It's about choices: Learning from role models

Role models are an important component in embedding change in organisations. Why is this? Role models can be influential change agents, and as a social species humans are inclined towards social learning.

It’s about choices. Human brains are designed to find quick choices. Quick means low cognitive processing. Quick means a higher chance of survival when there may be sabre-toothed tigers nearby. Learning from a role model is a quick way to learn and an effective social learning strategy. Someone else has already done the riskier trial-and-error learning, chosen behaviours and survived in a landscape that includes sabre-toothed tigers. Our brain decides to reduce the risk to itself and copy what is perceived as a successful behaviour for sabre-toothed tiger avoidance: it copies a role model.

Fast-forward to modern life and working in an organisation: there may no longer be any sabre-toothed tigers, but there are still human brains making quick choices as a way of not being cognitively overwhelmed. These habits learned from others can serve us well in stable conditions, but when undergoing change, some new habits need to be formed and some old ones discarded. Our brains may apply the rule of thumb to ‘learn from role models’ as a way to discern what new habits are worth adopting.

Many social learning strategies involve role models influencing others. However, why an individual picks a person as a role model can vary, as a matter of preference and/or due to context and usually isn’t a conscious decision. Rendell et al (2011) list a number of role model types, including:

• Familiarity-based
• Seniority-based
• Prestige-based
• Expertise-based
• Success-based
• Characteristic-based

For example, an individual may decide to copy a role model’s behaviour where that role model has seniority, or when the role model is perceived as an expert. Alternatively, an individual may see role models as being similar to themselves.  

For embedding change, this can be a challenge as well as an opportunity. Firstly, whilst a change programme can have change agents nominated into it, there is no guarantee that others in the organisation will see these change agents as role models. Secondly, a role model’s behaviour may be perceived contra to the organisation’s pre-change norms. Consequently, a role model’s impact may be counterbalanced by the effects of the organisation’s culture, since alternative social learning strategies can stem from ‘the way things are done around here’, with pre-change behaviours being perceived as more acceptable and appropriate than those of the role model.

Careful selection of change agents, along with support for them and for other adopters of the new ways of working needs to be part of management and programme design considerations. Change agents need to be supported in developing the new behaviours that they will model, so that these become habitual behaviours. As well as being role models, change agents can take other actions using other social learning strategies to reinforce the desired changes. For example, senior managers need to communicate to raise awareness of desired behaviours as well as role modelling them. Another example is to involve technical experts in the delivery of training activities to upskill others.

Of course there are other social learning strategies that can, and should, be used in change programmes too. And it shouldn't be forgotten that asocial learning is also needed by organisations, as this brings with it diversity of thought and innovation.

References & bibliography:

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2020). Making sense of change management. London: Kogan Page.

Rendell, L., Fogarty, L., Hoppitt, W., Morgan, T., Webster, M., & Laland, K. (2011). Cognitive culture: theoretical and empirical insights into social learning strategies. Trends in Cognitive Science. 15(2) 68-75. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2010.12.002

Scarlett, H. (2016). Neuroscience for organizational change: An evidence-based practical guide to managing change. London: Kogan Page