In How I put my husband through the hoops Amy Sutherland writing in G2 for the UK Guardian describes how she used tricks trainers use on wild animals such as dolphins, elephants and african crested cranes to modify her husbands behavior!
Amy also learned the true meaning of the animal trainers motto:
“It is never the animals fault”
These animal change management tricks include:
- rewarding new positive behavior and simply ignoring old negative behavior
- “approximations” where you create and reward interim steps to a larger behavior change
- least reinforcing syndrome (LRS) where you avoid any response whatsovever to unhelpful behaviors
- “incompatible behaviors” where instead of trying to stop a negative behavior you replace it with a different (positive) behavior
All of these techniques can be helpful in nurturing a traditional team into a bioteam.
Just like animal training you should also practice and refine your Change Management skills in a safe environment – a great way to do this is playing a change management simulation game with your colleagues.
Ken is an expert practitioner, author and speaker on Collaboration, High Performing Teams, Change Management, Business Strategy and Leadership Development.
Funny because its true. I wonder if we could use the same interpersonal strategies with people we work with on teams !