I came across a study recently that teaches us a few things about human behaviour and how leaders can increase staff effectiveness.
In the late 1970’s, the University of Illinois conducted a series of experiments to see what would get children to eat vegetables that they didn’t like.
They tried a few strategies:
- they told the children to eat their vegetables.
- they offered a reward of ice-cream to those who did.
- they explained why eating vegetables is good for them.
- they ate the vegetables themselves to act as good role-models.
- they put the children who didn’t like their vegetables on a table with children who did.
Which strategy was consistently the most successful?
Putting children on a table with other children who ate their vegetables was the most successful method.
Peer pressure works. It can negatively impact your culture, but it can also be a big positive for leaders who know how to make it work for them.
The next time you are frustrated as a leader because your staff won’t get on board with things that they don’t naturally like, don’t fall into the trap of just demanding that they do it, don’t come up with an obscure bonus system, don’t spend too much time explaining all of the benefits and don’t rely on people watching you to see what you are doing.
Create a culture where more and more people get on board with your strategy and it becomes the norm to participate.
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5 comments
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April 23, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Garrett
Love this one, it sums up perfectly in what I am going to implement very soon
Thanks! 🙂
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April 23, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Darren Poke
Thanks G-Train. Good luck with your implementation.
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July 2, 2010 at 12:02 am
Heather
No wonder my daughter eats all of her veggies at daycare but won’t touch some of them at home!
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July 2, 2010 at 8:24 am
Darren Poke
Nice one Heather. Another mystery solved.
Thanks for visiting and commenting.
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July 2, 2010 at 12:12 pm
PureBebe
Nice to virtually meet you – and thank you again for your feedback!
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