ChangingMinds Blog!

In working for many years in business change, I've found change 'agents' often indulge in grumbling about the targets of change. And indeed, they often have good reason to complain. Change is not easy and early success can soon slow as operational priorities become useful excuses to drag heels.

A problem with all this occurs where the people working on the change start to expect serious resistance. I have been in change meetings, for example, where much of the time is spent complaining about a lack of management understanding and support. Beyond the waste of time, this can have a serious effect on how the change agents think and behave.

A defeatist position known as 'learned helplessness' can become entrenched when people feel unable to make a difference. When working elephants in India are being trained, they are chained to a deep stake with a strong chain. Before long, they learn that pulling on the chain is painful and futile and so give up. After that, only a light chain or even a rope is needed. When faced with strong resistance, agents of change may start avoiding difficult tasks and excusing either themselves or their subjects with thoughts of 'It won't work' or 'They're busy at the moment'. And so the change agents become ineffectual and helpless.

The change thus fails, with the subjects happy to sustain the status quo and change agents pointing at organizational commitment whilst perhaps secretly happy that their tentative plans were never tested in the real world.

Starting to read minds

One of the things we do as humans is try to read the minds of others. Although we are not always as good at it as we think we are, we still can be surprisingly accurate. We make much use this 'theory of mind' when deciding on what we will say and do (and in doing so build a workable society).

So when do we start to read other people's minds? Researchers Amanda Brandone and Henry Wellman investigated 8+ month-old babies' assessment of the intent of others by watching the attention the babies paid to several prefabricated situations.

They first showed the babies videos of a person reaching for a ball in different ways (one way per baby) and with varying success at grasping the ball. They then showed them other videos of babies reaching for a ball. The babies paid most attention to the videos where the person was reaching in the same way as they had seen before.

The implication is that babies as young as 8 months can understand intent, indicating a remarkable sophistication from an early age.

Reference: Brandone, A.C. and Wellman, H. (2009). You Can't Always Get What You Want: Infants Understand Failed Goal-Directed Actions. Psychological Science, 20 (1), 85-91.

Why music?

What's the point of music? It's something that I've worried about for ages, so a recent radio programme on the subject held me spellbound.

Psychologist Steven Pinker sees little value for evolution in it, although the venerable Charles Darwin, who defined the original evolutionary lens, considered it to be important, along with its close partner dance. The ideas is that it is valuable in mating displays where the male effectively showing his ability to understand and use complex patterns.

An interesting fact about music is that we can hear a tune in a different key and different timing and yet still recognise it. We are, above all, pattern experts.

One of the things we know is that learning to play an instrument increases cognitive ability across a range of other subjects. Doing music, it seems, reaches the parts of the brain that other activities do not reach.

On a related note, another recent radio programme pointed out that it takes 10,000 hrs of practice to reach true expertise, and even Mozart only achieved his early peak through an extremely focused childhood.

So why music, indeed? Whatever the evolutionary cause, the bottom line for most of us is that it makes us feel good. And in changing minds, good feelings are jolly handy things to be able to elicit. Which is why careful use of background music ('atmospherics') is an ongoing tool for many persuaders.

Your comments

Many might say that songbirds introduced us to music. However if any researcher manages to precisely translate the "lyrics" birds use the practice may not always be so social.

For several generations that have come of age since the introduction of the radio, popular music has become the soundtrack of their youth. We may not know, much less understand all the lyrics or remember the artists but the melodies become more magnetic with time.

Thus, strangely, many "establishment" Corporations now pay royalties to their former rivals -the rebellious minstrels - to sell their products and services.

The music then must play a role in exercising ones memory, not to mention recollecting and processing the blur we sometimes call adolescence(?).

-- Peter

A Virgin failure (and recovery)

What do you do when you experience a service failure? Many people do nothing, which is sad, because it means many more people will be affected. I've just had a rather dreadful experience at the hands of Virgin, a company I have previously admired. I've send a copy of this blog to the CEO.

Sir Richard Branson
Virgin Group

The School House

50 Brook Green
London
W6 7RR

14 June 2009

Dear Sir Richard

Ever since I bought Tubular Bells whilst a student in 1973 I have followed the admirable development of Virgin. As a later student and practitioner in business I have also read your books and admired your inspirational leadership. It is therefore with regret that I must report a lamentable and repeated lapse in service by Virgin Balloon Flights. My faith in this company has been so shaken, I am writing to you directly. Some of the failures below may seem small to you, but they were all instrumental.

My wife bought me a balloon ride as a special present, which gave me months of delighted anticipation before I decided to book the flight this month. I phoned the number in the letter and got through to someone who told me that the booking people were busy but someone would phone back. Nobody did. (First failure). I consequently found the website and was able to book online, so I thought it would be ok.

It was rather worrying that when booking the flight, there was no indication of flight time -- only AM or PM (Second failure).

In the information after booking and in the identical email received, there was an instruction to phone 'from 11pm the night before your flight'. Please note the 'from' and the omission of 'between' hours. (Third failure).

