JUMP ON MY WAGON

by Dr. Cecil Clements (25th September 2012)

All of us try to bring change in different situations that we are in; we try to bring change within our spheres of influence, in the company, our families, our social circles. We try to bring change because we have an idea that is an important idea (at least, we think it is) that we know will be better for people in adopting that idea. All of us have been in situations where, even though we have thought that the idea is a great idea, we’ve found that the people around us don’t really think so. While some may think so, they may just flirt with the idea a little bit and then drop it. And the result is a lot of frustration on our part. It can either lead us to think ‘middle of the road’, to abandon our creative edges, or it could lead us to a lot of frustration and resentment towards the people who are not willing to get on our particular bandwagon.

I read an article that came out 3 days ago by Morten Hansen. If you remember, he was the one who co-authored ‘Great By Choice’ with Jim Collins. He’s also a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. This article that he wrote was entitled ‘Ten Ways to Get People to Change’. It’s a great article and I’m just going to hit on some of the salient points that he mentions and then pick on one that I think is pertinent for our talk this morning.

He says, “There are ten ways that you can get people to change.”

1. Have them embrace the power of one. Don’t give them a whole lot of things to think about; just give them one.
2. Make it sticky. ‘Goal theory’ has taught us that for goals to be effective, they need to be concrete and measurable, so make it sticky.
3. Paint a vivid picture. When celebrity chef Jamie Oliver was trying to talk to people about the perils of fat and he was talking to a group of high school-ers, and he brought a truckful of fat; just fat. The disgust on the faces of the kids was enough to make his point.
4. Activate peer pressure. As ‘social comparison theory’ shows, we look to others in our immediate circle for guidance for what are acceptable behaviors. Then once we get that, we’re more likely to accept it.
5. Mobilize the crowd. Get the crowd behind you. He leans on the ‘diffusion theory’, which I want to spend some time on, but will come back to it.
6. Tweak the situation. Get people to do what you want by changing the environment or the situation around them. He gives the example of how Google did that in trying to help their employees eat healthy food. They based it on ‘behavioral decision theory’, which says that people tend to grab what they see first. So they stationed the salad bar in front of the room and it was hugely successful.
7. Subtract, not just add. Change behaviors by removing the enablers, triggers and barriers. Sometimes we continue to add things to make people change but we forget that we can take away and achieve the same.
8. Dare to link to carrot and stick (and follow through). The HR component – incentives in the form of pay, bonus and promotion.
9. Teach and coach well. People may have the skills but may not know how to prioritize their work. They may be motivated to do so but don’t know how. So coach them well.
10. Hire and fire based on behaviors. The theory of ‘role fit’. Make sure you have round pegs in round holes.

But coming back to what grabbed my attention was the whole thing about ‘mobilize the crowd’. You’ve often been in situations where you’ve tried to bring about change. Some people come and try to adopt that change, then suddenly there’s a ground swell that happens that just carries the change. This is based on the diffusion theory or better known technically as the ‘diffusion of innovators theory’ that E.M.Rogers wrote about almost 3 decades ago.

Basically the theory studied by sociologists, psychologists and anthropologists, states that there are many qualities in different people that cause them to accept or not to accept an innovation. There are also many qualities of innovations that can cause people to readily accept them or to resist them.

There are stages through which technological innovation passes through:

1. Knowledge – the exposure to its existence and understanding and so on. Is this a good thing? Is this something that will enhance a product or enhance the work that I do?
2. Persuasion – the forming of a favorable attitude to it. In my mind I need to be favorable towards it.
3. Decision – I think it’s a good thing, so I’m going to go ahead with it.
4. Implementation – putting it to use.
5. Confirmation

Basically it goes through the different questions that we ask in our minds. What is it? Why should I adopt it or accept it? Then you come to a cognitive decision and say ‘I will’. And the volitional part of you comes in. then you ask the question, How am I going to adopt it? How is this going to get particularized in the work that I am doing? Then – here’s how I’m going to do it, but you can also measure it because this is how I’m going to use it in my work.

He ends by saying, “There are adopter categories”. This is where I want to move from just technological innovation to changing people around us. We all work with people. Relational skills are so important. Getting people to do what we want them to do is so important. But change often has a barrier. It’s almost an invisible barrier that comes because people don’t like to do something new. The adopter categories are:

• Early people who will accept the change.
• Middle people who will come - that’s the larger group.
• The stragglers at the end who will pile on because everybody has adopted that change.

Here’s the thing! It’s the early and the middle people that we need to focus on. Morten Hansen says, “Here’s what you need to understand about middle people. They are the ground swirl – a huge majority that will tilt the balance in adopting the change. This group of people is actually informal influencers. We have them all over the place. They are people who are very popular. They are the people who others gravitate towards in the cafeteria or at an informal party. They may not have positional authority in your companies, but they are the people who influence people. The thing to do is to be able to highlight who these people are, pinpoint them and then go after them and talk to them. If they adopt it, then the majority of people will move along with the change.”

Trying to bring change is often so very frustrating. I’ve been there and know it. It’s something that we continue to live with. Often there are great ideas that are birthed in our minds and we know that it’s going to bring wonderful results. But the stumbling block is – how do we get it across to people so that it is embraced.

I believe that while we have all of this knowledge, the theory of innovations and all of that, I also believe that God gives us incredible wisdom to be able to know how and when to use all of this. I’m always reminded of Scripture that tells me, (Proverbs 2:8) The Lord gives wisdom and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
(James 1:5) “If any of you lacks wisdom he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reproach…”
(Ecclesiastes 2:26) “To the man who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness…”

All of these scriptures from our Holy Book remind us that God is proactive in our days and in our lives. While we look at all of these different theories that come in, how we apply what and when, that wisdom and discernment comes from the Almighty God. I pray that today you would lean on His understanding to know when and how to use some of the theories that I’ve talked about.

So, here’s to seeing great ideas happen because we are able to bring change in people and that the change is adopted by the people and we will give the glory to the Almighty God for that wisdom.

Let me pray with you. Almighty God. To You, we turn and ask ‘Please give us wisdom; wisdom for this day. You have given us ideas, birthed them in our minds. Now we ask that You would birth them among the people that we work with, our areas of influence and reference, so that wonderful new things will happen, things that will change us, the companies we work for and the societies that we live in. we pray that Your wisdom will be available to each one of these precious people on this call, for we ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.