heartharmony.com.au

I have just been going back through some New Scientist issues. There was an interesting article on the psychology behind why sports people take drugs and while others stay clean. In summary, the series of studies referred to found:

• those motivated more by a desire to beat others had more permissive attitudes to doping than those who were motivated more by mastering their sport

• athletes who said their coaches frequently criticised them, punished them for mistakes, encouraged rivalries and gave unequal recognition to teammates had the most favourable attitudes towards doping.

They also found that those who did take the drugs did so because they felt they had to do so to compete.  They also found health concerns of taking banned substances caused very little mental concern, and yet the feelings of guilt about letting themselves and their families down weighed the most heavily.

So what? Well these studies give us an insight into a lot of other areas (and yes the purists would say we need to test each area individually to ensure there is a correlation).

The factors causing people to cheat sound a heck of a lot like a lot of workplaces. How many stock traders for example are motivated more by a desire to beat the other traders than simply master the stock-market? How many company directors want to beat the competition rather than just being great at what they do? Do these feelings encourage breaking the law?

What about managers and how they manage. How many managers either deliberately or inadvertently create rivalries between team members and other work areas? How many managers punish people for mistakes or give unequal recognition? By their actions are they creating the toxic work culture that encourages people to take short-cuts with the truth?

This leads to some other interesting ideas in terms of marketing. For example – emphasising how you are letting yourself and your family down may be more effective in cutting smoking than focusing on health warnings.

Imagine the shift in behaviour of some of our footy larrikans if the impact their drinking and partying had on their family or team members.  Video footage of fallen greats wives, kids and parents giving “victim impact” statements of how it felt to be front page news may be more powerful than bravado filled chats.

Teaching ethics or stopping shoplifting by focusing on the impact a breach has on your family may be more effective than hundreds of hours of “thou shalt not” teachings. Perhaps politicians should be shown video footage of fallen QLD politicians heading off the jail, complete with comments from their spouses and families about the impact on their lives as part of their ethics programs.

It pays to keep in touch with studies looking at unravelling human behaviour. How can you implement this in your business?

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Writer