Switch - Chip Heath [23]
WHAT’S THE SWITCH AND WHAT’S HOLDING IT BACK? The behavior Barbara wants is clear: Employees need to file their expense reports by the deadline. It’s not obvious what the barrier is. Maybe the process is sufficiently complicated that it paralyzes the Rider. Maybe the process is perfectly clear, but the Elephant always finds things it would rather be doing. Or maybe the reporting systems are so antiquated that the Path is one giant speed bump. Let’s attack on all three fronts.
HOW DO WE MAKE THE SWITCH?
• Direct the Rider. 1. Find the bright spots. Barbara should investigate her bright spots—the 62 percent of employees who file their expense reports on time every month. What are they doing differently? Maybe they’ve handcrafted a set of techniques for logging expenses as they occur, so there’s not a big pile at the end of the month. Once Barbara figures out the bright spots’ tricks, she can get them to share their system with others. 2. Script the critical moves. It’s possible that parts of the reporting process are confusing enough to cause decision paralysis. Maybe there’s ambiguity about how to code particular expenses or how to allocate certain costs between clients. Barbara should observe a few laggards as they complete their reports. She won’t know how to script the critical moves until she sees the confusion firsthand.
• Motivate the Elephant. 1. Find the feeling. Nobody who misses an expense-report deadline “feels” anything. Sure, Barbara chastises laggards via e-mail, but after they’ve received the nag note for the sixth consecutive month, it loses its sting. Barbara needs to find something people can care about. Or someone: After all, the company depends on people like Maria to close the books every month, and they’ll be held accountable if they blow the deadline. So, in essence, the goal is not to file the report; it’s to do Maria a favor, once a month. It may be easy to rationalize missing an administrative deadline, but it’s harder to rationalize letting down a coworker who’s counting on you.
• Shape the Path. 1. Tweak the environment. How easy are the expense-report forms to fill out? The accounting department should be obsessive about simplifying them, to the point of preloading people’s names in their reports and distributing empty envelopes for loose receipts. Think Amazon’s 1-Click ordering. Every barrier that’s removed makes the Path clearer. 2. Rally the herd. Many people may conclude, falsely, that everyone turns in the reports late, that lateness is accepted behavior. (Barbara’s nagging e-mails may actually reinforce this perception. Why would she send them unless lots of people are slacking?) People are sensitive to social norms, so Barbara’s e-mail should highlight the fact that almost two-thirds of reports are turned in on time. No one likes to hear that they’re underperforming relative to their peers.
5.
When Alexandre Behring set up four simple rules for ALL employees to follow, they changed quickly. So did the West Virginians who were urged to drink 1% milk. But why did these changes need to be scripted? Wasn’t it obvious to the West Virginians that they should be drinking 1% milk instead of whole milk?
Well, no, it wasn’t. Not many people know that a glass of whole milk has the same amount of saturated fat as five bacon strips. That’s not intuitive knowledge. Nor was it intuitive for any of Behring’s employees at ALL to decide, “Yep, let’s rip up old, abandoned tracks instead of purchasing new ones.” When you want someone to behave in a new way, explain the “new way” clearly. Don’t assume the new moves are obvious.