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We employ people to make our lives easier.

So why doesn’t it always feel that way?

Because they either don’t do what we want or they don’t do it in the way we want.

Then, to change what they do, we assume what motivates us will motivate them.

Can you see the problem?

When we’re ‘me’ centric - seeing the world from only our point of view - we’re likely to find fault in how others behave if it doesn’t match our expectations.

It’s...

 

Telling someone no can feel uncomfortable.

So we might put it off.

Let it drift.

Convince ourselves that they know it’s a no because we haven’t given them a yes.

It gets easier as time passes. The guilt subsides. The awkwardness. New pressures and decisions steal our share of mind.

But what about theirs?

As someone who has to often wait for others to make a decision - will we proceed or not? - a thoughtful no is all I want.

I want to hear the no, not so I can talk you out...

 

When an indoor plant is struggling, our instinct is to give it more water.

But that can drown the plant, making it worse.

Some managers are like this, and far too many sales people.

They can tell the person they are engaging with is struggling, but they keep talking anyway.

They share more advice or more information, which only adds to overwhelm.

Overwhelm is one of three core issues when you are trying to influence behaviour, along with Apathy (I can’t be bothered) and Anxiety...

 

When you work in HR, everyone thinks they can do your job.

But nobody wants to.

I’ve been in and around HR for most of my career, and witnessed time and again people saying it’s “an HR thing”.

Diversity.

Inclusion.

Culture.

Productivity.

Engagement.

Retention.

Leadership behaviour.

Birthday cakes.

 

The challenge is that your most public facing work seems fun, easy, even trivial.

Yet behind the scenes a different type of work goes on. Deeply personal, life...

 

Adding one simple word can make you more persuasive.

In a famous 1978 Harvard University study, a researcher would attempt to cut in line to copy some pages at the library.

In some cases they said: “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”  

In others, they asked the same thing except for adding a simple word. 

And this simple word made it 50% more likely they would be allowed to cut the line.

Here’s what they said.

...

 

Famously, the microwave was meant to save us hours of labour. Before that, washing machines.

But guess what? Abhorring a vacuum, our time was filled.

Right now, the technology promising to save us hours is AI.

Lawyers, accountants, marketers, we can outsource our transactional work. And we are.

But what then?

Why will people want to work with you instead of AI?

What makes you different? Valuable?

People skills.

Your ability to engage, persuade, refuse, refute.

Imagine if instead of...

One of the projects I cared most about was a massive flop.

I called it the User Shoes program, a way for me and my fellow product managers to visit consumers in their homes each month. 

It was ethnographic-research lite, where the objective was to expand our perspective by seeing how real people were using our products in the real world.

Knowing the corporate politics of the situation, I invited our sister brand to include a team member in the pilot program. 

What a mistake.

She...

Five emerging issues that small business owners are struggling with right now?

That’s what I asked ChatGPT.

The unsurprising result?

It came back with issues that are NOT in fact emerging. They’re not new. They are not of this time, specifically.

And that’s because not as much changes as we think. 

The fundamentals of running a business stay the same.

So, what were the five issues ChatGPT listed?

1. Financial management - being able to manage cash flow and budget
2. ...

When it comes to influencing behaviour of customers and colleagues, there are a lot of things you can do. But there’s also a lot of things you shouldn’t do.
 

1. Don’t make things pretty, make them effective

Too many businesses prioritise aesthetic over efficacy.

For example, websites with call-to-action buttons that match their brand. I get it! Brand guidelines are important. We want our businesses to look well considered and professional.

The problem when everything...

Are you providing too much detail or not enough?

People say they want information, right? But what's the right level of information to share?

Behavioural expert Bri Williams shares how to approach the issue of information, including why people think they need it and why they actually do.

More about Just Do This: www.briwilliams.com/about-just-do-this