Changing Behavior, One Manipulation at a Time

This is a guest-post from Stephen Smith, who is the editor of Productivity in Context, a resource for articles on Productivity and Leadership, New Media Studies, and tools for organizing. Click here to read more about improving your life and work through increased mindfulness, education, and workflow practices. This article was written with tongue-slightly-in-cheek, so please enjoy it that way.

If you’re going to be a Slacker Manager, you had better have a strategy. Otherwise, you’re going to wind up in the unemployment line. One of the most frequently-asked questions that I get about Leadership and keeping this job comfortable and easy for myself is, “How do you get people to change their behavior?“. People do not like change. They prefer to keep doing things the way they have always done them. Even if expectations about results change, methods do not.

And that is pure insanity!

What you need to do is convince them that it is their idea to change. Just don’t look like you’re being crafty and manipulative. That’s the Slacker key. Here are some tips for changing behavior without looking like a manipulative bastard:

• Harness the power of projection. Ask the person whose behavior that you want to change about an opposite behavior. Lay it on someone else, like the other person has the problem behavior. For example, Mary is frequently late to work. Ask Mary if she has any ideas about how to be sure to end the staff meeting on time, because Tom is always late to the next meeting. This will set the stage.
• Assign the problem employee a task that directly conflicts with the behavior that you want to change. When they begin to struggle or fall behind, ask if you can help, or give advice. Or if they have any ideas for replacing the unwanted behavior. “Mary, what can I do to help you make it in to the office on time for the staff meeting?“
• Remove them from their comfort zone. Rearrange the order of the cubicles for no reason. Randomly. Make people that may be too “cozy” sit further apart, if possible. Put the person with the behavior that you want to change furthest from you. Next to the Big-mouth.
• Make this person your ally. Use the person whose behavior you want to change as a pawn in your political maneuvering. Control the appearances send them to meetings in your stead, confide in them the information that you want to spread. Offer them more power and influence if they will join you and follow your lead.

Being a Slacker Manager is all about keeping quiet about your intentions, being prepared to seize opportunities and making sure that you don’t have to do all of the work.

All images courtesy of Productivity in Context