Anonymous Business Success
PeopleNology by Gregory Bodenhamer Ph.D. Nollijy University
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Culture is a perennial problem in change projects and needs to be carefully understood, especially if there is any expectation or desire to change the culture as a part of the project. Culture includes common values, attitudes and consequent behaviors. It directs how people make decisions and how they react to change. It can also vary within an organization, for example a 'leading edge' attitude may be found in research departments and 'customer first' value in service areas.
There are many areas of preferences that people have that shape cultures. There are, within these, a few which are of particular influence around change.
There are many reasons learn and use peoplenology;
Motivation: The overall subject of what drives us.
Processing: The thinking that leads to action.
Behaviors: That result from our decisions.
Culture: How we socially act together.
Learning Theory: How we get to make sense.
Personality: What makes us who we are.
Power: Our capability to act. Where we get it and how we use it.
Social Research: philosophers, philosophies and the search for meaning.
Stress: What winds us up.
Fear of retribution
Following out of fear is not so much following as being tugged along at the end of a rope.
Blind hope
Here, the follower is desperate for some solution, and what the leader is offering is either the only option they see or the best of a relatively weak set of choices.
Faith in leader
In this situation, the follower is blind to the solution but is following because they have such faith in the leader, they believe that they will, by some magic or genius, provide the answer to the follower's needs.
Intellectual agreement
Here, the follower understands the logic of the argument that the leader is putting forward and hence is following the rationale rather than the leader as a person, who they may respect but are not blindly following.
Buying the vision
When people buy a vision, they are emotionally closing on a view of the future that is appealing to them in some way and pulls them forward.
Followers and Respect
When a person is evaluating a situation and deciding whether to collaborate (and hence become a follower), they judge both the leader and also the solution the leader is offering to determine what action they will take.
Respect for the leader
When the leader is respected, which means they are at the very least trusted and probably liked as well, then this enables the leader to make proposals that followers will take seriously.
Respect for the solution
When the solution is respected, then the respect for the leader is not as important, although if the leader is not respected then the followers may doubt the ability of the leader to make the right choices along the way.
Followers and Trust
People follow those they trust.
Care and concern
We all have a very basic need for safety, which we can get either by taking control ourselves, or, as followers do, ceding this to our leaders.
Passive concern
Leaders make choices that can harm people. If you carefully avoid harming me, then I can trust you.
Active care
Beyond a passive concern is the active care where you may take deliberate action, which you would not otherwise take, to look after and actively care for me.
Reliability
Leaders need for their followers to trust that they will do as they say they will do.
Keep your promises
A simple rule for leaders is : 'Do what you say'. Keep your promises.
Honesty
The problem with honesty is that the short-term implications can be bad for leaders.
Tell the whole truth
If you always tell the truth, including the unvarnished whole truth and bad news that others might hide, then I know that when you say something, I have the complete story.
Followers and Liking
If I do not like you, then I will not follow you.
Goodness
If I judge you to be good, then I know you have similar values to me.
Similarity
We use external similarity as a short-cut to determine if a person is like us on the inside.
Vulnerability
We see ourselves as vulnerable, often with the sense of being a child that we all have to some degree. We see our failings, our limitations, and weaknesses.
Followers and Support
People follow those that help them.
Goals
Where the personal goals of the followers are aligned with the direction that the leaders is pointing, then it seems like a good idea to follow the leader, especially if it looks like they will be able to help me get what I want.
Support
I will also follow a person who actively helps me to get what I want.
Followers and Ideas
People will follow an idea, but not constraining objectives, then I may do it, but not in a way that makes me want to follow you.
Objectives as instructions
Objectives are useful in most organizations, of course, but they are often presented as fixed instructions, telling people what to do and how to do it in so much detail that it leaves little to the imagination.
Objectives as ideas
Objectives can be used to motivate and leaders can make effective use of formal systems of objective-setting to provide effective challenge and stimulation that will motivate people not only to do the work but also to follow the leader.
Ideas as inspiration
Inspiration occurs when an idea both aligns with my values and also gives me a sense of possibility, of what is not now but which could be in the future. It might thus change my beliefs and mental models.
Context Analysis
When investigating change it is important to understand the context within which the current situation is operating.
External context
The external context that affects the organization provides the forces to which the business must react and are common root causes of the need for change.
PESTLE forces
The broader business climate includes the external sea in which the business and its competitors must swim and provides the ultimate playing ground.
Market forces
Within the chosen markets, forces as price pressures, competitive shifts, customer demands and so on may be creating business tensions.
Internal context
As well as the external context, there are many contextual factors within organizations that can lead to the need for change.
Driving objectives
Out of the external forces and internal ambitions, business leaders identify the key purposes and objectives that they want to achieve and hence achieve success in the organization.
Organizational alignment
An aligned organization has its processes, technology, reporting structures and individual objectives all aligned with one another.
Organizational capability
As well as alignment, an organization needs its people to be able to complete work given to them.
Leadership
Leadership is a subject which includes a great deal about changing people's minds, often in fundamental ways.
Followership
The nature of leadership can perhaps be best understood by turning the coin over and studying followership.
The Leader-Follower loop
Leaders who want to create true followers do not just stand at the front of the army, yell 'charge' and then run forward.
Followers respond
Followers are seldom blind. They are human.
Gossip
If the leader does something that concerns them, then they will voice these concerns to one another long before letting the leader know.
Pack response
There may well be some level of pack response from followers.
Leaders adjust
If leaders do not do anything about the situation, then followers, who are volunteers, remember, will abandon in droves.
Noticing
At some point in the proceedings, the leader notices that followers are not as inclined to follow as they once were.
Diagnosing
When the shift in follower behavior is noticed, the next step is to figure out why, and particularly to know whether and how to connect this to the leader's own words or actions, or at least to external events that have shifted the playing field.
Adjusting
When you know where it is going and why it happened, then you can do something about it.
The dance continues
And so the band plays on. It is a closed system, with followers responding to leaders, who themselves adjust in response to this. Leadership and followership is thus an ongoing dance.
Structural Analysis
There are many structures within an organization which influence people's behavior. 'Function follows form' is a relevant saying.
Organizational structure
The hierarchical organization with its 'scalar chain of command' is at the heart of most organizations.
Process structure
People work within processes, which may stretch across functions or be contained within them.
Motivational structure
There are deliberate structures in the organization that seek to motivate people. Typically, this is based on financial reward.
Social structure
Overlaid across the organization is another invisible structure which is made up of the many and complex social relationships across the company.
Physical structure
The physical structure of the organization can have a very significant effect on the social structuring.
Causal Analysis
An excellent question when analyzing around change is 'why?' Causal Analysis seeks to identify and understand the reasons why things are as they are and hence enabling focus of change activity.
Root causes
The basic principle of causal analysis is to find causes that you can treat rather than treating symptoms (which, as all doctors know, seldom effects a lasting cure).
Ask why five times
The trick with seeking root causes is to keep looking. When you ask 'why' of something, you will get a nearby direct cause. If you keep asking 'why' of each answer, you will eventually get to a cause that you can act on.
Cause-effect diagram
The Cause-effect Diagram is a simple hierarchical tool that is used to break down cause into a tree-structure, allowing you to follow individual streams of possible cause.
Circular causes
Many causes are not linear but instead act in circles, much as births lead to population increase which leads to even more births.
Systemic cause
In systemic problems, the cause is found in the whole system, with the problem distributed across multiple related causes, all of which conspire together to cause the identified effect.
Vicious spirals and virtuous circles
Circular cause leads to exponential increases or decreases that are very difficult to interrupt.
Creating a positive culture
A positive culture is the holy grail of many change activities.
Develop a sense of history
History is important to people, giving them a sense of identity and belonging. Just look at how genealogy becomes more important to people as the grow older.
Create a sense of one-ness
Leaders who bring people together talk about 'us' more than 'I'. They propagate the stories of history and present stories that create a sense of togetherness.
Promote a sense of membership
Belonging also comes from the benefits that people gain, so work on the reward and recognition system.
Increase contact and exchange
Help people stay in touch with one another. This is particularly important in a global or otherwise distributed organization.
Social distance
We like to keep our distance from others and there are very specific social rules about how close we can go to others in particular situations.
Why the distance
Regulating the distances between us and other people provides us with several benefits.
Social distances
The social distances here are approximate, of course and will vary with people.
Public Zone 12 feet
The public zone is generally over 12 feet. That is, when we are walking around town, we will try to keep at least 12 feet between us and other people.
Social Zone 4 - 12 feet
Within the social zone, we start to feel a connection with other people.