Now I work long hours, getting up early for a 2 hour commute into London. By 10pm and often earlier, I am out for the count. I worried about the ambiguous instruction but resolved to get up early to find the flight details. I rose before 6am and called the number, only to find that I was supposed to be in Henley, about 20 minutes away, for 6am. I called the emergency number given, only to get a message saying that this was an old number and telling me to call another number, which I did, only for it to ring and ring with no answer (Fourth failure).

As you might guess, I was very disappointed by this. It was a perfect morning. I am a keen photographer and the light was just right.

I called the main Virgin Balloons number to find that it opened at 10am. I called back then and told my story to the person, only to be cut off as I completed it. I called again and spoke to somebody else, who persisted in telling me things that I should have done, like phone after 11pm. This is a dreadful method: when a customer is unhappy, telling them what they should have done will only make them more unhappy (Fifth failure).

She told me that she would investigate, but warned that I would lose any future opportunity if the pilot confirmed that the flight took place. I had already told her it was a beautiful day and this only served to frustrate me further, though I bit my lip and just asked her not to tell me all the things I should have done, but to tell me what she was going to do about it. She said she would call back the same day and I gave her two numbers for this, asking her to leave a message at my home number if she couldn't get through on the mobile (I had by now gone out for the day to cheer up). By now, I was not surprised that when I got home there was no message. (Sixth failure).

Will they get back to me? Experience says no, and my faith in Virgin Balloon Flights has so completely shaken, I am writing directly to you.

I have wondered if any of it was my fault. The service representative told me that there was indication of times in the brochure, which I later found to be true. But consider the customer journey here. I read the booklet last Christmas, but when booking the flight only referred to the letter enclosed with the booklet and the information I saw online and received in the subsequent email. In no place along this recent route was there any indication of actual or potential flight times.

In 'Business Stripped Bare' you state as your proposition that 'we offer our customers a Virgin experience, and we make sure that this Virgin experience is a substantial and consistent one, across all sectors of our business'. I believe you. I believe this is what you intend, and that my experience with Virgin Balloon Flights is an exception. I will ask three things of you to demonstrate this:

That I get the sunny flight that my wife intended for me.
That you fix the failures listed, so others will not suffer likewise.
That you fix the system that led to these failures.

In this, I would ask that your service representatives are not punished, but that they are properly trained in handling unhappy customers. I would also suggest that you do a detailed process review, examining in detail the customer's experiential journey, particularly when things go wrong. Customer experience design is critical for many modern businesses, along with the process, technology and organisation that create this. As a core element of your brand, I do hope you have a strong and deep competence in this area.

Many thanks for you kind consideration and I await your response with interest,

Coda

Virgin did a decent recovery, which is good. I didn't speak to Richard Branson but I think it was someone high-up, who called to thank me for my suggestions, saying they agreed with many of these and would be implementing them. And of course I would have my balloon flight reinstated.

My faith in Virgin is thus restored. It doesn't take much to recover a customer, even a very unhappy one. All you need to do is show that you care, listen intelligently, and do the right thing.

Hard sales at Sainsbury's

A problem for supermarkets is how to sell more. They have studied precisely how we buy. They have adverts and offers at critical points throughout the store. But many customers are 'sleep shopping', wandering the store, missing all the advertising. Only 7 words are read during the shopping trip and 80% of our shopping is done subconsciously.

I'm watching a fascinating TV programme about UK superstore Sainsbury's and how they are doing a daring experiment by putting 'ordinary' people on the supermarket floor to talk to customers and see if they can generate extra sales. The star of the show is Barbara, a new employee, who convinces her manager to let her try out her idea.

She acts as a 'store host' who wanders floor demonstrating products (she often pushes a trolley with goods in it). She calls it 'taking the store to the customer.' She sometimes also takes a roving microphone to announce offers and interview people about their purchases.

Worryingly, she was given sales targets for a single product (400 packets of hot cross buns). She wandered around saying 'go on, have a little squidge -- feel how fresh that is'. Great sales technique, of course, and once customers have touched the product, they are far more likely to buy. She's very good and has been in direct sales for many years -- and it shows, as she doubles daily sales of the product.

Within 4 months of joining Sainsbury's word reached the top and she was in direct conversation with the CEO, impressing him with her friendly patter, pushing the sale just enough and telling how she backs off easily if the customer isn't interested.

Given the task of taking the idea to the next base, she looks for recruits from within Sainsbury's staff who can replicate her style. The examples we see are a bit robotic and lack the easy style of the direct selling professional.

Sainsbury's also openly voice their concerns, that customers might be put off by the hard sell. It's difficult to tell when people silently don't come back. Research tells that 2 out of 3 just want to be left alone. The corporate maven holds a focus group from the store where Barbara did the initial experiment, and the results are mixed, with some saying they just want to be left alone.

