Who is Going to do What by When, a Cyber-Psych Journey Part 3

In my last article, titled Freaking Change Already, I covered a bit about why humans are so reluctant to change and provided some basic explanations.?There dominant elements of existentialism (I am what I believe), fear (I can’t be wrong), and a gap between knowledge and application (I know eating healthy is better for me, but these Flaming Cheetos are too good to put down) prevent us from seeing the need for change clearly, and providing sufficient intrinsic motivation to alter our course of thought or action.?We also covered some examples of how this has happened in the past with Heliocentrism (the Sun is actually the center of the universe <Smite Him!>) and germ theory (Wash your hands?!?Everyone knows illness is the result of a gremlin or small troll living in the stomach.).

In this last article about change, I will cover three specific things that need accompany any successful change and some of the neuroscience that is working against us in the background.?I will also provide some additional information regarding reluctance to change, as I am currently reading Eat Their Lunch by Anthony Iannarino and he makes some important points in the book that merit repeating.

One aspect of change that I didn’t consider that Iannarino covers in some depth, is the political investment in the current solution.?Someone, at some point in time, thought the existing thing was the right thing, and in all fairness, it may have been at the time the decision was made.?The champion of that decision sold the idea to other stakeholders who agreed and provided their support to buy, enact or otherwise give form to whatever we being discussed.?However, as time goes by and technological advancements are made, new solutions replace the old ones, better alternatives are made available and the old way of doing things, while known and comfortable, may actually be inhibiting your performance and growth.?This is why we listen to streaming audio on Bluetooth ear buds and not cassette tapes on a Walkman with orange foam headphones, why many of us stay in Air BNBs instead of hotels, and get rides from Uber rather than taking a taxi. ?

Regardless of how smart, logical or necessary the change is, it will still likely experience resistance.?From those that were responsible for creating or maintaining the old way (especially if their identity is tied up in that way of thinking), to those that have grown comfortable with the status quo, any change process will face adversity. People are used to it, and even though it may be clunky or inefficient, workarounds have probably been made to minimize any adverse impact.?So, grossly understating Iannarino’s concepts, somebody was invested in the current thing, and that thing is now represents the way things have always been done.?Any change, regardless of how necessary it is, will need to overcome these additional obstacles on the journey to be the NKOTB (and hang tuff).?

Think about Blockbuster Video or Eastman Kodak.?At one time, they were the at the pinnacle of their respective industries, yet their inability to be objective, and logically look at market conditions eventually to their downfall.?Blockbuster failed to change from a video rental store to a streaming media provider and Kodak failed to integrate digital photography, even thought they invented the technology.?They were so tied up with the way things had always been done, they were blind to how change could have helped them maintain their dominance.

Decision science is an entire discipline unto itself, that has complexity far beyond what has been covered in these short articles.?Hopefully, I have created some interest for you, and you’ll continue researching this fascinating aspect of business.?For some additional great reading, I recommend: Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath, and Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.

In his book Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, the authors cover a concept referred to by the phrasing “who is going to what by when”.?While I am once again grossly understating the concept, the basics are that someone must own an action, that there must be specificity around what is to be done, and a deadline for when it should be accomplished by.?It is actually quite sophisticated in its simplicity, so let’s break down how and why.

Who

Clearly and specifically identifying who is going to be responsible for whatever is to be done is a crucial first step.?It’s like they tell you in first responder training, you point directly at someone, make eye contact and tell them, “You, dial 911”.?There can be no confusion about who owns the task and that person should know that they are responsible for dialing 911.?Without specificity, the seeds confusion can take root and quickly grow, resulting in lack of ownership which will ultimately lead to failure.

This propensity is a derivative of the Bystander Effect, whereby humans fail to act in the presence of others since they think someone else is going to do something.?This concept was popularized by social scientists John M. Darley and Bibb Latane in 1968 after the murder of Kitty Genovese.?If you don’t want to read the research (which is fascinating), the gist is that when people think someone else is going to do something, they are far less likely to act than if they know they are the ones that should be acting.