Personal Zone 2-4 feet
In the personal zone, the conversation gets more direct, and this is a good distance for two people who are talking in earnest about something.
Intimate Zone < 2 feet
When a person is within arms reach or closer, then we can touch them in intimate ways.
Varying rules
The rules about social distance vary with different groups of people.
Town and country
People who live in towns spend more time close to one another and so their social distances may compact somewhat.
Different countries
Different countries also have different rules about social distances.
Preferences
What makes us different?
Preference scales
There are many scales of preference. Note that there are two styles that are commonly used.
Feedback and reward
A major driver of people in companies and hence their culture is the general feedback and specific rewards that tell them they are doing a good or bad job.
Risk
Uncertainty and risk are something that some people hate and some people thrive on.
Solidarity
Solidarity is the degree to which people think together in the same ways, sharing tasks and mutual interests.
Sociability
Sociability comes from mutual esteem and concern for ones colleagues.
What is culture?
Culture is the collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes the members of one human group from those of another. Culture in this sense is a system of collectively held values. Culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic ‘taken for granted’ fashion an organization's view of its self and its environment.
A simple way of defining culture is: Culture is a system for differentiating between in-group and out-group people.
Culture as shared meaning
Culture is very much about groups, and a basic need of groups is to be able to communicate, both at a superficial level (for which ordinary language largely suffices) and also at a deeper level of meaning.
Culture as behavioral rules
When a group of people are to exist together, they need a set of rules that helps everyone know what to do in various circumstances, from arguing with one another to dealing with outsiders.
Change Complexity Analysis
Change Complexity Analysis seeks to identify how difficult a change project will be. The more complex the project, the more carefully the project will need to be managed.
Elements of Culture
What are the visible attributes of culture? What are the elements that you can point to and say 'that is there to show and sustain this culture?
Artifacts
Artifacts are the physical things that are found that have particular symbolism for a culture. They may even be endowed with mystical properties.
Stories, histories, myths, legends, jokes
Culture is often embedded and transmitted through stories, whether they are deep and obviously intended as learning devices, or whether they appear more subtly, for example in humor and jokes.
Rituals, rites, ceremonies, celebrations
Rituals are processes or sets of actions which are repeated in specific circumstances and with specific meaning.
Heroes
Heroes in a culture are named people who act as prototypes, or idealized examples, by which cultural members learn of the correct or 'perfect' behavior.
Symbols and symbolic action
Symbols, like artifacts, are things which act as triggers to remind people in the culture of its rules, beliefs, etc.
Beliefs, assumptions and mental models
An organization and culture will often share beliefs and ways of understanding the world.
Attitudes
Attitudes are the external displays of underlying beliefs that people use to signal to other people of their membership.
Rules, norms, ethical codes, values
The norms and values of a culture are effectively the rules by which its members must abide, or risk rejection from the culture (which is one of the most feared sanctions known).
People complexity
The major additional complexity that change projects add over other projects is the potential problems around people.
Scope of impact
When some things are changed, they have a significant ripple on other things. Thus, for example, changing a company policy or an organizational goal will have a very broad impact on whoever is involved.
Amount of work
The 'what' of change equates to the amount of work that needs to be done. This does not necessarily equate to how many people are affected.
Complexity of work
Some work is easy to do, whilst other work requires significant expertise, such as when new products or complex IT systems need to be developed.
Who is changed
The most difficult work of change is often around people.
Numbers of people
When you have to change a lot of people then, even if the change is small, the job will not be that easy. When you have a lot of people to change, then you may find that someone, somewhere will be more trouble than the rest of people put together.
Degree of resistance
If you are going to implement a change that will highly unpopular into an organization where authority is devolved to a low level (for example where most people are 'professionals'), then you must expect a significant level of resistance.
Sponsorship of change
In change projects, the normal hierarchy of management control is often broken as the project stretches across many parts of the organization.
Initiating sponsor
This is the person who starts the change project and may well be the person with whom you meet at the first meeting.
Key sponsor
This is one person (often the most senior manager) who can resolve the stickiest of problems, such as differences between other primary sponsors, and who provides the ultimate authority for the project.
Primary sponsors
This is a small group of managers whose support is critical and who have sufficient clout to unblock most problems, including problems with secondary sponsors.
Secondary sponsors
These are managers whose support is needed, albeit at a limited level. They are important at least as they have the ability to block change.
The role of sponsors
The sponsors of the project can play a number of roles in the change project.
Sponsorship trap
Mismanaging sponsorship is perhaps one of the main reasons why change projects fail. A common sponsorship trap occurs where sponsors see their role as an early agreement, but with no further engagement.
Power Words
There are words that are hardly noticed. There are words that stand out.
God words
Sometimes words arise in a society or even across societies which, like a God, demand absolute obedience.
'In' words
Within companies and specific social groups, God words if I say 'this is profitable' to an executive, he or she will be hard put to turn me down.
God talks jargon
Jargon words can very often be God words, as they have special meaning to closed groups.
Devil words
Just as God terms give you power, there are also words which will sap your power. Using these in a positive sense is taking your life in your hands.
Devil word repulse
Devil words are so repulsive and so scary, people will quickly turn away from them.
Non-PC words
Non-politically-correct words were once quite acceptable, but as society's values changed and people realized that they were using something unacceptable, it made them run even harder away from them.
Insults
Beyond non-PC words, variations can easily become pejorative and intended to insult, denigrate and belittle.
Charisma words
Between God and Devil words are words that invoke particular effects on other people and can make you appear to have a mystical persuasive charisma.
Context counts
The power effect of the words you use depend on the context within which you use them. 'Profit' is very likely to be a God word in most companies, yet in the public services it may well be a Devil word.
Don't over-do it!
If you are going to use power words effectively, then they should have a subtle effect.
Persuasive language
All use of language can act to persuade, and there are many other pages in the language section of this site that include persuasive elements.
Motivation: The overall subject of what drives us.
Processing: The thinking that leads to action.
Behaviors: That result from our decisions.
Culture: How we socially act together.
Learning Theory: How we get to make sense.
Personality: What makes us who we are.
Power: Our capability to act. Where we get it and how we use it.
Social Research: philosophers, philosophies and the search for meaning.
Stress: What winds us up.
Culture
Culture is what happens when people get together. It tells us how to behave and agree. Understanding the culture of a team, organization or country can make a lot of difference when you want to change minds.
Retention techniques
When a person is converted to a particular set of beliefs, then it has been found that, particularly if coercive or authoritarian methods were used, then most people will, if there is no effort to sustain the change, will drift back to their original beliefs.
Diagnosing change
When you are faced with a situation where change seems to required, one of the early activities is to investigate more fully, to understand context, causes and so on, so you can plan to implement changes that will actually improve things.
Historical Review
Much of the reasons why change is required is rooted in the history of the organization. History can also give you lots of very useful information about how your plans may go astray. For these and more reasons, it can be a good idea to look backwards before you look forwards.
Look at the external climate
When times are ripe and the pickings are easy, then companies do not have to be very innovative to thrive.
See the innovation and change
Companies often start with innovation, but this does not always continue. Look at the great new products that appeared and how they wowed the market. Look for incremental innovation that shows a sustained push to stay ahead of the curve.
Watch for the curse of success
When you have a successful product range, it can last for such a long time that you forget how to innovate.
Look at the records
Companies may have many records that tell you a story, filling the details and confirming or disconfirming your suspicions.
Look at the finances
The finances of the company will tell you about the fundamental ups and downs. They will show you the profitable and less profitable times and where change became an imperative rather than a possibility.
Look at the words
Written records such as company reports, meeting minutes and so on will also tell a story. Especially those around times of change, you will see what the real priorities of the organization are.
Listen to the people
The people of the organization are perhaps the best resource for finding out about the company history.
Listen to the old timers
Find the people who have been around since the year dot. Most organizations have people who have survived the ups and downs and who are, to a large extent, the living historians of the company.
Hear the range of stories
Get to people in all positions, high and low. Listen to the stories of power and politics.
Hear the critical events
Listen for the critical events of change within the organization and what happened next.
Look at the history of change
In looking through the areas above, most of all look at how people and the organization as a whole managed change.
Watch for change readiness
A change-ready organization is alert and ready. Change does not faze it. People do not fear different things, but look forward with interest and excitement to the challenge of the new.
Watch for change capability
It is one thing to be ready for change -- it is another to be good at it. Look at the history of change success and change failure, and try to determine the critical factors that made the difference.
