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Part 5: Evolving to Peer Power
December 15, 2021
Emotional Intelligence 
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Peer Powered Performance™ (P3) is a slow system for fast change designed to methodically, consistently and transparently unleash the energy, creativity, resolve and resilience available in every
organization. P3 is not a one shot, quick fix, “check this one-off the list” solution, but a process for increasing awareness through education, transparency and collaboration.Peer Powered Performance™ is not a system for revolution but a process for evolution. 70% of organizational (and personal) change efforts fail not because goals are unclear or plans underdeveloped, but because they are built around pushing and everything we push always pushes back.
Pushing doesn’t workIf pushing were an effective strategy for behavior modification then wouldn’t having a heart attack be the ultimate motivator? Why then is it that of people who survive their heart attack (serious wakeup call) that only one in seven makes enduring changes in diet and exercise.
Lasting change is never accomplished until the need for change is both understood and internalized.
Easy is not the answer
If peak performance was as easy as taking a pill then surely everyone would comply with something as simple as down the hatch. Yet the cost of non-adherence to professionally prescribed medication regimes in the U.S. is estimated in the hundreds of billions each year[i]. Changing habits is hard because it requires that we are aware of our own motivations yet so much of why we do what we do goes on without our even being aware. The challenge with all change is not with our heads but our hearts.Think slow, question assumptions
I am currently listening to Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. I have already listened to three hours and twenty two minutes and only have twenty hours and two minutes to go. I know this exactly because I have been required to use what he calls System Two thinking hour after hour to discipline myself not to quit. This book is not easy listening but that is the point. Evolution has taught us that to conserve resources it is best to take the path of least resistance or what Kahneman calls fast or System One Thinking. The problem is that fast thinking is not always good thinking. One invaluable lesson I have gained from this book so far is that we not only understand very little of our own motivations, but these drivers can’t be turned off. Our thinking can be manipulated by seemingly inconsequential cues, especially those that are outside of our conscious comprehension.Do you encourage open discussion in your meetings?
If so do you realize that the “Priming Effect” of the first few participants will distort the thinking for each additional contribution? If you really want honesty, require each member to write down the key point of their position before the meeting starts. Our opinions and behaviors are highly influenceable in ways we are completely unaware of. We can be manipulated to walk more slowly by being exposed to adjectives associated with aging believe a nonsensical word to be positive by repeated exposure, and contribute more abundantly to the break room honesty jar by the gaze of inanimate eyes on a poster.
What are you priming your employees to notice?
When thoroughly understood these unstoppable forces can be used to accomplish tremendous good, like reducing accidents by 70% through the use of simple stickers inside taxis, or just the right kind of sign near the hand disinfection machine in a hospital. But what sign would be most effective for increasing awareness. Would it be a reminder of the importance for patients or for the healthcare providers themselves? Have you noticed your team members’ eyes dilate during meetings as their brains are actively engaged in solving a System Two challenge, or are they so stressed that no dilation occurs despite the provocation?Good Science makes Good Sense
The point is that Nobel Laureates like Daniel Kahneman, and the research of amazing authors like Daniel Pink and Jonah Lehrer have shown that change is not the result of bold effort but good science, and the science says “just do it” doesn’t work. To change complex behaviors we must rearrange the cues that support status quo until a new set of reinforcing insights is established.
The design of Peer Powered Performance™
Every two weeks, 26 times a year team members receive a targeted combination of synchronized education and illustration designed to encourage conversation. Enlightening and entertaining “Bee the Difference” characters are created in business size cards and posters custom designed to support specific measurable behaviors.
Sample behavior modification strategy
Let’s say you want to reduce the propensity for some people to wander the office telling their tales of woe to anyone who is incapable of escape. You could call a meeting declaring the end of cynical sniping. Participants would nod their heads in agreement and later mock anyone who attempted to apply the improvement. Or each member could watch an engaging video or read a short article where they experience the de-energizing effects of grouchy gossip. This too would quickly be forgotten if it were not for the accompanying illustration.
