The sight of a woman walking, texting, and then walking right into a shopping mall fountain made me laugh. The video has gone viral as another example of something dumb that happened to someone. Then I thought about what it takes for someone to change his or her behavior. This is a challenge managers often face with employees.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPW8xmI4w6U&w=640&h=390]
For years, we’ve been told that texting while doing something else, especially driving, is dangerous. Yet so many people, while acknowledging this fact, continue to do it. To them, the danger is understood but they simply can’t imagine it happening to them. All the warnings don’t seem to help.
Is this the face of safe texting?
This could change thanks to the Fountain Lady. Her mishap was captured on video and has been seen by millions. I’m sure it’s very embarrassing for her. The fear of experiencing a similar humiliation might do more to change texting habits than any other warning.
Similar things happen in our society:
- When a young girl or boy is acting inappropriately, we might say that he or she is acting like a baby. Those are serious words for a child to hear and ones that change behavior as the child wants to be perceived as an adult.
- A college student rushes to class to make sure he or she isn’t late because the professor picks on anyone who is tardy.
- Employees at a restaurant make sure they wash their hands after using the bathroom because they know another health code violation will shut down their establishment. ?The potential loss of employment leads to the change.
Avoiding public humiliation is a great motivator. However, it may not sit very well with your HR manager or your legal team. And I think that longterm, fear of humiliation burns people out and reduces productivity. People don’t work at their best when they work in fear.
So why don’t we flip the situation and try to tap into people’s need for approval. The next time you need your team to embrace a change, see if you can use positive reinforcement as an incentive. Praise them in front of their peers or give them a goofy gift.
Just remember that while your argument for following a new policy may be sound, getting people to follow it may require more than a logical appeal.
