Against Or With Human Nature?

Trying to change what people are naturally inclined to do is like pushing a very big rock up a very steep hill. It is possible, but it will cost you.

I was once put in charge of trying to increase the level of field force participation in a company fundraising drive for a national charity. Despite the charity being a very good cause and quite reputable, the field force participation rate had been averaging less than 3% over the previous few years.

I called around and spoke with a number of sales reps and managers. A couple of things quickly became apparent. One, most people believed that their contribution would go to doing good works in the city where the company head office was located. People were naturally less inclined to give support to a place that was far away as opposed to their own local community.

Secondly, corporate e-mails were viewed as general information and were typically scanned and filed quickly so awareness of the program was low.

We made two simple changes. One, we assigned regional champions to send out the communications about the program. Human nature being what it is, the reps were much more likely to read and pay close attention to something from one of their local colleagues as opposed to a general communication from head office.

Secondly, we wanted to raise awareness of the fact that the money went into their own community and not another. So, as part of the donation process, we asked the reps to check off from a list the name of the local branch of the charity that their contribution would be sent to.

Not big changes but instead of going against human nature, we were now going with it. That year, the field force participation rate in that charity went from 3 to 49%.

For some reason, be it with our companies or our teams, we often do things that run against human nature. Some of the biggest team and brand performance turn-arounds that I have been able to accomplish in my career have come from recognizing and adapting to how human nature was affecting behavior.

No matter what your role, human nature is a primary driver of how your customers, your colleagues and even the members of your family act.

I guarantee that if you start working with human nature and not against it, those rocks will be a lot easier to move.