Warning: This woman is an INTJ with better-than-it-used-to-be emotional intelligence. Wit, sarcasm, sincerity, condescension, empathy, dumb jokes, useless facts, wide-sweeping generalizations and stereotypes may be found in this blog. Proceed with caution.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Influencing Group Behavior - Part 2

"Guardians"... a formidable name for a formidable group.  Associated with the "SJ" personality types, these four identities make up almost half of our population.

In the past I've identified them by small things like:

- Who remembers everyone's birthday?
- Who has a reliable schedule that doesn't often change?
- Who volunteers first?
- Who seems to effortlessly know and meet social expectations?

These people truly are Pillars of Community.  They know the rules, know what is expected and work hard at keeping us all on the straight and narrow.  

They are perhaps also the type that I least understand from a motivational standpoint, and SFJ's in particular.  The priorities they align themselves with seem illogical to me at times, and for the life of me I can't understand the resistance to change.  This type often has a blind trust in authority and in established rules that makes me uneasy.  If the INTJ mantra is "Does it work" then the SJ community is the wall that we push up against constantly... the wall that says "It doesn't matter, this is how it's done."

That mentality can be endlessly frustrating but I recognize the value that it adds to a society in general.  If not for the Guardians, certainly many existing Holidays would no longer be recognizable.  Military divisions would not function properly.  All of the important "maintenance" type duties in the world would be lost and forgotten as the Artists, Idealists and Rationals ran in every direction with no anchor to bring them back.

I feel it's important for me to learn yet more (always more) about the SJ types because I find myself surrounded by them where I work and they are the majority in most societies.  My previous employment at a software development company was primarily dominated by NT's (Rationals).  The words I would have used to describe most interactions among a bunch of NT's are probably intellect and mischief.  Now that I find myself among many, many SJ types I think the words would change to something more like duty or consistency.

This in no way means that SJ's aren't smart or mischievous, or that NT's aren't responsible or consistent, but the GROUP expectations were very different.  The NT's expected others to be on their toes at all times, ready for any clever trick that might be played on someone, or to prove themselves and their arguments when they wanted to change something.  We were individuals working on things that interested us and could often bring progress by merging different goals into one.  The SJ's seem to expect that there are no individuals.  They work as if they are one machine: I'll do my part, and if you do yours then everything will be fine.  I find that when it comes to things that impact everyone they have very little sense of humor.  Individually they are hilarious, creative, interesting and caring... but when it comes to their environment they are very firm in what is acceptable and what isn't.

In my previous post on "Influencing Group Behavior" I described my Coffee Pot experiment.  Yesterday (the day after I posted it) the experiment provided some amazing feedback that I did not expect.  

Early yesterday I let one of my coworkers in on the experiment... one that I knew would appreciate the effort.  I was warned by this person that my experiment would fail but I remained hopeful.  By lunchtime that day, the container that I had placed under the coffee pot to catch the drops of water had completely disappeared from the kitchen.  I busted out laughing, knowing that someone had either thrown it away or hidden it.  At first I thought my co-conspirator might be playing a joke on me but found out through the grapevine that apparently the office administrator had received numerous emails complaining about the container, wanting to know who had decided on making this change.  

Incredulous, I laughed even harder.  Was something so tiny as the placement of a container up for group discussion and approval?  If this experiment had been done at my previous job, surely someone would have either:

a.) Glued the container to the counter
b.) Turned the container upside down and stuck a sarcastic sign on it
c.) Filled the container with coffee and placed the old coffee pot out of the way to be a smart ass

Now I had to rethink my approach.  I had anticipated that some might be confused or slightly annoyed about why this container sat where the wet paper towels had once been... but I didn't expect the influx of actual, formal complaints and complete removal of the container from the kitchen.  It felt a bit extreme.  

I had a discussion with another coworker about whether or not they had noticed the container.  They said yes, and that they were confused about why it had been there.  They thought it was gross.  (It's an old container but it doesn't touch anything, just sits well under where the water drips)  I explained my experiment and then asked what would have made them recognize what it was for.  Is the coffee stained container too old and funky looking that it distracts from why it's there?  Do I need a different container?  Perhaps.  The person also said that since it appeared empty there didn't seem to be a reason for it at all.  I asked if placing a small bit of water in the bottom of the container would have helped to make the association and they agreed that it would.

I resolved to wait a few days and then try a nice, clean container with a little bit of water in it.

By the end of the day... the old coffee stained pitcher was back again under the coffee pot and I lost my composure yet again.  It seems my co-conspirator had located the pitcher and replaced it for me, which will probably aggravate the office administrator.  I don't think I would have been bold enough to find it and put it back.  I was planning out new tactics to gently lead my friends into an era of change.  

I realize now that the only way this will ever work without becoming an all out problem (complete with emails sent out to the entire department to "please not place other things under the coffee pot filter") is to just appeal directly to the coffee drinkers about my desire to "save the rainforest one paper towel at a time", as my conspirator joked.  The only path to even a small chance of success is to appeal directly to their desire to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (which I see a LOT of).

While the overall goal of stopping the practice of wadding up paper towels isn't terribly important... I learned a valuable lesson here.  Subtle (unapproved) change will not work.  They must be given ample time to become aware of and consider the problem, decide on how they feel about it and then to determine whether or not they wish to take action.  It's a tediously slow process in my opinion, but this is exactly what makes this group terrific.  They are always considering whether the change is truly needed and truly for the best.  This is why our societies remain in-tact and traditions stay alive.  These people make the world go 'round.

Just make sure that you tell them up front what your intentions are and don't make any rash decisions or they will lash out...

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