Jesus referred to us as a lot of things, but the most common
analogy he used was "sheep". Jesus always
chose his words carefully (I suppose that shouldn't surprise me since he was
perfect) so I try not to be offended that Jesus so accurately portrayed us as
sheep because I know it's true. Like sheep, we're heavily influenced by the environment in which we live and work.
Behavioral science has always fascinated me, it was my
favorite subject in college. Humans act instinctively based on many factors,
namely their environment. One of the
research studies we reviewed back then and was also quoted in the book, The
Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell, was about a group of seminary students. In
short, the study consisted of two groups. One group was told to prepare a lecture on the
story of the Good Samaritan the other group could pick a topic of their
choosing. Both groups were brought
together in a room. One by one, the
researchers pulled out a seminary student.
To one they would say "Oh no, you better hurry over to the lecture hall,
you're late for your speech" and to another one they would say "You better
start to head over to the lecture hall, you have plenty of time but you should
go on ahead". Lying directly in the path
between the two buildings they had an actor lay down, seemingly injured and in
great pain.
I suppose you can guess what happened next. Some of the students passed by the injured
person without a notice, others stopped to help. What was so surprising about the study was
who stopped and who did not. Almost one-for-one, those told they were late and
needed to hurry passed by without helping.
Those told to take their time stopped to offer aid. The fact that these were
seminary students didn't matter. The
fact that one-half of them had prepared to lecture on the story of the Good
Samaritan didn't matter. All that mattered was the externally induced
environmental factor of possibly being late.
A second study showed similar results. Three groups of
college students were asked to participate in a field test for some new music
headphones. All three groups listened to the same thing, two songs and a
political ad discussing the rising costs of tuition. The first group was told
to bob their head up and down the entire time they listened to the songs. The
second group was told to bob their head left and right. And the last group was told to hold their
head still.
At the end, each participant was given a lengthy survey
about the listening quality of the headphones.
The final question on the survey asked "How do you feel about the costs
of tuition?" Again, I'm sure you can guess the answer. The group that bobbed their head up and down
thought that tuition costs should increase, those bobbing their head side to
side thought tuition was too high, and the last group had no opinion.
Semantically speaking,
words matter
Similarly, we can affect the culture of our teams and
organization by carefully considering the impact of the environment in which we
work and the words we use.
I am attempting to reinforce a culture at Fellowship
Technologies where my teams ask for Advice and Counsel rather than Permission
and Authorization. The former espouses teamwork and peer relationships while
the latter insinuates hierarchies and control. On the surface this may seem
like a transparent attempt to re-label a concept that ultimately means the same
thing. I disagree.
If someone from my team wants to buy a book at the company's
expense they do not need my "permission" to do so. However, I do believe it is beneficial
that they should first seek the advice of others to find out if that particular
book is a good one and if it will benefit the employee to read it. Or perhaps
someone wants to attend a conference, a fairly big expense with time off required.
Undoubtedly such an event requires some level of expense approval. But by reinforcing
the idea of Advice and Counsel the first conversation is focused on the benefits
to the person and the company rather than the costs. It's a small but important
difference.
Over time, the goal is the change the culture of the
organization. Team members, as they make changes to processes, or documents, or
code, should naturally seek the advice and counsel of their peers and
supervisors to maximize the quality of the output. If the staff is constantly seeking
permission or authorization then you have an organization that devalues
individual creativity and decision making.
Curtis S