Environment drives behaviour April 27, 2007
Similar to an earlier post, here is a video interview with Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo as he talks about his Stanford Prison Experiment. This experiment is a powerful example of just how your environment can effect your behaviour.
And here is a recent interview with Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo in the lead up to his new book.
Technorati Tags: Business, Change, Communication, Leadership, Persuasion, Psychology, Stress
Meetings? Just say ‘no’ April 20, 2007
Seth Godin offers some very good points about meetings. They waste time, increase stress and are usually poorly run.
If you know me at all, you know I’m not a fan of meetings. Most meetings I consider a waste of time. There is, however, a lot that can be done in meetings to get value from them. Seth offers some suggestions, and I have a few more.
My first and foremost one is to ask yourself two questions before the meeting. What is the reason for the meeting? Do I need to make a decision about this? If you don’t need to make a decision, then you can read the meeting notes. If you don’t know what the reason for the meeting is before the meeting, it’s unlikely you’ll know after.
If the reason is just to bring the team together, is it better served with an informal chat over coffee and doughnuts? If the meeting is to update a distributed team, it can be done inside 5 minutes in most cases.
I work with stressed out people often, and I can always point to meetings as a time waster and partial cause. Often meetings will start late and run long. Often no decisions will be made in the meeting and another meeting will need to be scheduled (though this also relates to poor decision making – another of my pet hates!). When I work with these people, I make sure they understand that every meeting is an investment. Not just of their time, but also a percentage of their salary. This is also true for everyone else in the room.
I have a few additional tips to augment Seth’s tips. They are harsh, but most meetings can easily be shortened by at least 5 minutes, without any loss in value.
- Make sure meetings start on time. Lock the door so no one arrives late and disrupts the meeting, or ‘fine’ those arriving late.
- Ensure the meeting finishes on time.
- Ensure every meeting has clear purpose and agenda. Hopefully sent to all attendees a day before the meeting. Also make sure the agenda is listed in order of importance, so if the meeting ends (finishing on time, remember) the important points are covered.
- Note all decisions and action points, including who’s doing what action. At the end of the meeting, review to make sure everyone knows their actions and tasks.
- Start the meeting with “This meeting will only be XX minutes long. If we don’t cover all the points, we will have to postpone them.” Setting the frame of the meeting so everyone knows what’ll happen.
- At any time, you can leave the meeting. If your only reason for being there is complete, leave. If the meeting has wandered off the agenda, either pull it back on track, or leave. If it is running long, leave.
Do you have any more tips?
Technorati Tags: Business, CEO, Communication, Goalsetting, Leadership, Management, Policy, Proactiveness, Productivity, Stress
How to waste millions of dollars worth of skill… April 10, 2007
A fascinating article in the Washington Post. Joshua Bell, one of the worlds best violinist, combined with one of the worlds best violins, goes busking for small change.
The article is a fantastic example of how our identity can change in response to our environment. This musician easily fills concert halls. Yet in a subway his identity shifts. To quote from the article:
- “At a music hall, I’ll get upset if someone coughs or if someone’s cellphone goes off. But here, my expectations quickly diminished. I started to appreciate any acknowledgment, even a slight glance up. I was oddly grateful when someone threw in a dollar instead of change.”
So for the people rushing to get to work, he was just another starving artist. His ideas and beliefs started to change in response to the behaviour of the people walking past.
As a child prodigy, he has spent his like expecting attention and applause. Yet within the subway, his years of experience and expectation is shifted very quickly to appreciate ‘even a slight glance’.
What this means for us, as leaders and persuaders, is to be aware of the context around us. Are the people around us helping? Is the culture a barrier to success? Are we settling for ‘a slight glance’ when we want more respect and appreciation? Are we offering only ‘a slight glance’ when words of congratulations and support would improve performance?
Technorati Tags: Change, Leadership, Learning, Motivation, Persuasion, Psychology