Driving objectives
Out of the external forces and internal ambitions, business leaders identify the key purposes and objectives that they want to achieve and hence achieve success in the organization.
Organizational alignment
An aligned organization has its processes, technology, reporting structures and individual objectives all aligned with one another.
Organizational capability
As well as alignment, an organization needs its people to be able to complete work given to them. This is often assumed to be largely about motivation and skill but, although these may be factors, they are often not as significant as initially assumed.
Culture and change
Culture is a perennial problem in change projects and needs to be carefully understood, especially if there is any expectation or desire to change the culture as a part of the project. Culture includes common values, attitudes and consequent behaviors. It directs how people make decisions and how they react to change. It can also vary within an organization, for example a 'leading edge' attitude may be found in research departments and 'customer first' value in service areas.
There are many areas of preferences that people have that shape cultures. There are, within these, a few which are of particular influence around change.
The focus on task or people
Understanding the balance of focus on task vs. person will help you understand the way the leaders of the organization are likely to make decisions.
Task first
When there is a focus on task before people, then change may well be harsh and thoughtless. People will be hired and fired without a second thought.
People first
When the leaders have a people-first focus, then they may hold back from difficult decisions that will hurt others.
The focus on risk or safety
Depending on the risk bias, people will seek or avoid risk. Change often appears to be very risky.
Risk-seeking
A company where there is a focus on innovation and taking risks will find change more acceptable and easier to adopt. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.
Risk-averse
A company that is risk-averse will likely try to put off change for as long as possible, at least as long as it takes for not changing to be become riskier than moving, and possibly longer.
The focus on self or others
When people focus may vary between self and others, particularly in the stress of change, then their approach may vary significantly.
Self-centered
When people who put themselves first are faced with change, then they will happily sacrifice others in order to save themselves.
Other-centered
When people put the well-being of others before themselves, they will sacrifice themselves before others.
Helping them change
In helping the company find balance, then your influence will depend on their start point. If they are task first, then show them how ignoring people will lead to tasks done badly or not at all.
Emotions
Emotions are our feelings. Literally. We feel them in our bodies as tingles, hot spots and muscular tension. There are cognitive aspects, but the physical sensation is what makes them really different. Emotions affect and are a part of our mood, which is usually a more sustained emotional state. Mood affects our judgment and changes how we process decisions.
Motivation
First of all, motivation are 'e-motions'. They act to motivate us. Without emotions we would probably not do very much and hence would not survive - at least in the evolved form we are in now.
Internal signals
Internally, for example when we are trying to make understand something or make a decision, we use our emotions to deduce whether what we have concluded is a good idea.
Social signals
We generally wear our hearts on our sleeves as our inner emotions are displayed on our outer bodies. Our faces, in particular, have around 90 muscles, 30 of which have the sole purpose of signaling emotion to other people.
Emotional Intelligence
'Emotional Intelligence' is a neat metaphor that borrows from the notion of IQ. It implies that some people are better at handling emotions than others. It also hints that you might be able to increase your EQ.
Self-awareness
Being emotionally self-aware means knowing how you feel in “real time.” Self-knowledge is the first step in being able to handle emotions.
Emotional literacy
Emotional literacy means being able to label emotions precisely. This includes the emotions of others and especially yourself.
Empathy & compassion
Empathy is the ability to feel and understand the emotions of others. If you can empathies, you can engender trust, as people desperately want to be understood at the emotional level.
Balance
The ability to balance emotion and reason in making decisions leads to good decisions. Emotion should not be abandoned, lest cold and callous decisions are made.
Responsibility
Emotional Intelligence means taking primary responsibility for your own emotions and happiness. You cannot say that others “made” you feel the way you feel.
Association and emotion
An interesting phenomenon is that when we put ourselves mentally into a person or situation, we experience the emotions of that person more strongly.
Putting yourself in the picture
Personal history
Take an emotional experience from your past, and think back to that time. Put yourself in the picture, so you are re-living the experience (not standing back or looking down on yourself). See the situation 'through your own eyes'.
Empathizing
We can do the same with other people - when we empathize with them, we are putting ourselves into their body and their experiences.
Standing back
The reverse of association is dissociation. Take that same emotional experience and now move to a position above the scene, so you can see yourself in it. You will now most likely experience the emotion far less.
Feeling what other feel
Empathy is the ability to not only detect what others feel but also to experience that emotion yourself.
It's not sympathy
Empathy and sympathy are very close and are sometimes used as synonyms. The easiest way to separate them is to remember that empathy is about feelings whilst sympathy is about actions.
It's definitely not psychopathy
A defining element of a psychopath is that they do not and probably cannot empathize with other people. They are often good at imitating this, but in doing so they are using it in a cold and manipulative way.
It has many benefits
The value of empathy comes not from understanding the other person's feelings, but what you do as a result of this.
Empathy builds trust
Empathy displayed can be surprising and confusing. When not expected, it can initially cause suspicion, but when sustained it is difficult not to appreciate the concern. Empathy thus quickly leads to trust.
Empathy closes the loop
Consider what would happens if you had no idea what the other person felt about your communications to them.
Emotion and decision
We make many decisions, and sometimes we are more or less logical about them. And it is arguable that all decision are, ultimately emotional.
Logical vs. emotional decision-making
Decision-making is a cognitive process where the outcome is a choice between alternatives. We often have different preferences as to our preferred, approach, varying between thinking and feeling.
Logical decision-making
When we use logic to make decisions, we seek to exclude emotions, using only rational methods, and perhaps even mathematical tools.
Emotional decision-making
There is a whole range of decision-making that uses emotion, depending on the degree of logic that is included in the process.
Emotion and rationality
Emotion and rational thinking are, to a certain extent, mutually exclusive.
Primary emotions
What is felt first
Primary emotions are those that we feel first, as a first response to a situation. Thus, if we are threatened, we may feel fear. When we hear of a death, we may feel sadness. They are unthinking, instinctive responses that we have. We will typically see these in animals also, which confirms our suspicion that they have an evolutionary basis.
Typical primary emotions include fear, anger, sadness and happiness (although it is worth noting that these can also be felt as secondary emotions).
Secondary emotions
What is felt next
Secondary emotions appear after primary emotions. They may be caused directly by them, for example where the fear of a threat turns to anger that fuels the body for a fight reaction. They may also come from more complex chains of thinking.
Greed
Something not needed
Greed is when I want something that I do not really need. I want it just to possess it.
Something for nothing
Greed is also a form of hope where the expected reward is typically far in excess of the time and cost expected to be invested.
Hope
Hope happens when someone sees something, decides that it is desirable, realizes that they may not get it, but believes that there is still a chance of getting it.
To put it tersely, though perhaps in a complex way, hope is expectation moderated by probabilistic estimation of a desired event.
Envy
Envy is often associated with the color green and is portrayed as 'the green-eyed monster'. It is wanting what others have, desiring to possess what they possess. You can be envious of tangible and intangible things, including their wealth, their good looks and their innate intelligence.
Envy and jealousy
Jealousy is slightly different from envy as it involves a third party. It can involve potential loss, such as when we are jealous when someone threatens to woo away our boyfriend or girlfriend. Envy is always about potential gain.
Desire
Desire happens when we want something. The strength of that desire can range from weak 'would like to sometime' to a raging thirst to possess something now.
Triggering desire
Desire is triggered when we see or think about something we want.
Desire increase when what we want is visible, but just out of reach. It may also increase when we have closer contact with the item, but which we still do not possess.
Love
Love is a massive motivator and can lead people to perform all kinds of self-sacrificial acts.
Conversion
Conversion is the changing of beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors of individuals into different ideologies. These pages are largely drawn from studies of destructive cults and brainwashing, although the methods used are surprisingly common elsewhere, including in religions, social groups and organizations.
Asset-stripping
One thing that most groups need to survive is money, and one source of this is new members. If the group can strip them of their assets.
Dematerializing
In their focus on what it right and wrong, the group removes material wealth from being worthwhile and good from their list of values. It is seen as a distraction from the core ideology and purpose of life in the group.
Reframing wealth
Assets and their pecuniary value are re-framed as being useful not to the individual but to the group and its purposes.
Confession
Confession may seem like an odd part of conversion, but it is particularly effective at enabling people to put an undesirable past behind them. As well as a conversion technique, it is also useful for retention.
Agreeing the rules
The basic idea behind confession is that there are some things which are bad, and which contravene defined rules and values.
Starting easy
Agreement over rules typically starts with generalized rules with which it is hard to disagree, for example 'people should help one another'.