The bottom line for Barbara's idea is a two week trial across three store that measures both sales and customer perception. What it looks like is that the recruits are either are a bit too heavy handed or back off too much. Even Barbara begins to crack under the pressure of daily sales targets and the pressure of the experimental spotlight.

After much debate, Sainsbury's decide to take the next step and try it in 20 stores. They're very cautious about getting it right and do recognise that they need the right people, trained right and with a significant focus on helping customers rather than blindly pushing products. I thought they'd bottle out, but good for them: they're trying to make it work!

We're more like others than we think

Quick: how would you feel if there was a change in local government where you live? How about if you won a holiday? Or if you had a car accident? Or you were infected with measles?

Whilst we can guess how we might feel in any situation, we are often poor at getting it right. In predicting our emotions we often over-estimate, particularly for traumatic events. We may also hopefully underestimate how we will free.

Professor Daniel Gilbert and his colleagues did a number of experiments around this with students that included getting them to share dating experiences and sharing personality data in story formats.

What they discovered was that how others feel about something is often more accurate a prediction than how we think we will feel about it ourselves. A reason for this is where we think we are unique and quite different from others and so take a polar position. This can be seen in conversations where we take exaggerated positions and stretch the truth to make ourselves more special. The reality is that we are more like others than we think.

Reference:
D.T. Gilbert, M.A. Killingsworth, & R.N. Eyre (2009). The Surprising Power of Neighborly Advice. Science, 323, 1617-1619

Creating a successful website

I was asked recently how I developed the changingminds.org site. The site has been reasonably successful and it's a subject I ponder from time to time. I could have written more but one of the rules is 'keep it simple' so I kept it to ten points.

So how did it all start? I'd been writing for a number of years and wanted a hobby that would hopefully become a career. I'd been wanting to write a book on persuasion for years and the first 'big idea', ten years ago, was to create a 'category killer'. Just like Toys'R'Us, if I could cover all the bases, then people would not need to go elsewhere. Two rules, then:

1. Start with a big idea.
2. Be the best.

I then just got my head down and got on with it. I researched and read endlessly, which is something I really like. So two more rules:

3. Persist. Write every day.
4. Build a big research library.

The site grew organically. I write what I find and where I am studying at the time. For example I'm doing a M.Sc. in Psychology at the moment so there's lots of pages from that. I recently bought another book on Sales so I'll scan that for new ideas. I often synthesize across readings, so one page may have many sources.

I've managed to get up the Google rankings on a lot of subjects mostly by playing the rules. You can find more of the principles I used here: http://changingminds.org/webmasters_adsense_secrets.htm. In particular, I focus one page on one narrow subject. So:

5. Focus each page.

I believe in what I'm doing. I've worked on the principle of 'build it and they will come'. So

6. Have faith in yourself and what you can do.

The site is written with an old verion of FrontPage. It's simple, flat pages for the most part. I taught myself HTML and enough Javascript and PHP to get by. I designed the layout myself and improve it from time to time. I keep an eye on who's looking where. For example lots of people go to the body language pages so I've extended that section.

7. Keep it simple.

8. Learn and evolve.

And finally you need to promote the site endlessly. I'm writing this on the train into London and just gave a demo to the lady sitting next to me. I have an RSS feed and use Twitter to tell the world about updates. I've also written a 'book of the site' which is quietly doing quite well and will continue to add products.

9. Sell the site!

10. When you have attention, sell other things.

Goodhart's Law

Have you ever noticed how government 'indicators' hardly ever seem to provide an agreed and accurate measure of the subject? How they are set up in a fanfare of openness and promise then degenerate into confusion, mismanagement and accusation?

This is a principle that was defined in 1975, in a paper by chief economic advisor to the Bank of England Charles Goodhart. It became particularly popular for explaining the problems in the 1980s when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher defined assorted metrics for managing monetary policy.

This principle is also true in business and other organizations. You define a 'success' measure but when it comes around to assessing success it doesn't seem to be that effective. There are several reasons for this. First, the world is not a simple place. To paraphrase a popular quote: 'For every problem there is answer that is simple, elegant and wrong.' Secondly and very significantly, when you set up a metric by which people are rewarded or punished and they will act to optimize that measure, including in ways that detrimental to other important things. As a salesman once told me: 'Tell me how I am measured and I'll tell you how I'll behave.' Well-meaning performance metrics easily lead to sub-optimal performance.

There is also a Reverse Goodhart's Law, which says that if a government's economic credibility is sufficiently damaged, then its targets are seen as irrelevant and, bizarrely, the economic indicators regain their reliability as a guide to policy. In the wake of the Thatcher years, Prime Minister John Major's stumblings had this effect.

So what should you do? Perhaps the best idea in recent times is the principle of the balanced scorecard, where measures act as checks and balances for one another and too much attention to one measure damages another.

The ChangingMinds Blog!

Us and them and learned helplessness in change

Starting to read minds

Why music?

Your comments

A Virgin failure (and recovery)

Coda

Hard sales at Sainsbury's

We're more like others than we think

Creating a successful website

Goodhart's Law

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