Influence

I read an article over a year ago that looked at the Principle of Social Proof - An idea that we, as human beings, are influenced by the actions of others and follow the crowd.

The article looked at GP surgeries and the notice you may often see inside - "Last month 156 people did not keep their appointments" - It commented that this notice was using the influence of social proof in the wrong way. It was encouraging patients not to keep their appointments as this was common practice amongst other patients (think who would see this notice - yes, the patients who kept their appointments!)

The reason for this post is that between February and May this year the article above was turned into a full blown study at a number of Bedfordshire GP surgeries. The results of using 3 simple, low cost principles of influence reduced the number of patients not attending by over 30% - Wow! Impressive figures and a huge saving of GP's time and therefore cost to the NHS.

So what 3 simple things did they do? Firstly they used the Principle of Consistency and asked patients on the phone to repeat their appointment time and date back to the receptionist. If a patient was making an appointment in person the receptionist would ask the patient to fill out the appointment card with the relevant details.

Finally they changed the notice to enable the Principle of Social Proof to work for them eg "This month 95% of patients attended their appointments or called 01202 381990 if they have to cancel".

A couple of simple ways we use these principles
- when coaching we use the Principle of Consistency and ensure the Coachee writes their own action plan and summarises it back to us verbally.
- we use the Principle of Social Proof when bringing in new ideas to try and talk through a couple of situations where the idea has worked for other organisations/departments/individuals.

So what does this mean for you? How could you employ the principles of influence to work for your organisation? And if you've not read it already, Cialdini's book 'Influence' is highly recommended.

Mark

Guardian article on the study - http://www.guardian.co.uk/healthcare-network/2011/jul/28/nhs-bedfordshire-study-appointment-keeping

See the Future

As some of you know, I like to ride my motorbike at trackdays and last week I went to Silverstone. It was a fantastic day however it was a new track for me so I had to learn my way around. During the down time between sessions (20mins on track, 40 mins off) I had a chance to reflect on how I was doing - I found myself thinking and visulising negatively "Humm, better watch out on that corner as it sharpens up, I could go wide there" and after an anouncement about oil on Stowe corner "It must be slippy there better make sure I don't crash". Have a look at this video of John Hopkins who went to Oulton Park near Manchester for the first time this year riding in the British SuperBike series.



So the question is, what does John 'think' about when he is studying the track. I'm guessing it's not like me and about falling off. I imagine that he is thinking about being fast, safe and confident and visulising what that looks like, feels like, and even sounds like. And after he has finished visualising the track, the winners podium is next!
I recognised what I was doing and refocused on the same things that I imagine John did, being fast, safe and confident. I started running a video of a fast, safe, confident lap many times in my head. The results - my fastest laps were definitely in the afternoon sessions and I stayed shiny side up!

So how do we apply this to the business world? Well, exactly the same process, just working out what good would look like in your situation. For example, if you had to present an idea to the CEO, the Board or the MD of your organisation how many of us would wake up in the middle of the night worrying about how would cope with all the applause? Maybe we should....John does.
Your challenge is to catch yourself thinking negatively and then focus on success and visualise how that would be for the situation itself and afterwards - I'm already thinking about my next trackday...

Are You Being Served?

Customer Service is a hot topic at the moment with fewer consumers in the marketplace it is seen as the difference that makes the difference - This also applies to the workplace where we have 'internal customers' rather than consumers. This month I have focussed on Leadership actions that can make the difference in the service people provide - Keep in mind how you can be even better...

How Often? Reloaded

I was reminded of one of our older blog posts whilst talking with a friend about his "Powerlines". I decided it would be great to update it and the result is below.

I guess the key thing that we deal with on our performance programmes is the 'glass ceilings' we invent for ourselves - that is when we decide that we can't do any more or progress any further. To smash through the ceiling and reach the potential the other side, we have to get our psychology on our side - get it working for us instead of against us.

Have a look at the video and answer 'How often?' for you

The Loser's Guide to LIfe

Thought I'd use some reverse psychology and publish a short video describing the thing's that successful people don't do! Have a look and enjoy....