When first exposed to this dung beetle rolling his putrid pile of pooh, participants inevitably think of “others” who have the unfortunate habit of being the perpetual bearers of bad news. They may even recall specific instances and the short boost of energy they sometimes gain when sharing salacious stories. Then through a combination of time, repetition and conversation the message begins to sink in. Team members begin to catch themselves and each other in unproductive poo pushing and this behavior becomes less socially acceptable. There will be those who are unwilling to change this behavior but soon they will have no place to push their pooh. They will either quit the behavior, or leave the organization. Either solution is an improvement and the reinforcement is based on peers not policies.Custom Solutions
These are not out of the box preconceived solutions to imaginary problems. Each video, audio article or illustration is designed in response to current issues and instantaneous feedback from online conversations, interviews and personal coaching. We don’t follow a preconceived set of lessons but listen to the “Buzz” of what team members need and want.
Education Through Collaboration
Video, Audio and print articles are distributed automatically to every member of the team using a secure Facebook style tools like Chatter, Yammer, or Slack supported by a new Change the Buzz™ card and accompanying posters. Collaborative tools allow team members to post ideas, “like” contributions, share resources and ask questions. Feedback from these conversations helps our team create content that is specific, relevant and actionable. The Red Shoe Solutions role is not to direct or manage but to catalyze conversations. Once we clearly understand where team member’s needs are then we create a targeted combination of education and illustration exactly when and where they are needed.Red Shoes and Green Solutions
Images are provided in electronic format directly to mobile or desktop applications or printed on 100% recycled chipboard signifying sustainability of the process. Clients that choose the printed option get personal “Buzz” boxes for every team member. These retro design tin boxes serve as a constant reminder and resident resource of life changing lessons captured in easy to remember illustrations. On the flip side of each card the accompanying lesson is included to further increase retention. Requiring only seconds to read these attention grabbing interpretations are designed to create innovation inspiring conversations fueling system wide transformation.Unlimited Coaching
Every member of the team is also eligible for unlimited private online and telephone coaching. The most significant lessons will not come from our team or the hundreds of other expert resources we will contribute but from your peers. This is not because we don’t have great ideas but that people are vastly more interested in their own discoveries.A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done,
his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.Lao Tzu
Improvement as an Ideology
It is easy for us to dismiss the advice of experts, mock “motivation” from our managers but it is impossible to avoid the acumen of our allies. We learn best from those we identify with most. There are no shortcuts and we all know it. We like to believe that this diet will be the last or this organizational change will “complete us”, but we know this to be untrue. Sustainable transformation is an oxymoron. Nothing stays the same.
We’re either growing or dying
Everything on the planet is in a process of growth or decay. We are being either energized or de-energized in every moment. The choice is whether we want to be forced by fear or Powered by Passion™. Peer Powered Performance™ is a process powered by passion, energized by exploration and sustained by science. This is the way all nature operates. Nature is not coercive. There are no closed doors, no positional power[ii], and no “we have always done it this way” wishes. Evolution is a part of everyday, every moment for every species on the planet.
Request a Personal Peer Power Peek to try our system with no obligation.
Previous Peer Power Postings
This is the last in a five-part examination of the forces that keep individuals and institutions caught in a cycle of stress trapped by unexamined assumptions and ill designed solutions. Part one examined the role of self in our illusory imprisonment, two the often subconscious part played by supervisors in the continuing incarceration and section three delves into the irresistible influence exerted on us by our peers. Chapter four introduced the value of using the Positive Peer Pull of “Value Adding” employees to re-engage the energy, optimism and innovation that lies dormant in traditional hierarchical systems. Finally chapter five outlines the system for evolving to a Peer Powered Process.
[i] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1661624/
Follow[ii] Authority and influence bestowed by a position or office on whoever is filling or occupying it.
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[…] wear off quickly as the force fields of familiarity ease us back on to our accustomed awareness. Daniel Kahneman describes this view of reality as “System One Thinking” valuing congruity of story over the […]