Tightening the rules
These rules may then be gradually tightened over time. As people accept the basic premise, additional judgement criteria are added.
The assumptions of guilt and atonement
A basic assumption (and by implication a rule) that is often unspoken is that the person in question is already guilty. Guilt is an effective lever that casts the person as imperfect and inferior.
Confessing sins
Having agreed what the rules are, individuals are encouraged to confess past 'sins'.
The tension of guilt
This creates a tension between the person's actions and their stated belief that the action is bad.
Release and atonement
Confessing thus leads to a blessed relief, especially when the tension has been exacerbated by declarations of how terrible sins are and how the person is understood to be basically good.
The subtle lever of authority
A subtle implication of all this is to position the sinner as inferior and the person to whom they are confessing as superior.
The building of trust
Confessing sins is to expose vulnerability, which requires trust. Confession thus acts to increase the bonding of the individual to those hearing the confession, as consistency principle provides the argument that if I am confessing, then those listening must be trustworthy.
Public confessions
The whole effect may be intensified by making the confession public. It both increases the hurt of discomfort and also enables a greater rescue effects and consequent relief.
Entrancement
Entrancement is used during conversion to open the mind to suggestion and limit rational consideration.
Altered states
It can be argued that we are always in some kind of trance, and that we dip in and out of deeper states as we daydream and fixate on things in our normal lives.
Individual and social
You can go into a trance individually. You can also become entranced as a group. Crowd effects are well known, for example at large sports events whole swathes of the audience will emote and act as one.
Suggestibility
During the altered state, the person is likely to be susceptible to suggestion. That is, they may accept something with limited or no cognitive challenge or thoughtful reflection.
Hypnotic possibilities
If a person is hypnotized, will they do things they would not normally do? One theory states that we will not do things outside our morals. Yet in the 1950s, the CIA were exploring the use of hypnosis.
Rhythm
Repetitive rhythm has an interesting effect on us. Perhaps it is something primitive, but a repeating rhythm tends to send us into a trance state. Think about music, dancing, drumming and chanting. These are used in many religious meetings as well as the clubs and dance-halls where social groups gather. Singing may be about group tenets.
Ritual
Repetition not only happens at the speed of clapping - it also happens as we repeat familiar rituals. If I perform various acts that end up with going into a trance, then next time I start the same sequence, I will be most of the way to the trance before I get there.
Prayer and meditation
In prayer and meditation, the person concentrates on a particular theme and seeks to exclude all other thoughts.
Guided thinking
The final method of entrancement discussed here is where the person gives up control of where they are thinking to someone else who tells them what to think and feel.
Isolation
One of the methods by which groups convert and retain members is by separating them from influences that enable or encourage them to think in contrary ways.
Entrapment
One of the first dilemmas for groups seeking to recruit new members is how to get them in one place long enough to apply sufficient persuasion to cause them to convert (or at least take the next step in the right direction).
The weekend session
One of the most effective ways of doing this is to invite them to a 'weekend in the country'. The event may be framed as getting to know more friends, discussions, education or other attractive purposes.
Social events
Another method is through shorter-term sessions, perhaps lasting just one evening, where it may appear that there are a number of other recruits who all are persuaded - whilst the truth might be that they are already full members of the group.
Individual relationships
An even slower method is to build one-to-one relationships, which may even be romantic in nature or may just be based on apparent friendship.
Excluding contrary influence
If a person is provided with persuasive arguments, they may be dissuaded from joining the group or even persuaded to leave by contrary arguments (particularly if the original arguments are shaky).
Physical isolation
The first stage is to isolate people from external influences by moving the people physically away from them. Hence the weekend session is most effectively done when there is no way for the people to escape (for example they were transported there by group members and it is a long way home).
Mental isolation
There are many ways that a person can be made to feel alone, and hence seek the attention of whoever is there. If they are told that all they have once held to be true, then they will start to feel uncertain.
Control of media
Once physical isolation is achieved, a further step is to use information control to ensure that no contrary messages appear by accident. Thus newspapers, television, books etc. may all be removed, censured or controlled. These can then be replaced with confirming and persuading literature and other media.
Social confirmation
Perhaps the most persuasive message is one that you are told in the corridor by friends who seem not to have any particular axe to grind. Social confirmation occurs when everyone else confirms the core message.
Guilt
When values are involved, then the choices are not just between agreement or disagreement - they are about good and bad. Any thought that is against group values and rules is framed as bad, which carries a heavy guilt penalty.
Thought-stopping
Thought-stopping includes various methods of stopping thinking by distraction or dissuasion.
Keeping busy
A very simple method that groups use to retain their members is very simply to keep them busy.
Every minute of the day
The people in the group have their days planned out for them, such that they have hardly a moment to themselves during which they may think about leaving of disobeying.
And into the night
What many of us call 'night' can also be a period during which people are kept busy. Group members may go to bed late and/or get up early. Groups may also wake people up at various times during the night for assorted rituals, from prayer to 'important revelations' from the leader.
Everything is provided
When first joining the group, it can be a great relief to find that everything is provided for you. After the weight of responsibility of life outside, where you are constantly faced with difficult choices, it can be marvelous to find that you don't have to do everything for yourself.
Rites of passage
A classic method that groups and gangs use is a rite of passage where initiates have to perform embarrassing, difficult or painful tasks, that can range from body mutilation to fasting to suffering ritualized abuse.
Every detail of living
The more the person gets into the group, the more even the smallest decisions may be removed from them.
Polarization
One way in which groups lock in their members is by creating a simple, but powerful, black-and-white picture of the world in which sharp choices have to be made.
Lionizing the group
The group is presented as representing or seeking ultimate good. This may start with the notion of a socially caring and harmonious society, but then positions itself as being superior to the rest of the world. In fact only an idiot would consider leaving such a paradise.
Demonizing the out-group
Anyone who is not a member of the group is cast either as innocent and 'to be saved', or bad and either to be shunned or to be fleeced or otherwise taken advantage of.
Punishing offenders
By association, anyone who expresses any thoughts about leaving the group is effectively saying that they prefer the company demons to the company of gods. This is just cause for judgment and punishment to 'cleanse' them of such evil thoughts.
Special language
Language and words are how we encapsulate meaning. Hence, if you control language, you control thought.
The meaning of words
Words are little capsules of meaning. They are symbols upon which we hang bagsful of inferences and understanding. We think in words and sentences.
New words for new meanings
When something new is discovered, then we give it a new word. This separates the new thing from other things. Having a separate word makes it a separate thing, with different meaning.
Old words for new meanings
The reverse can also be done, in that existing words can be redefined to have different meanings. Teenagers and advertisers regularly do this, and superlatives from many different domains have been pressed into new service. 'Fabulous' means 'like a fable'. 'Fantastic' means 'like a fantasy'. And so on.
Words that control
Using special words and language can lead to significant influence and control of other people.
Emotional control
Words contain and trigger emotions. Think about swearing, children, crime, movie icons and more. With a few choice words, it is possible to evoke most emotions in other people. Power words are a typical example.
The allure of special words
Groups and leaders often keep special words for use only within inner circles of power. These then become symbols within the inner group of its exclusivity and also become attractors to others who want to join the inner group and learn these special words.
Striving
A way that members of groups are retained is by assuring that they never reach completion, and that they are constantly striving for more.
Creating hope
Jonathan Swift said, 'It is better to travel hopefully than arrive'. Hope is a key part of striving, along with a belief in better things to come for those who strive.
Ultimate promises
The group typically dangles a carrot in front of the person in the form of the promise of enlightenment, riches, being 'saved' and so on. Framing what the person once thought as unattainable as now a real possibility awakens a deep longing in them.
Early success
Early successes serves to bond the person further into this goal and serves to amplify their hope. This may often be created by a self-fulfilling prophesy - if you believe in something enough, it is surprising what you can achieve.
A sequence of rewards
A more controllable form or reward is given with promotion within the group to higher levels, for example by giving them a new status name (acolyte, traveler, master, manager, director, etc.)
Unattainable perfection
Individuals are constantly encouraged to constantly push towards this ultimate but unattainable perfection.
The leader knows perfection
The leader of the group is the ultimate judge of what perfection is and how well or badly the person is progressing towards it.
Imperfection into punishment
The unattainability of the ultimate perfection can then used to induce guilt and show the person to be sinful and hence sustain the requirement for confession and more ardent obedience to those higher than them in the group's order of perfection.
Thought stopping
The principle of 'thought stopping' is first to stop people thinking about those things which will distract or dissuade them from what they are supposed to be thinking.
