A few days ago, I was walking past the Chief Technology Officer’s office and he asked me to come in to talk to him. No matter how approachable and wonderful he is, my heart still races when he wants to talk to me. He is an influencer to the “T.” Not only is he a big wig in GCISD, but he is well known amongst his peers as well.
I walked into his office and sat down.
Last week I had shared my ePortfolio with him in chat. I shared it really casually. My message said something like, “Hey, here’s a thing I’ve been working on. Have a good one!” and I plopped in my website. The CTO had looked over my proposal and had a lot to share on reducing paper usage across the district! With a great deal of vulnerability, I confessed to him that I didn’t know if I had what it takes. He quickly replied that I might not have the confidence yet, but learning to influence others takes time and practice. Not only was he demonstrating his support for my ideas – by such an important organizational influencer to boot – but he was also demonstrating a growth mindset. In all, our conversation reminded me that 1) I am an influencer and 2) big changes require intentional planning.
What does it take to get people to change?
Everyone knows that making big structural changes is difficult. Year after year, we see people create new year’s resolutions only to abandon them moments later. The video All Washed Up! (Grenny, 2009) explores what it takes to make people change by observing the habits of children using hand sanitizer before eating a cupcake. The experimenters add sources of influence one at a time. It surprised me that it took three sources to make the slightest difference in the number of kids sanitizing their hands before eating. Even then, only three of the 12 participants sanitized their hands! The real kicker came when the fourth source of influence was added: The social motivation of a peer speaking up. At that moment, all 12 children sanitized their hands before eating a cupcake. Again, this only happened once four of the six sources of influence were included in the experiment.
The Tipping Point: Peer Influence
Peer influence was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. This doesn’t come as a surprise to me. Think about the concept of the Bystander Effect. When a crime is witnessed, why do witnesses fail to stop it? In 1968, Bibb Latane and John Darley concluded that the more witnesses, the less likely each individual will intervene (Bibb & Darley, 1968). Logically, my brain tells me that I would try to help, but statistically, I know that I probably wouldn’t. But what if just one person stepped up? “The intervention of bystanders is often the only reason why bullying and other crimes cease” (Psychology Today, n.d.). When just one person steps up, others are more likely to act as well (Psychology Today, n.d.).
All of this demonstrates the power of peer influence in a social situation.
People Power!
In the video Influencer, Cricket Buchler (2008) says that we nee to “harness the power of social pressure by finding strength – rather than resistance – in numbers.” How can we harness this power? Buchler (2008) has three suggestions:
- #1: Pave the way by modeling behavior.
- #2: Enlist the power of those who motivate, also called opinion leaders.
- #3: Seek the support of enablers.
I can definitely think of people in my sphere that are opinion leaders and enablers!
Going Deeper: Analyzing the Influencer Model
Okay, now we know how many sources of influence are required and we understand the power of social influence. What does each of these sources of influence really mean? How does social influence fit into the equation? In the powerful image below, the authors of Influencer (Maxfield et al., 2013) outline the six sources of influence into a data table of sorts.
Image from Influencer: The Power to Change Anything (Heine, 2018).
Across the top of the table, there are two categories: Motivation and ability. Motivation represents a desire to act on new behaviors, while ability represents whether a person, group, or environment has the capacity. The left side of the table represents the person, people, or environment in which the behavior takes place. In other words, each person, group, or environmental structure is analyzed based on whether there is motivation and ability to enact behavioral change. Once we determine the vital behaviors, we can support each vital behavior by thinking about it through the lens of personal motivation, personal ability, social motivation, social ability, structural motivation, and structural ability.
Paperless Office, Paperless District: Applying What I Learned
The placement of this post made me wonder if I “should” post first and brainstorm or if I “should” complete the Influencer, Part B assignment and come back to this. I will be honest here – I watched all of the videos related to this module, reviewed the book Influencer (Maxfield et al., 2013), and outlined my Six Sources of Influence before writing this post. I really had to dig into the information and define and apply the sources of influence, before I could reflect on my application. This makes sense of course – I started in lower areas of Bloom’s and built my way up.
In the image below, I demonstrate generally how I will apply each source of influence:
I will use my power of personal influence to tell the story of a paperless office and how it can support our goal of a blended district. I will incorporate deliberate practice into team meetings to demonstrate best practices of a paperless environment. Regarding social influence, I’ve identified three people of focus – two opinion leaders and one enabler. I plan to involve the opinion leaders with specific tasks. For example, one will offer support by sharing her thoughts on a specific process that needs to change. Another will offer her support as a thinking partner and behavior model. The enabler will require a lot of support through the transition that I will gladly provide! I plan on using extrinsic motivation sparingly and still don’t have a great plan for how I’ll apply it. Do I really need one? Finally, I’ll share the data I collect at our bi-weekly team meetings.
As this plan comes together, I am astounded that it’s actually happening. Like anything else, leadership is a learned skill, and I’m learning how to lead. I think I finally understand why 5304 was paired with 5302. It’s all about the power of YET.
References
Bibb, L., & Darley, J. M. (1968). Group Inhibition of Bystander Intervention in Emergencies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 10(3), 215-221.
Buchler, C. (2012, December 17). Influencer | Cricket Buchler. YouTube. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu7UBY5euBg
Grenny, H. (2009, September 21). All Washed Up! YouTube. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://youtu.be/osUwukXSd0k
Heine, B. (2018, December 18). Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. Professional Business Coaches. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://theprofessionalbusinesscoaches.com/influencer-the-power-to-change-anything/
Maxfield, D., Patterson, K., Switzler, A., Grenny, J., & McMillan, R. (2013). Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, Second Edition (Paperback). McGraw-Hill Education.Psychology Today. (n.d.). Understanding the Bystander Effect. Psychology Today. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/bystander-effect