Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 2: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 2: tip is to be charming, not combative. When you are
Speaker 2: trying to influence behavior.
Speaker 1: You will get more flies with honey than vinegar, as
Speaker 1: the saying goes, and in life in general, this turns
Speaker 1: out to be true. So I live near an intersection
Speaker 1: with signs boasting that it is the most courteous corner
Speaker 1: on the main line. I have no idea of the
Speaker 1: source or the accuracy of this superlative. I don't know
Speaker 1: how one would even measure and rank intersections based on courtesy,
Speaker 1: but I do have a hunch about the sign's purpose.
Speaker 1: When you are at the most courteous corner in town,
Speaker 1: you are probably going to wait your turn at the
Speaker 1: stop sign. You are going to signal your turn and
Speaker 1: smile at the pedestrian instead of gesturing for him to
Speaker 1: hurry up. When you are at the most courteous corner
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood, you are primed to be courteous yourself.
Speaker 1: I have read about a park in Memphis that takes
Speaker 1: a similarly positive approach to getting visitors to follow the
Speaker 1: rules Instead of signs telling dog owners that Memphis has
Speaker 1: a leash law, which it does. The park has signs
Speaker 1: addressed to dogs reminding them to keep their humans attached
Speaker 1: by leash. This is because the sign explains it's super
Speaker 1: awkward when they go bounding up to strangers. Apparently, the
Speaker 1: same park kept people off its new sod with birth
Speaker 1: announcement style signs with a stork proclaiming that this baby
Speaker 1: grass was born to the Overton Park family, complete with
Speaker 1: the grass's birthday. There is so much wisdom and signs
Speaker 1: like these. They are cheerful and, in the case of
Speaker 1: the park signs, clever and funny. You notice the signs,
Speaker 1: you like them. You might even point them out to
Speaker 1: your friends or snap a photo. The signs get your attention.
Speaker 1: Plus the sign stances about what we do. We are
Speaker 1: courteous to drivers and pedestrians. We keep dogs leashed and
Speaker 1: respect people's space. We stay off our baby grass because
Speaker 1: we are celebrating it and wanted to thrive. The signs
Speaker 1: make people want to engage in pro social behavior. We
Speaker 1: are part of a community. This is much better than
Speaker 1: a sign with prohibitions or demands from an impersonal authority.
Speaker 1: We often ignore signs like these, and at worst we
Speaker 1: may feel an urge to violate them, even if we
Speaker 1: are not especially oppositional. Signs that say no sitting on
Speaker 1: the steps in all capital letters kind of make me
Speaker 1: want to sit on the steps. So what's the relevance
Speaker 1: for those of us not in the sign making business?
Speaker 1: For starters, whether you're using a sign or an email
Speaker 1: or live instructions, you may be better off creating a
Speaker 1: sense of identity and community among the people whose behavior
Speaker 1: you're trying to shape. For instance, at some schools, norms
Speaker 1: or rules are presented as let's call it the any
Speaker 1: town school way. Kids may disregard rules or even feel
Speaker 1: that rules beg to be broken, but when norms are
Speaker 1: framed as the way their school does things, kids may
Speaker 1: come to view them as a matter of identity. If
Speaker 1: that's how things are done at any town school, I
Speaker 1: want to be part of the community, so that's how
Speaker 1: I will do them too. Using we language tends to
Speaker 1: be helpful. Saying let's all check our cell phones to
Speaker 1: make sure our ring are off while checking your own
Speaker 1: phone is a lot better than demanding silence your cell
Speaker 1: phone without looking at your own phone. Signs and instructions
Speaker 1: also tend to be more effective and less off putting
Speaker 1: when they focus on a mutually valued purpose. That's the
Speaker 1: idea behind the signs at the park about protecting the
Speaker 1: baby grass. Presumably you have a reason for asking people
Speaker 1: to adhere to a specific behavior, at least I hope
Speaker 1: you do. So connect instructions to the why please don't
Speaker 1: use flash photography during the show because it can distract
Speaker 1: the dancers makes a lot more sense than just no
Speaker 1: photography allowed. So when you're trying to get people to
Speaker 1: follow rules that benefit everyone, take a lesson from the
Speaker 1: courteous corner and the friendly park signs aim to charm
Speaker 1: friends instead of controlling strangers, everyone is more likely to comply.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.