Anonymous Business Success
PeopleNology by Gregory Bodenhamer Ph.D. Nollijy University
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Culture is a perennial problem in change projects and needs to be carefully understood, especially if there is any expectation or desire to change the culture as a part of the project. Culture includes common values, attitudes and consequent behaviors. It directs how people make decisions and how they react to change. It can also vary within an organization, for example a 'leading edge' attitude may be found in research departments and 'customer first' value in service areas.
There are many areas of preferences that people have that shape cultures. There are, within these, a few which are of particular influence around change.
There are many reasons learn and use peoplenology;
Motivation: The overall subject of what drives us.
Processing: The thinking that leads to action.
Behaviors: That result from our decisions.
Culture: How we socially act together.
Learning Theory: How we get to make sense.
Personality: What makes us who we are.
Power: Our capability to act. Where we get it and how we use it.
Social Research: philosophers, philosophies and the search for meaning.
Stress: What winds us up.
Fear of retribution
Following out of fear is not so much following as being tugged along at the end of a rope.
Blind hope
Here, the follower is desperate for some solution, and what the leader is offering is either the only option they see or the best of a relatively weak set of choices.
Faith in leader
In this situation, the follower is blind to the solution but is following because they have such faith in the leader, they believe that they will, by some magic or genius, provide the answer to the follower's needs.
Intellectual agreement
Here, the follower understands the logic of the argument that the leader is putting forward and hence is following the rationale rather than the leader as a person, who they may respect but are not blindly following.
Buying the vision
When people buy a vision, they are emotionally closing on a view of the future that is appealing to them in some way and pulls them forward.
Followers and Respect
When a person is evaluating a situation and deciding whether to collaborate (and hence become a follower), they judge both the leader and also the solution the leader is offering to determine what action they will take.
Respect for the leader
When the leader is respected, which means they are at the very least trusted and probably liked as well, then this enables the leader to make proposals that followers will take seriously.
Respect for the solution
When the solution is respected, then the respect for the leader is not as important, although if the leader is not respected then the followers may doubt the ability of the leader to make the right choices along the way.
Followers and Trust
People follow those they trust.
Care and concern
We all have a very basic need for safety, which we can get either by taking control ourselves, or, as followers do, ceding this to our leaders.
Passive concern
Leaders make choices that can harm people. If you carefully avoid harming me, then I can trust you.
Active care
Beyond a passive concern is the active care where you may take deliberate action, which you would not otherwise take, to look after and actively care for me.
Reliability
Leaders need for their followers to trust that they will do as they say they will do.
Keep your promises
A simple rule for leaders is : 'Do what you say'. Keep your promises.
Honesty
The problem with honesty is that the short-term implications can be bad for leaders.
Tell the whole truth
If you always tell the truth, including the unvarnished whole truth and bad news that others might hide, then I know that when you say something, I have the complete story.
Followers and Liking
If I do not like you, then I will not follow you.
Goodness
If I judge you to be good, then I know you have similar values to me.
Similarity
We use external similarity as a short-cut to determine if a person is like us on the inside.
Vulnerability
We see ourselves as vulnerable, often with the sense of being a child that we all have to some degree. We see our failings, our limitations, and weaknesses.
Followers and Support
People follow those that help them.
Goals
Where the personal goals of the followers are aligned with the direction that the leaders is pointing, then it seems like a good idea to follow the leader, especially if it looks like they will be able to help me get what I want.
Support
I will also follow a person who actively helps me to get what I want.
Followers and Ideas
People will follow an idea, but not constraining objectives, then I may do it, but not in a way that makes me want to follow you.
Objectives as instructions
Objectives are useful in most organizations, of course, but they are often presented as fixed instructions, telling people what to do and how to do it in so much detail that it leaves little to the imagination.
Objectives as ideas
Objectives can be used to motivate and leaders can make effective use of formal systems of objective-setting to provide effective challenge and stimulation that will motivate people not only to do the work but also to follow the leader.
Ideas as inspiration
Inspiration occurs when an idea both aligns with my values and also gives me a sense of possibility, of what is not now but which could be in the future. It might thus change my beliefs and mental models.
Context Analysis
When investigating change it is important to understand the context within which the current situation is operating.
External context
The external context that affects the organization provides the forces to which the business must react and are common root causes of the need for change.
PESTLE forces
The broader business climate includes the external sea in which the business and its competitors must swim and provides the ultimate playing ground.
Market forces
Within the chosen markets, forces as price pressures, competitive shifts, customer demands and so on may be creating business tensions.
Internal context
As well as the external context, there are many contextual factors within organizations that can lead to the need for change.
Driving objectives
Out of the external forces and internal ambitions, business leaders identify the key purposes and objectives that they want to achieve and hence achieve success in the organization.
Organizational alignment
An aligned organization has its processes, technology, reporting structures and individual objectives all aligned with one another.
Organizational capability
As well as alignment, an organization needs its people to be able to complete work given to them.
Leadership
Leadership is a subject which includes a great deal about changing people's minds, often in fundamental ways.
Followership
The nature of leadership can perhaps be best understood by turning the coin over and studying followership.
The Leader-Follower loop
Leaders who want to create true followers do not just stand at the front of the army, yell 'charge' and then run forward.
Followers respond
Followers are seldom blind. They are human.
Gossip
If the leader does something that concerns them, then they will voice these concerns to one another long before letting the leader know.
Pack response
There may well be some level of pack response from followers.
Leaders adjust
If leaders do not do anything about the situation, then followers, who are volunteers, remember, will abandon in droves.
Noticing
At some point in the proceedings, the leader notices that followers are not as inclined to follow as they once were.
Diagnosing
When the shift in follower behavior is noticed, the next step is to figure out why, and particularly to know whether and how to connect this to the leader's own words or actions, or at least to external events that have shifted the playing field.
Adjusting
When you know where it is going and why it happened, then you can do something about it.
The dance continues
And so the band plays on. It is a closed system, with followers responding to leaders, who themselves adjust in response to this. Leadership and followership is thus an ongoing dance.
Structural Analysis
There are many structures within an organization which influence people's behavior. 'Function follows form' is a relevant saying.
Organizational structure
The hierarchical organization with its 'scalar chain of command' is at the heart of most organizations.
Process structure
People work within processes, which may stretch across functions or be contained within them.
Motivational structure
There are deliberate structures in the organization that seek to motivate people. Typically, this is based on financial reward.
Social structure
Overlaid across the organization is another invisible structure which is made up of the many and complex social relationships across the company.
Physical structure
The physical structure of the organization can have a very significant effect on the social structuring.
Causal Analysis
An excellent question when analyzing around change is 'why?' Causal Analysis seeks to identify and understand the reasons why things are as they are and hence enabling focus of change activity.
Root causes
The basic principle of causal analysis is to find causes that you can treat rather than treating symptoms (which, as all doctors know, seldom effects a lasting cure).
Ask why five times
The trick with seeking root causes is to keep looking. When you ask 'why' of something, you will get a nearby direct cause. If you keep asking 'why' of each answer, you will eventually get to a cause that you can act on.
Cause-effect diagram
The Cause-effect Diagram is a simple hierarchical tool that is used to break down cause into a tree-structure, allowing you to follow individual streams of possible cause.
Circular causes
Many causes are not linear but instead act in circles, much as births lead to population increase which leads to even more births.
Systemic cause
In systemic problems, the cause is found in the whole system, with the problem distributed across multiple related causes, all of which conspire together to cause the identified effect.
Vicious spirals and virtuous circles
Circular cause leads to exponential increases or decreases that are very difficult to interrupt.
Creating a positive culture
A positive culture is the holy grail of many change activities.
Develop a sense of history
History is important to people, giving them a sense of identity and belonging. Just look at how genealogy becomes more important to people as the grow older.
Create a sense of one-ness
Leaders who bring people together talk about 'us' more than 'I'. They propagate the stories of history and present stories that create a sense of togetherness.
Promote a sense of membership
Belonging also comes from the benefits that people gain, so work on the reward and recognition system.
Increase contact and exchange
Help people stay in touch with one another. This is particularly important in a global or otherwise distributed organization.
Social distance
We like to keep our distance from others and there are very specific social rules about how close we can go to others in particular situations.
Why the distance
Regulating the distances between us and other people provides us with several benefits.
Social distances
The social distances here are approximate, of course and will vary with people.
Public Zone 12 feet
The public zone is generally over 12 feet. That is, when we are walking around town, we will try to keep at least 12 feet between us and other people.
Social Zone 4 - 12 feet
Within the social zone, we start to feel a connection with other people.
