Thursday, August 24, 2017

Influencer book review: part 2

​​When I need to explain why I think industrial engineering is different than other engineering disciplines, I often point to the fact that we see the whole world as systems. While all engineers need to model pieces of the world, in my opinion industrial engineers take a wider view largely because they ​consider people as part of the system. Suddenly the way you approach problems is different because you can't just ​expect that a person will do what you tell them. You have to accept the reality that people will do what they're going to do, and your job is to design a system where what they decide to do is what you need.

In "Influencer" the authors start by suggesting you identify very explicitly what your goals are in a way that they are actionable. You then identify the moments at which people have a choice to support that goal, or not. Finally, you use "influence" to help them choose to support that goal. The authors then spend the majority of the book on the "6 keys of influence" which are ensuring there are personal, social, and structural: motivation and ability, which are encouraging the person to make the choice which aligns with the goal. The book itself is full of examples of what each of these look like, but you can think of times you were personally unmotivated in doing homework or felt unable to do something you ​believed​ you should.

And this brings us back to industrial engineers who see the world as systems. In the first chapters when the authors ​referred to structural motivation and ability, I had no clue how that was supposed to be different than the personal and social categories. But when I got to the actual chapters, I recognized exactly the mindset industrial engineers use to effect change. We try to design changes to almost be easier than doing things the old way. I remember trying to figure out how on earth you are supposed to have an orderly office supply drawer, and the flash of insight when I was looking at pictures and realized the first step was to have about 1/3 of the items I presently had. The system (a jumble of career fair pens and highlighters and countless other trinkets) made it impossible for me to have an organized drawer. It wasn't that I was personally unable to do this, it was the structure itself that made my goal impossible. This became particularly clear after I fixed the system (removed most of the content of the drawer) and was able to organize the remainder.

In the book the authors do actually make the connection that industrial engineers have been the pioneers of structural ability. However, the goal of the book really is to give the reader a framework to effect change using all 6 approaches at once. The main premise of the book is that most people trying to effect change only use one or two approaches, which​ is  simply not enough. I think the underlying reason it is not enough is that people are different. Some people will happily change their behavior if it will get them a bonus while others will only do it if it would be embarrassing not to. Therefore, by encouraging a certain behavior "on all fronts" persay,
​you can hope to actually reach everyone.

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