whatever result you get!  Just ask the Cheshire Cat.

But let’s assume we do have a goal – we make rules based off of two factors: trust and consistency.  This video, is about consistency.

(CONSISTENCY) Think of a button.  We design it to consistently perform a function and achieve the same result.  So, within the mechanics of a button we build the rules by which this button operates.  And it works like a charm – until it breaks.

The great thing about consistency is that it’s constant.  We can consistently rely on it.

But as we all know, the only constant… is change.

Change is the point where consistency should end, or at least be reevaluated.  But instead, our primal desire to keep the consistency grows stronger.

Imagine you have a process that works perfectly.  In time, however, one factor changes.  It could be a new person joins the team, a change in cost savings, new technology, new goal or the culture of your company changes slightly.

Suddenly, the process doesn’t work as well as it did before.  Instead of trying to accommodate the change, we try to force the same process because we know it works.

Now add up a number of changes like this over time, and what happens? All to quickly, the perfect process is getting in the way of actually doing the right thing.

And we have all seen bad processes.

Rules, processes and policy, by their very nature, are meant to be consistent in an ever changing world.  They are not meant to change.  Do you see the problem here?

Let me be clear here – Consistency is not a bad thing.  In fact it is often very needed.  When launching the Shuttle, NASA MUST be consistent in their checks to ensure safety.

The trick is to identify what can change, and what should not.  True principles don’t change.  How we put them in to practice, does.

For example, taking an occasional break from hard work is a good principle to follow.  How and where and when you take that break, that’s a practice that can change.
Mental exercise: Next time you follow a rule ask yourself if you’re following it because of consistency.  If you do that consistently, you will constantly find discrepancies.  And maybe you can become a constant source of positive change.

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And unless you want to ruin your car’s engine, it’s a good idea to consistently checking the oil.

I unfortunately know that one from experience.

When I Grow Up – Work Version

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“When I grow up…”  This was a common phrase when we were young and we dreamed what growing up would be like.  A big house, fancy car, 2.1 children, charting our own destiny, rising to the top, wheeling & dealing and getting the upper hand.

Yet I don’t think we ever dreamed it would be like this.  Yet, unfortunately, too often it is.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olSIMc4j5Sg’]

 

This was recently shown in a meeting of a large global company.  They laughed at the first few statements, then it became really quite.  The message hit a little too close to home.  THAT’S when you know it worked.

Although we may not have put it all together like this in the past, we have all lived many of these – if not all.  We know the pain first hand.  So what are we going to do about it?  What are YOU going to do about it?

Hopefully you aren’t stuck in the rut the video shows.  Hopefully you have broken free and are well on your way to working differently.