Personal Zone 2-4 feet
In the personal zone, the conversation gets more direct, and this is a good distance for two people who are talking in earnest about something.
Intimate Zone < 2 feet
When a person is within arms reach or closer, then we can touch them in intimate ways.
Varying rules
The rules about social distance vary with different groups of people.
Town and country
People who live in towns spend more time close to one another and so their social distances may compact somewhat.
Different countries
Different countries also have different rules about social distances.
Preferences
What makes us different?
Preference scales
There are many scales of preference. Note that there are two styles that are commonly used.
Feedback and reward
A major driver of people in companies and hence their culture is the general feedback and specific rewards that tell them they are doing a good or bad job.
Risk
Uncertainty and risk are something that some people hate and some people thrive on.
Solidarity
Solidarity is the degree to which people think together in the same ways, sharing tasks and mutual interests.
Sociability
Sociability comes from mutual esteem and concern for ones colleagues.
What is culture?
Culture is the collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes the members of one human group from those of another. Culture in this sense is a system of collectively held values. Culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic ‘taken for granted’ fashion an organization's view of its self and its environment.
A simple way of defining culture is: Culture is a system for differentiating between in-group and out-group people.
Culture as shared meaning
Culture is very much about groups, and a basic need of groups is to be able to communicate, both at a superficial level (for which ordinary language largely suffices) and also at a deeper level of meaning.
Culture as behavioral rules
When a group of people are to exist together, they need a set of rules that helps everyone know what to do in various circumstances, from arguing with one another to dealing with outsiders.
Change Complexity Analysis
Change Complexity Analysis seeks to identify how difficult a change project will be. The more complex the project, the more carefully the project will need to be managed.
Elements of Culture
What are the visible attributes of culture? What are the elements that you can point to and say 'that is there to show and sustain this culture?
Artifacts
Artifacts are the physical things that are found that have particular symbolism for a culture. They may even be endowed with mystical properties.
Stories, histories, myths, legends, jokes
Culture is often embedded and transmitted through stories, whether they are deep and obviously intended as learning devices, or whether they appear more subtly, for example in humor and jokes.
Rituals, rites, ceremonies, celebrations
Rituals are processes or sets of actions which are repeated in specific circumstances and with specific meaning.
Heroes
Heroes in a culture are named people who act as prototypes, or idealized examples, by which cultural members learn of the correct or 'perfect' behavior.
Symbols and symbolic action
Symbols, like artifacts, are things which act as triggers to remind people in the culture of its rules, beliefs, etc.
Beliefs, assumptions and mental models
An organization and culture will often share beliefs and ways of understanding the world.
Attitudes
Attitudes are the external displays of underlying beliefs that people use to signal to other people of their membership.
Rules, norms, ethical codes, values
The norms and values of a culture are effectively the rules by which its members must abide, or risk rejection from the culture (which is one of the most feared sanctions known).
People complexity
The major additional complexity that change projects add over other projects is the potential problems around people.
Scope of impact
When some things are changed, they have a significant ripple on other things. Thus, for example, changing a company policy or an organizational goal will have a very broad impact on whoever is involved.
Amount of work
The 'what' of change equates to the amount of work that needs to be done. This does not necessarily equate to how many people are affected.
Complexity of work
Some work is easy to do, whilst other work requires significant expertise, such as when new products or complex IT systems need to be developed.
Who is changed
The most difficult work of change is often around people.
Numbers of people
When you have to change a lot of people then, even if the change is small, the job will not be that easy. When you have a lot of people to change, then you may find that someone, somewhere will be more trouble than the rest of people put together.
Degree of resistance
If you are going to implement a change that will highly unpopular into an organization where authority is devolved to a low level (for example where most people are 'professionals'), then you must expect a significant level of resistance.
Sponsorship of change
In change projects, the normal hierarchy of management control is often broken as the project stretches across many parts of the organization.
Initiating sponsor
This is the person who starts the change project and may well be the person with whom you meet at the first meeting.
Key sponsor
This is one person (often the most senior manager) who can resolve the stickiest of problems, such as differences between other primary sponsors, and who provides the ultimate authority for the project.
Primary sponsors
This is a small group of managers whose support is critical and who have sufficient clout to unblock most problems, including problems with secondary sponsors.
Secondary sponsors
These are managers whose support is needed, albeit at a limited level. They are important at least as they have the ability to block change.
The role of sponsors
The sponsors of the project can play a number of roles in the change project.
Sponsorship trap
Mismanaging sponsorship is perhaps one of the main reasons why change projects fail. A common sponsorship trap occurs where sponsors see their role as an early agreement, but with no further engagement.
Power Words
There are words that are hardly noticed. There are words that stand out.
God words
Sometimes words arise in a society or even across societies which, like a God, demand absolute obedience.
'In' words
Within companies and specific social groups, God words if I say 'this is profitable' to an executive, he or she will be hard put to turn me down.
God talks jargon
Jargon words can very often be God words, as they have special meaning to closed groups.
Devil words
Just as God terms give you power, there are also words which will sap your power. Using these in a positive sense is taking your life in your hands.
Devil word repulse
Devil words are so repulsive and so scary, people will quickly turn away from them.
Non-PC words
Non-politically-correct words were once quite acceptable, but as society's values changed and people realized that they were using something unacceptable, it made them run even harder away from them.
Insults
Beyond non-PC words, variations can easily become pejorative and intended to insult, denigrate and belittle.
Charisma words
Between God and Devil words are words that invoke particular effects on other people and can make you appear to have a mystical persuasive charisma.
Context counts
The power effect of the words you use depend on the context within which you use them. 'Profit' is very likely to be a God word in most companies, yet in the public services it may well be a Devil word.
Don't over-do it!
If you are going to use power words effectively, then they should have a subtle effect.
Persuasive language
All use of language can act to persuade, and there are many other pages in the language section of this site that include persuasive elements.
Motivation: The overall subject of what drives us.
Processing: The thinking that leads to action.
Behaviors: That result from our decisions.
Culture: How we socially act together.
Learning Theory: How we get to make sense.
Personality: What makes us who we are.
Power: Our capability to act. Where we get it and how we use it.
Social Research: philosophers, philosophies and the search for meaning.
Stress: What winds us up.
Culture
Culture is what happens when people get together. It tells us how to behave and agree. Understanding the culture of a team, organization or country can make a lot of difference when you want to change minds.
Retention techniques
When a person is converted to a particular set of beliefs, then it has been found that, particularly if coercive or authoritarian methods were used, then most people will, if there is no effort to sustain the change, will drift back to their original beliefs.
Diagnosing change
When you are faced with a situation where change seems to required, one of the early activities is to investigate more fully, to understand context, causes and so on, so you can plan to implement changes that will actually improve things.
Historical Review
Much of the reasons why change is required is rooted in the history of the organization. History can also give you lots of very useful information about how your plans may go astray. For these and more reasons, it can be a good idea to look backwards before you look forwards.
Look at the external climate
When times are ripe and the pickings are easy, then companies do not have to be very innovative to thrive.
See the innovation and change
Companies often start with innovation, but this does not always continue. Look at the great new products that appeared and how they wowed the market. Look for incremental innovation that shows a sustained push to stay ahead of the curve.
Watch for the curse of success
When you have a successful product range, it can last for such a long time that you forget how to innovate.
Look at the records
Companies may have many records that tell you a story, filling the details and confirming or disconfirming your suspicions.
Look at the finances
The finances of the company will tell you about the fundamental ups and downs. They will show you the profitable and less profitable times and where change became an imperative rather than a possibility.
Look at the words
Written records such as company reports, meeting minutes and so on will also tell a story. Especially those around times of change, you will see what the real priorities of the organization are.
Listen to the people
The people of the organization are perhaps the best resource for finding out about the company history.
Listen to the old timers
Find the people who have been around since the year dot. Most organizations have people who have survived the ups and downs and who are, to a large extent, the living historians of the company.
Hear the range of stories
Get to people in all positions, high and low. Listen to the stories of power and politics.
Hear the critical events
Listen for the critical events of change within the organization and what happened next.
Look at the history of change
In looking through the areas above, most of all look at how people and the organization as a whole managed change.
Watch for change readiness
A change-ready organization is alert and ready. Change does not faze it. People do not fear different things, but look forward with interest and excitement to the challenge of the new.
Watch for change capability
It is one thing to be ready for change -- it is another to be good at it. Look at the history of change success and change failure, and try to determine the critical factors that made the difference.
