People (and organizations) use underwhelming force to try and solve overwhelming, internal behavioral problems. Why? Well, behavioral issues are the stuff of psychology not business school and management training. But when business is weighed down by non-core business issues, like "the culture," the long-term effects can be just as deleterious as declining revenue. But rather than developing the skills to deal with such problems, leaders often try solution A and solution B, and when neither works (or either offers a temporary respite from the problem), wash their hands of the problem. And when you tinker at the edges of a problem with isolated and inadequate tools, you get no solution and a bigger problem. Leaders of businesses large and small often follow this path and find (non)results and festering issues. But what if, presented with a problem, leaders tried proven solutions A, B, C, D and, if necessary, D and E, as well? What's more, what if leaders tried at least four of them, and even all six, in concert?
When it comes to leadership's ability to influence change in employee behavior, WBF10 speaker (and author of best-seller Influencer: The Power to Change Anything) Joseph Grenny comes out on the side of the latter option. Grenny developed "the six sources of influence" that can change human behavior, and suggests you need to use four or more to achieve meaningful results. When leaders use the right force to address behavioral problems, there is never a need to wash their hands of the issues because the issues are resolved, leading to enhanced business performance. Grenny explained the sources of influence in this exclusive HSM interview, and emphasized their results:
[W]e have studied over a thousand organizations and their attempts to bring about change. This very broad systematic strategy showed differences of an order of magnitude of 1000% when organizations started to employ all six sources of influence. These aren't marginal differences that made some incremental change. The six sources of influence describe the physics of change. If you are not using all of these elements you shouldn’t expect to see real significant behavior change occur.
And speaking of washing hands, the viral video sensation "All Washed Up," featuring Grenny's teenaged son, is worth a watch. In it, the 14-year old puts the sources of influence to the test using a most precocious crowd.
Grenny will be at WBF10 on October 5 to share his thoughts on how you can develop an influence strategy to change behavior and enhance organizational performance.
Kudos to HSM for adding Joseph Grenny to the line-up. Leading Authorities has worked with him for many years and he’s received rave reviews. He recently participated in a live web broadcast to our clients. Check it out here:
http://www.leadingauthorities.com/livecasts/joseph-grenny/files/lobby.html.
Posted by: Justin | September 23, 2010 at 10:40 AM