Picture of author.
5 Works 1,455 Membros 21 Críticas

Obras por David Maxfield

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Sexo
male

Membros

Críticas

Overall a useful book but the parts on weight loss definitely had some issues.
 
Assinalado
thewestwing | 7 outras críticas | Aug 12, 2022 |
This book presented a great model and made great use of a small number of case studies explored in depth. What keeps it from being 5-stars is primarily that many of the chapters felt overly repetitive. I almost forgave that and gave an extra star because the chapter summaries are so great — but not quite.

Influence is not a matter of personality or charisma. Rather, influence is achieved by systematically applying techniques to motivate change. Before you can apply, you need to know what change you want to achieve. Thus, the first step of the influence process is to identify the results you want and how you could measure those results.

Next, you need to find vital behaviors. These are the high-leverage activities that, if changed, can make a significant difference in the desired outcomes Both words are important here. These must be behaviors, not outcomes. E.g., when losing weight, "Consume fewer calories than you expend" sounds like a behavior but it is actually the outcome. Behaviors are more specific: "Use a smaller plate" is a behavior. Second, these behaviors must be vital: they must be the ones that actually drive the desired outcome. Vital behaviors can be discovered by looking at cases of positive deviance: looking to see where outcomes are unexpectedly good and seeing what they do differently than the average and bad cases. Once a vital behavior is hypothesized, it should be tested.

After identifying a vital behavior, you can start to influence. Effective influence needs to address two key questions: "Is this worth it?" (motivation) and "Can I do it?" (ability). Each of these can be influenced at a personal, social, and structural level. The bulk of the book is going through each of the six types of influence resulting from this model in detail. The brief summary (from the diagram they use throughout the book):

Personal motivation: Make the undesirable desirable. I.e., change intrinsic motivations.

Personal ability: Surpass your limits. I.e., training and practice.

Social motivation: Harness peer pressure. I.e., utilize the influence of well-respected, well-connected individuals and social norms.

Social ability: Find strength in numbers. I.e., use the social capital of a group to pool skills and resources.

Structural motivation: Design rewards and demand accountability. I.e., how to carefully supplement intrinsic and social motivation with extrinsic motivators.

Structural ability: Change the environment. I.e., change the powerful (and often unobserved) cues that influence behavior.

The book contains much more detail, as well as concrete illustrations of the principles in practice. It is worth the read. (And, I suspect, will be harder to put in practice than to read about.)
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
eri_kars | 9 outras críticas | Jul 10, 2022 |
Oh look, I'm finally reviewing this, almost two months later. This is what comes of getting behind :-D

As is usual for books by this crew, the content is top notch and provides valuable tools. As is also the case for books by this group, as writing, it's a bit dry.

This book covers crucial accountability conversations. These conversations are reserved for serious violated expectations or broken commitments. Often they are challenging to even start. The first part of the model asks you to consider: is this a time for an accountability conversation? Figure out what the conversation should be about and then if it is worth having. Not all problems are serious enough to warrant an accountability conversation. One useful tool from this section is to think about repeated infractions through the lens of CPR. The first time a violation occurs, discuss the content ("you were late for an important meeting"). The second time, discuss the pattern ("you are regularly late for an important meeting"). The third time, start to discuss the impact on your relationship ("I can no longer trust you to handle important meetings").

The second part of the model asks you to make sure that you are not looking at the event too narrowly. Come in informed. Ask yourself why a reasonable, rational person would do what you've observed (keep asking until you actually believe your answer). While doing this, look at all of the sources of influence on a person (this pulls heavily from the model in Influencer): what are their sources of personal motivation? Peer motivation? Structural motivation (e.g., incentives and punishments)? What about their personal ability? Do they have the right support from others? Does the structure and environment support their getting the task done?

Finally, you are ready to have the accountability conversation. The most important thing is to create an atmosphere of psychological safety. If a topic is not particularly sensitive then you can start by simply and directly describe the performance gap between what was expected and what was observed. Do not include your interpretation yet. If you see signs that safety is at risk, stop immediately and work to repair it. Then tentatively share your interpretation about what happened. Finally, end with a simple, sincere, "What happened?"

If safety is at risk, consider why. The two primary reasons people feel unsafe is that they believe that you do not respect them as a person or they believe that your goals are at odds with theirs. To restore safety, first make sure you really do respect the other person. You can't fake it. Then you can use contrasting to explicitly say what you don't mean, "I am not saying you do not care about these important meetings. It's just that regularly being late...". If the problem is lack of mutual purpose, again start by looking at yourself. Is your goal aligned with their goals? If not, then the conversation is not likely to go well. If it is aligned, then openly stating your goal can help get the conversation back on track ("I really want you to be at your most effective when interacting with our VP."). Other things that help are always (always always) having accountability conversations in private and asking permission before discussing delicate topics.

Once mutual purpose has been established and you both agree on the accountability gap, the next step is to motivate the other person to overcome the gap. Look at the influence model to figure out what motivations may be lacking. Do not be afraid to highlight the natural consequences of failing to change. On the flip side, don't assume that everything is a motivation problem. Look for gaps in ability. And be honest about the impact of social and structural challenges on motivation and ability. If there is social status loss associated with closing the gap or if there are structural reasons that make execution hard, then focusing on personal motivation and skills will not be enough. Or to put it another way, fixing the accountability gap may not be something that the other person can do on their own.

Importantly, make sure the end of the conversation clearly defines who will do what by when. Make sure that the details are clear. Vague commitments to do better next time are not sufficient. Ask whatever clarifying questions you need to be confident that the plan addresses the issue. And then, critically, remember to actually follow-up. Consider this your responsibility as the person who initiated the conversation.

That's the gist of the model. The book itself contains numerous illustrative examples as well as discussions of what not to do.

Ending on a personal note, doing this is hard. A real accountability conversation takes time and work, and it's easy to try and skimp on the preparation. However, without this, as I know from personal experience, it's altogether too easy to get stuck in the debating the details of the content rather than the accountability gap. And it's even easier to not have time to get a clear and agreed upon commitment on next steps. Having a model helps you see what you're doing wrong, but only practice will get you to the point where you do it right.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
eri_kars | 2 outras críticas | Jul 10, 2022 |
How is marriage like a colonoscopy? Read the book to find out.

:D

But I did really enjoy it. Lots of the readers say that it is basically [b:Influencer: The Power to Change Anything|914211|Influencer The Power to Change Anything|Kerry Patterson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1393217540l/914211._SY75_.jpg|899306], but I think it has a new angle to provide the reader. But, if you've read [b:Grit|27213329|Grit|Angela Duckworth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1457889762l/27213329._SY75_.jpg|45670634], you may not need the first section.… (mais)
 
Assinalado
OutOfTheBestBooks | 7 outras críticas | Sep 24, 2021 |

Prémios

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Estatísticas

Obras
5
Membros
1,455
Popularidade
#17,660
Avaliação
3.9
Críticas
21
ISBN
29
Línguas
2

Tabelas & Gráficos