A reflection on what triggers us and how we are triggering others

I'm currently reading #Triggers "Sparking Positive Change and Making it Last" by #MarshallGoldsmith.

I had received this book as a gift for partnering with our #Wipro Center for Behavioral Excellence in their Mission Connect initiative to transform delivery leadership mindset.

The first insight I got is to recognize that most of our behavior is influenced by triggers around us and in general they are negative triggers. We mostly just "react" to those triggers rather than processing them & "responding" to them.

The author clearly lists the various types of triggers, how to identify them and how they generally influence us. The most important triggers we need to be conscious of are the ones that are either productive / non-productive and encouraging / discouraging. There is a nice matrix used to illustrate these triggers.

I've been reflecting on this both in terms of how I get triggered and how I trigger others. Corporate world operates on the right side as the focus is on productive outputs / outcomes. As the author points out, the upper right quadrant (we want it and we need it) is where we'd prefer to be all the time (both in terms of how we get triggered or trigger others). However, in reality, things will not be naturally in this quadrant - there has to be significant efforts to be in this quadrant.

Let's look at other quadrants first. In my view, managing the upper left quadrant (we want it but don't need it) is about self-discipline. These triggers provide instant gratification that can be useful to escape from stress. But, they need to be in a controlled setting and shouldn't be allowed to take us away from doing things we "need" to do. For example, with the high number of OTT platforms & unlimited content, binge-watching has become a habit. This is probably the biggest challenge for students - my daughter is in high school and social media, phone chat & TV are the biggest distractions for her. I found Stephen R. Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, useful to manage this quadrant. The first 3 habits are focused on building effectiveness for the self & will help both students and corporate workers.

The bottom left quadrant (we don't need it or want it) triggers pull you down and away from getting productive work done. To quote David J. Pollay in The Law of the Garbage Truck: "Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. . . . And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you. So when someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally . . . move on." The author shows us that by refusing to let others dump their "garbage" (negativity, anger, resentment) on us and letting it "pass by" instead, we become happier and more successful, both personally and professionally. The book also helps in understanding if we are a Garbage Dumper or a Garbage Acceptor and how not to be either. If our environment has too many triggers in this quadrant and if we are unable to change the people in the environment causing those triggers, it is better to quickly move away from such an environment.

The bottom right quadrant (we need it but don't want it) is an interesting area as I believe a lot of corporate money & efforts have gone into setting up triggers from this quadrant. We have multiple rules defined and consequences for not complying to those rules. Similarly, there are a lot of triggers that capitalize on people's fear of failure to get work done - if this project fails, we'll have significant monetary impact to the customer / company and / or lose the business / customer or market.

I consider peer pressure as a trigger in this quadrant (not in the bottom left the way author has represented). There are many gamified tools and dashboards that can create peer pressure to get productive work done. Thinking of my high school daughter, the whole education ranking system & college admission systems have peer pressure inherently built into the design. I'm all for rules and gamification. In fact, I'm a stickler for rules, especially those of the hard & fast kind around legal & ethics. However, I strongly believe that the triggers in this quadrant are built to manage average / bottom performers to get the basics done.

To get transformative work done, we need to operate in the upper right quadrant. Wall of fame is 1 way of converting the peer pressure trigger into upper right by encouraging the team towards productive outcomes. Breaking down the big-picture long-term goal into smaller goals that can provide instant gratification to the teams can be another tool. Creating a safe space where the teams are motivated to try out ideas / options without negative repercussions can be a good way to convert the fear of failure trigger into a motivational trigger.

I'm interested to know your thoughts on the triggers you face, how you manage them and other books that you found useful.