Behavioral change as a management tool

There is little doubt that, in recent years, inspiring people and organizations to change has become a big business.

And like any business with good prospects, this “industry” of motivational speaking has attracted many players, leading to the trade becoming—to a certain degree—commoditized.

From big international names to niche players locally, speakers in the business of inspiring change have become a “dime-a-dozen” phenomenon.

But not Joseph Grenny, apparently.

The US-based Grenny is an internationally acclaimed speaker, business performance coach, change and influence expert, and a four-time New York Times bestselling author whose work has been translated in 28 languages.

He was in town recently to conduct a session with local business executives, in partnership with leadership and coaching firm Salt and Light Ventures, and the Inquirer got an exclusive glimpse into what sets him apart from the rest of the motivational speaking crowd.

And right from the get-go, Grenny sought to immediately set the record straight.

Wrong term

“I resist the term motivational speaker. Motivational speakers assume that people just need to be inspired, and then they’ll change,” he said in an interview in Makati City. “Our belief is that it’s a much bigger problem than that. People need ability as much as they need motivation.”

For the management change guru, pointing his audience in the right direction without giving them the wherewithal to tread that course is, for all intents and purposes, useless.

“The idea of creating a temporary feeling has very little value,” he said.

Listening to Grenny, it is immediately clear that his methodology goes beyond simply advocating positive change—whether in a business organization or in an individual—but in giving them the tools to effect that change.

For him, the key is in changing the behavior of the individuals involved—and not just changing for the sake of changing.

In his world view, it has to be done in a systematic way. But before you run off thinking that this is just another set of leadership mumbo jumbo, stop right there.

Empirical evidence

Grenny’s system is as empirical as they come.

“What we are about is trying to take the last 70 years of social science research that demonstrates how you can create profound, and rapid, and sustainable behavior change, and making that accessible to leaders,” he said. “It’s very science- and research-based, and it’s all about behavior change.”

And, in his mind, the system is especially applicable to a country like the Philippines, which faces sometimes daunting odds in trying to effect change across a range of societal issues.

“In the Philippines, we’re trying to deal with issues of corruption, poverty, or expanding the economy, or of moving into industry sectors, or education,” Grenny said. “You name it. Every one of these requires people to be able to create behavior change.”

And for the management guru, the Philippines offers a plethora of situations and circumstances where his methodology for positive change can be used.

In particular, the large number of natural calamities that often visit the country are opportunities to apply his methods and improve the local system.

“Oftentimes, we come in and try to solve horrible problems like natural disasters without thinking how we will influence future behavior,” he said. “So many well-meaning organizations come in with relief supplies, and that’s necessary. And that’s natural. But we need to do everything with an eye toward how this will influence future behavior.”

Positive example

He cited as one positive example the work of Taiwan-based Tzu Chi Buddhist group, which went beyond simply giving out relief goods in Tacloban in the aftermath of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” but implemented a work program to get the survivors involved in the cleanup program.

“[Tzu Chi’s] notion was to help people get to work,” Grenny said. “So the idea was not just to transfer supplies, but to get people employed in the clean up. So they’re thinking about how they would foster the right kind of industry and behavior and psychological aspect of the recovery, while at the same time helping with the relief.”

He stresses that the challenge facing organizations and individuals is that when they solve problems, they don’t think about how the solutions would affect future behavior.

It all sounds like common sense, of course, but Grenny thinks the natural tendency of the human mind is precisely to take a different route: the path of least resistance.

“We often think about what the shortest path is to solving our problem, instead of how do we create the behavior we need over the long term. We tend not to do that,” he pointed out.

But Grenny’s most important message—a lesson, he said, that applies across all cultures—is surprising.

“The most pernicious, the most costly, the most damaging behavior in any organization, in any human system—whether it’s a family or a relationship or a large company or nation—is silence,” he said.

“It’s people not speaking up about things that matter—that’s what causes problems,” Grenny stressed. “The problem isn’t that people make mistakes. The problem is that those who see it say nothing about it. And that’s why the problems persist and grow.”

Wise words indeed that organizations and individuals seeking positives change should heed.