Follow the Herd?
My office building had a fire drill recently, forcing us to briefly evacuate the building. Throughout my work history, whenever the fire alarm goes off, employees have had the same general reaction:
- Stop and look up from their work.
- Ask themselves if the drill is for real.
- Look around to see if anyone else has determined if the drill is for real.
- Together, the group looks around to see if anyone else is moving to exit the building.
- If not, they remain sitting/standing where they are and contemplate what to do next.
- If yes, they watch to see which exit others are moving toward, and then follow them to that exit, without necessarily considering if that is really the best exit to take.
Why do we do this? It’s called the herd mentality. When humans encounter an unsure situation, we naturally look for social cues from others to determine how to respond. That’s why traditional TV sit-coms have a laugh track — to coerce the viewers to laugh along. It’s why bartenders place their own money in the tip jar at the start of their shift — it is a social cue that previous customers have already tipped to encourage the current customers to follow suit.
The herd mentality plays a powerful role in how organizational culture takes root. If planned carefully, it can also be a huge factor in implementing effective organizational change.
If you really want people to change, find those employees who tend to be influencers — those who others tend to look toward for social cues — and let them help be your supporters and advocates for the change. If those influencers are on board, others will be more prone to follow suit under the assumption they don’t want to miss out on something.
But beware — do not confuse those who influence with those who manipulate. If you do, you may run the risk of taking employees to the wrong fire exit. And then you will really get burned.