Driving objectives
Out of the external forces and internal ambitions, business leaders identify the key purposes and objectives that they want to achieve and hence achieve success in the organization.
Organizational alignment
An aligned organization has its processes, technology, reporting structures and individual objectives all aligned with one another.
Organizational capability
As well as alignment, an organization needs its people to be able to complete work given to them. This is often assumed to be largely about motivation and skill but, although these may be factors, they are often not as significant as initially assumed.
Culture and change
Culture is a perennial problem in change projects and needs to be carefully understood, especially if there is any expectation or desire to change the culture as a part of the project. Culture includes common values, attitudes and consequent behaviors. It directs how people make decisions and how they react to change. It can also vary within an organization, for example a 'leading edge' attitude may be found in research departments and 'customer first' value in service areas.
There are many areas of preferences that people have that shape cultures. There are, within these, a few which are of particular influence around change.
The focus on task or people
Understanding the balance of focus on task vs. person will help you understand the way the leaders of the organization are likely to make decisions.
Task first
When there is a focus on task before people, then change may well be harsh and thoughtless. People will be hired and fired without a second thought.
People first
When the leaders have a people-first focus, then they may hold back from difficult decisions that will hurt others.
The focus on risk or safety
Depending on the risk bias, people will seek or avoid risk. Change often appears to be very risky.
Risk-seeking
A company where there is a focus on innovation and taking risks will find change more acceptable and easier to adopt. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.
Risk-averse
A company that is risk-averse will likely try to put off change for as long as possible, at least as long as it takes for not changing to be become riskier than moving, and possibly longer.
The focus on self or others
When people focus may vary between self and others, particularly in the stress of change, then their approach may vary significantly.
Self-centered
When people who put themselves first are faced with change, then they will happily sacrifice others in order to save themselves.
Other-centered
When people put the well-being of others before themselves, they will sacrifice themselves before others.
Helping them change
In helping the company find balance, then your influence will depend on their start point. If they are task first, then show them how ignoring people will lead to tasks done badly or not at all.
Emotions
Emotions are our feelings. Literally. We feel them in our bodies as tingles, hot spots and muscular tension. There are cognitive aspects, but the physical sensation is what makes them really different. Emotions affect and are a part of our mood, which is usually a more sustained emotional state. Mood affects our judgment and changes how we process decisions.
Motivation
First of all, motivation are 'e-motions'. They act to motivate us. Without emotions we would probably not do very much and hence would not survive - at least in the evolved form we are in now.
Internal signals
Internally, for example when we are trying to make understand something or make a decision, we use our emotions to deduce whether what we have concluded is a good idea.
Social signals
We generally wear our hearts on our sleeves as our inner emotions are displayed on our outer bodies. Our faces, in particular, have around 90 muscles, 30 of which have the sole purpose of signaling emotion to other people.
Emotional Intelligence
'Emotional Intelligence' is a neat metaphor that borrows from the notion of IQ. It implies that some people are better at handling emotions than others. It also hints that you might be able to increase your EQ.
Self-awareness
Being emotionally self-aware means knowing how you feel in “real time.” Self-knowledge is the first step in being able to handle emotions.
Emotional literacy
Emotional literacy means being able to label emotions precisely. This includes the emotions of others and especially yourself.
Empathy & compassion
Empathy is the ability to feel and understand the emotions of others. If you can empathies, you can engender trust, as people desperately want to be understood at the emotional level.
Balance
The ability to balance emotion and reason in making decisions leads to good decisions. Emotion should not be abandoned, lest cold and callous decisions are made.
Responsibility
Emotional Intelligence means taking primary responsibility for your own emotions and happiness. You cannot say that others “made” you feel the way you feel.
Association and emotion
An interesting phenomenon is that when we put ourselves mentally into a person or situation, we experience the emotions of that person more strongly.
Putting yourself in the picture
Personal history
Take an emotional experience from your past, and think back to that time. Put yourself in the picture, so you are re-living the experience (not standing back or looking down on yourself). See the situation 'through your own eyes'.
Empathizing
We can do the same with other people - when we empathize with them, we are putting ourselves into their body and their experiences.
Standing back
The reverse of association is dissociation. Take that same emotional experience and now move to a position above the scene, so you can see yourself in it. You will now most likely experience the emotion far less.
Feeling what other feel
Empathy is the ability to not only detect what others feel but also to experience that emotion yourself.
It's not sympathy
Empathy and sympathy are very close and are sometimes used as synonyms. The easiest way to separate them is to remember that empathy is about feelings whilst sympathy is about actions.
It's definitely not psychopathy
A defining element of a psychopath is that they do not and probably cannot empathize with other people. They are often good at imitating this, but in doing so they are using it in a cold and manipulative way.
It has many benefits
The value of empathy comes not from understanding the other person's feelings, but what you do as a result of this.
Empathy builds trust
Empathy displayed can be surprising and confusing. When not expected, it can initially cause suspicion, but when sustained it is difficult not to appreciate the concern. Empathy thus quickly leads to trust.
Empathy closes the loop
Consider what would happens if you had no idea what the other person felt about your communications to them.
Emotion and decision
We make many decisions, and sometimes we are more or less logical about them. And it is arguable that all decision are, ultimately emotional.
Logical vs. emotional decision-making
Decision-making is a cognitive process where the outcome is a choice between alternatives. We often have different preferences as to our preferred, approach, varying between thinking and feeling.
Logical decision-making
When we use logic to make decisions, we seek to exclude emotions, using only rational methods, and perhaps even mathematical tools.
Emotional decision-making
There is a whole range of decision-making that uses emotion, depending on the degree of logic that is included in the process.
Emotion and rationality
Emotion and rational thinking are, to a certain extent, mutually exclusive.
Primary emotions
What is felt first
Primary emotions are those that we feel first, as a first response to a situation. Thus, if we are threatened, we may feel fear. When we hear of a death, we may feel sadness. They are unthinking, instinctive responses that we have. We will typically see these in animals also, which confirms our suspicion that they have an evolutionary basis.
Typical primary emotions include fear, anger, sadness and happiness (although it is worth noting that these can also be felt as secondary emotions).
Secondary emotions
What is felt next
Secondary emotions appear after primary emotions. They may be caused directly by them, for example where the fear of a threat turns to anger that fuels the body for a fight reaction. They may also come from more complex chains of thinking.
Greed
Something not needed
Greed is when I want something that I do not really need. I want it just to possess it.
Something for nothing
Greed is also a form of hope where the expected reward is typically far in excess of the time and cost expected to be invested.
Hope
Hope happens when someone sees something, decides that it is desirable, realizes that they may not get it, but believes that there is still a chance of getting it.
To put it tersely, though perhaps in a complex way, hope is expectation moderated by probabilistic estimation of a desired event.
Envy
Envy is often associated with the color green and is portrayed as 'the green-eyed monster'. It is wanting what others have, desiring to possess what they possess. You can be envious of tangible and intangible things, including their wealth, their good looks and their innate intelligence.
Envy and jealousy
Jealousy is slightly different from envy as it involves a third party. It can involve potential loss, such as when we are jealous when someone threatens to woo away our boyfriend or girlfriend. Envy is always about potential gain.
Desire
Desire happens when we want something. The strength of that desire can range from weak 'would like to sometime' to a raging thirst to possess something now.
Triggering desire
Desire is triggered when we see or think about something we want.
Desire increase when what we want is visible, but just out of reach. It may also increase when we have closer contact with the item, but which we still do not possess.
Love
Love is a massive motivator and can lead people to perform all kinds of self-sacrificial acts.
Conversion
Conversion is the changing of beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors of individuals into different ideologies. These pages are largely drawn from studies of destructive cults and brainwashing, although the methods used are surprisingly common elsewhere, including in religions, social groups and organizations.
Asset-stripping
One thing that most groups need to survive is money, and one source of this is new members. If the group can strip them of their assets.
Dematerializing
In their focus on what it right and wrong, the group removes material wealth from being worthwhile and good from their list of values. It is seen as a distraction from the core ideology and purpose of life in the group.
Reframing wealth
Assets and their pecuniary value are re-framed as being useful not to the individual but to the group and its purposes.
Confession
Confession may seem like an odd part of conversion, but it is particularly effective at enabling people to put an undesirable past behind them. As well as a conversion technique, it is also useful for retention.
Agreeing the rules
The basic idea behind confession is that there are some things which are bad, and which contravene defined rules and values.
Starting easy
Agreement over rules typically starts with generalized rules with which it is hard to disagree, for example 'people should help one another'.