These are just a couple reasons why the identification of an individual responsible for the activity is so important since without it, you are introducing the likelihood that no one will take ownership and the activity will fail.

What

The understanding and internalization of what has been decided and is going to be done, is a very interesting concept.?On the surface, it seems quite simple, we decided to buy widget X from vendor Y, however when you add in the messiness of human interaction, things get complicated fast.?This is due to the fact that many people suffer from a cognitive bias called Memory Bias, which either impairs or enhanced (depending on the individual) memory recall.?There is also the Mandela Effect Theory that can cause people to remember things differently than what actually occurred.?The Neuroscience of You by Dr. Chantel Prat is a great book that goes into greater detail about this and many other concepts dealing with memory recall and interpretation of external stimuli.

This is precisely why we are told to take meeting minutes and to send follow up emails outlining what was discussed and what we decided.?People, by no fault of their own, are wired differently and so they interpret data differently, which means they recall it differently.?So, it’s very important that any decision that is made is specifically stated and reinforced in writing so minimize any misunderstandings.?This will prevent misalignment later in the process (Hey, I thought Johnny was going to do X not Y), which always leads to self-inflicted complexity and execution challenges.

When

We humans, by our very nature, are generally lazy.?While many people have mastered their own Newtonian inertia (first law of motion - an object at rest will tend to remain at rest), physically and mentally, our minds and bodies prefer rest over exertion.?For clarity, physical laziness and mental laziness are two different things and manifest is two different ways.?For example, I work-out regularly and have spoken with people in the gym that have told me they have not read a book in years.?These are physically fit men and women that workout five to six days per week – clearly not physically lazy.?They have the drive, discipline and mental toughness to force themselves to engaged in strenuous physical exercise on a daily basis.?However, being physically active does not equate to being mentally active.?I told them that by not reading or engaging is some form of cerebral exercise, they are mentally flabby.?Reading is like the Stairmaster for your brain – it’s a workout that forces you off the mental couch and into the mental gym.?Just like you can get out of shape by not exercising your body, you can get mentally out of shape by not exercising your brain.

Knowing that we have a propensity for inaction, it’s important to force action with a deadline, even if that deadline is artificial (meaning there is no real negative impact if the deadline is missed).?Working towards a specific end date helps us to focus our attention, and engages the problem-solving area of our brains, the prefrontal cortex, where logic and higher-level thinking reside.?Once this part o the brain is activated, it overrides our desire to rest and prevents the amygdala from bringing emotions into the situation (I don’t feel like doing this - interestingly, you can’t think AND feel at the same time – again, oversimplification, but your though process is either controlled by the Amygdala or the prefrontal cortex - if one is active the other is passive).

There is a ton more reading and research to do on why people do things, don’t do things, feel things and behave in certain ways.?This is a critical, and frequently overlooked aspect of business, inappropriately identified as a soft skill (oof, I despise that term) – like somehow understanding human behavior is easy??True story, when Andrew Carnegie was asked why Charles Schwab was paid a $1M salary (equivalent to about $36M today), he purportedly said something like, “I am not paying him because he understands steel.?He doesn’t.?He understands people.?And that skill alone is well worth my investment”.?Until the robot uprising, you will have to deal with humans in every aspect of business.?Failure to understand them and why they do what they do will only serve to negatively impact what you are trying to achieve.

Specifically laying out WHO is going to do WHAT and by WHEN, will significantly increase your chances for success.?While these concepts are not silver bullet, then have been proven repeatedly over the past 100 years and continue to help individuals and organizations enact meaningful change today.

I hope you have found this short series interesting and compelling.?Business is far more than P&Ls, stock prices and the Three Ps. There underlying social and neurological aspects that impact the way we work, the things we do and say, and ultimately our outcomes.?It is my sincere desire that you find this subject matter so interesting and useful that you pick up some of the books I’ve recommended and begin researching for yourself!?If you have any questions or would like some other book recommendations, please DM me.?All the best!