Tightening the rules
These rules may then be gradually tightened over time. As people accept the basic premise, additional judgement criteria are added.
The assumptions of guilt and atonement
A basic assumption (and by implication a rule) that is often unspoken is that the person in question is already guilty. Guilt is an effective lever that casts the person as imperfect and inferior.
Confessing sins
Having agreed what the rules are, individuals are encouraged to confess past 'sins'.
The tension of guilt
This creates a tension between the person's actions and their stated belief that the action is bad.
Release and atonement
Confessing thus leads to a blessed relief, especially when the tension has been exacerbated by declarations of how terrible sins are and how the person is understood to be basically good.
The subtle lever of authority
A subtle implication of all this is to position the sinner as inferior and the person to whom they are confessing as superior.
The building of trust
Confessing sins is to expose vulnerability, which requires trust. Confession thus acts to increase the bonding of the individual to those hearing the confession, as consistency principle provides the argument that if I am confessing, then those listening must be trustworthy.
Public confessions
The whole effect may be intensified by making the confession public. It both increases the hurt of discomfort and also enables a greater rescue effects and consequent relief.
Entrancement
Entrancement is used during conversion to open the mind to suggestion and limit rational consideration.
Altered states
It can be argued that we are always in some kind of trance, and that we dip in and out of deeper states as we daydream and fixate on things in our normal lives.
Individual and social
You can go into a trance individually. You can also become entranced as a group. Crowd effects are well known, for example at large sports events whole swathes of the audience will emote and act as one.
Suggestibility
During the altered state, the person is likely to be susceptible to suggestion. That is, they may accept something with limited or no cognitive challenge or thoughtful reflection.
Hypnotic possibilities
If a person is hypnotized, will they do things they would not normally do? One theory states that we will not do things outside our morals. Yet in the 1950s, the CIA were exploring the use of hypnosis.
Rhythm
Repetitive rhythm has an interesting effect on us. Perhaps it is something primitive, but a repeating rhythm tends to send us into a trance state. Think about music, dancing, drumming and chanting. These are used in many religious meetings as well as the clubs and dance-halls where social groups gather. Singing may be about group tenets.
Ritual
Repetition not only happens at the speed of clapping - it also happens as we repeat familiar rituals. If I perform various acts that end up with going into a trance, then next time I start the same sequence, I will be most of the way to the trance before I get there.
Prayer and meditation
In prayer and meditation, the person concentrates on a particular theme and seeks to exclude all other thoughts.
Guided thinking
The final method of entrancement discussed here is where the person gives up control of where they are thinking to someone else who tells them what to think and feel.
Isolation
One of the methods by which groups convert and retain members is by separating them from influences that enable or encourage them to think in contrary ways.
Entrapment
One of the first dilemmas for groups seeking to recruit new members is how to get them in one place long enough to apply sufficient persuasion to cause them to convert (or at least take the next step in the right direction).
The weekend session
One of the most effective ways of doing this is to invite them to a 'weekend in the country'. The event may be framed as getting to know more friends, discussions, education or other attractive purposes.
Social events
Another method is through shorter-term sessions, perhaps lasting just one evening, where it may appear that there are a number of other recruits who all are persuaded - whilst the truth might be that they are already full members of the group.
Individual relationships
An even slower method is to build one-to-one relationships, which may even be romantic in nature or may just be based on apparent friendship.
Excluding contrary influence
If a person is provided with persuasive arguments, they may be dissuaded from joining the group or even persuaded to leave by contrary arguments (particularly if the original arguments are shaky).
Physical isolation
The first stage is to isolate people from external influences by moving the people physically away from them. Hence the weekend session is most effectively done when there is no way for the people to escape (for example they were transported there by group members and it is a long way home).
Mental isolation
There are many ways that a person can be made to feel alone, and hence seek the attention of whoever is there. If they are told that all they have once held to be true, then they will start to feel uncertain.
Control of media
Once physical isolation is achieved, a further step is to use information control to ensure that no contrary messages appear by accident. Thus newspapers, television, books etc. may all be removed, censured or controlled. These can then be replaced with confirming and persuading literature and other media.
Social confirmation
Perhaps the most persuasive message is one that you are told in the corridor by friends who seem not to have any particular axe to grind. Social confirmation occurs when everyone else confirms the core message.
Guilt
When values are involved, then the choices are not just between agreement or disagreement - they are about good and bad. Any thought that is against group values and rules is framed as bad, which carries a heavy guilt penalty.
Thought-stopping
Thought-stopping includes various methods of stopping thinking by distraction or dissuasion.
Keeping busy
A very simple method that groups use to retain their members is very simply to keep them busy.
Every minute of the day
The people in the group have their days planned out for them, such that they have hardly a moment to themselves during which they may think about leaving of disobeying.
And into the night
What many of us call 'night' can also be a period during which people are kept busy. Group members may go to bed late and/or get up early. Groups may also wake people up at various times during the night for assorted rituals, from prayer to 'important revelations' from the leader.
Everything is provided
When first joining the group, it can be a great relief to find that everything is provided for you. After the weight of responsibility of life outside, where you are constantly faced with difficult choices, it can be marvelous to find that you don't have to do everything for yourself.
Rites of passage
A classic method that groups and gangs use is a rite of passage where initiates have to perform embarrassing, difficult or painful tasks, that can range from body mutilation to fasting to suffering ritualized abuse.
Every detail of living
The more the person gets into the group, the more even the smallest decisions may be removed from them.
Polarization
One way in which groups lock in their members is by creating a simple, but powerful, black-and-white picture of the world in which sharp choices have to be made.
Lionizing the group
The group is presented as representing or seeking ultimate good. This may start with the notion of a socially caring and harmonious society, but then positions itself as being superior to the rest of the world. In fact only an idiot would consider leaving such a paradise.
Demonizing the out-group
Anyone who is not a member of the group is cast either as innocent and 'to be saved', or bad and either to be shunned or to be fleeced or otherwise taken advantage of.
Punishing offenders
By association, anyone who expresses any thoughts about leaving the group is effectively saying that they prefer the company demons to the company of gods. This is just cause for judgment and punishment to 'cleanse' them of such evil thoughts.
Special language
Language and words are how we encapsulate meaning. Hence, if you control language, you control thought.
The meaning of words
Words are little capsules of meaning. They are symbols upon which we hang bagsful of inferences and understanding. We think in words and sentences.
New words for new meanings
When something new is discovered, then we give it a new word. This separates the new thing from other things. Having a separate word makes it a separate thing, with different meaning.
Old words for new meanings
The reverse can also be done, in that existing words can be redefined to have different meanings. Teenagers and advertisers regularly do this, and superlatives from many different domains have been pressed into new service. 'Fabulous' means 'like a fable'. 'Fantastic' means 'like a fantasy'. And so on.
Words that control
Using special words and language can lead to significant influence and control of other people.
Emotional control
Words contain and trigger emotions. Think about swearing, children, crime, movie icons and more. With a few choice words, it is possible to evoke most emotions in other people. Power words are a typical example.
The allure of special words
Groups and leaders often keep special words for use only within inner circles of power. These then become symbols within the inner group of its exclusivity and also become attractors to others who want to join the inner group and learn these special words.
Striving
A way that members of groups are retained is by assuring that they never reach completion, and that they are constantly striving for more.
Creating hope
Jonathan Swift said, 'It is better to travel hopefully than arrive'. Hope is a key part of striving, along with a belief in better things to come for those who strive.
Ultimate promises
The group typically dangles a carrot in front of the person in the form of the promise of enlightenment, riches, being 'saved' and so on. Framing what the person once thought as unattainable as now a real possibility awakens a deep longing in them.
Early success
Early successes serves to bond the person further into this goal and serves to amplify their hope. This may often be created by a self-fulfilling prophesy - if you believe in something enough, it is surprising what you can achieve.
A sequence of rewards
A more controllable form or reward is given with promotion within the group to higher levels, for example by giving them a new status name (acolyte, traveler, master, manager, director, etc.)
Unattainable perfection
Individuals are constantly encouraged to constantly push towards this ultimate but unattainable perfection.
The leader knows perfection
The leader of the group is the ultimate judge of what perfection is and how well or badly the person is progressing towards it.
Imperfection into punishment
The unattainability of the ultimate perfection can then used to induce guilt and show the person to be sinful and hence sustain the requirement for confession and more ardent obedience to those higher than them in the group's order of perfection.
Thought stopping
The principle of 'thought stopping' is first to stop people thinking about those things which will distract or dissuade them from what they are supposed to be thinking.
