In an earlier article about reducing conflict in the workplace, I introduced you to a concept developed by Dr. Morris Massey in his study of the interactions between people in the workplace. Another of his concepts that I find extremely useful for getting employees to do what you need them to do, is called the Significant Emotional Event, or SEE.
Are you old enough to remember when the shuttle blew up? Or when the World Trade Center towers came down? Do you remember where you were when those happened? I remember the moment I learned that President Kennedy died. I also remember when my dad told me that he liked talking to me because I make sense. These were all significant emotional events in my life.
I’m sure you can conjure some events in your life that fit into this category. When it comes to the SEEs in your life, you may notice that you tend to remember every detail. The birth of a child. A car accident. The day you accepted that award. You’ve probably told the story over and over again. In other words, you LEARNed every detail.
Dr Massey introduced this concept as a way to illustrate that, when you want someone to learn something … to REALLY learn it, you must couple it with a significant emotional event.
For Consultants, Trainers, and Managers
I’ve taught this technique to both consultants and business owners. So, how do I create a SEE in the workplace? Well, I’m not young, and I don’t move particularly smoothly. For the consultants I worked with, I REALLY wanted them to get the concept. So, I used it.
While introducing the subject of the SEE in a conference room setting, I stood up from my chair, pushed it back, and carefully began to step up onto the chair (which was dangerous, so I don’t recommend it). At this point the principally male audience began to panic … wanted to help me … wanted to stop me. Imagine a handful of guys in suits jumping up from their chairs, gathering around, arms raised in anticipation of having to catch me if I fell.
I continued on … stepping up onto the table. “And that, … my friends,” I announced as I began to climb down off the table, “… is an example of creating a significant emotional event in the workplace.” Those consultants will never forget the concept because I associated a dramatic event with it.
For Employees
There are employees in some workplaces who have suffered from having their ideas ignored long enough that they have become what I call Zombies. Do you remember the half-asleep baker in the Dunkin’ Donuts commercial who used the flat tagline, “Time … to … make … the … donuts”? Zombie workers are a lot like that baker. They come to work, hate their jobs, and do only what they have to do to earn their paychecks and go home. They feel that it’s no use for them to suggest anything that would make their work easier or the product or process better because the idea would just be ignored like every other suggestion they’ve offered. So, they tune out.
I’ve encountered many business owners who are in so much trouble … with their vendors … with their bank … with their spouses, who are so panicked that they walk around in a relative state of shock. They are so in their own heads that they can’t hear what anyone around them is saying. They can’t hear the suggestions that their employees make. They can’t hear ideas that might make sense. They tend to shut down. They don’t want to hear the employees ask to spend more money on a piece of equipment that might make them more efficient. They don’t want to hear their spouse say another word about going back to work and giving up this folly. All they can hear is their own thoughts. “I’m failing!” “Why isn’t this working?” “Why can’t I get them to understand that if they would just do their jobs …?” I have tools designed to answer these questions, to give owners assignments to focus on, to get some comfort, some peace, to get owners out of their own way.
But what about the employees? Business owners create these Zombies. Waking them from their boring routines is VERY difficult, but I’ve used SEEs to wake them up. In one case, I had one of my consultants use the ‘get up on the table’ method to help the employees learn that they would INDEED be listened to by the consultant, and that it was his job to get the owner of the business to stop behaving as if he was the only one who had any useful ideas. The employees became more animated and forthcoming with questions and suggestions about the new processes.
In another case, the owner was a very quiet, demure man who was being run over by his employees. Since being loud was completely out of character for him, I convinced him that, if he could simply state his position with volume, in no uncertain terms, that would create a SEE and his employees would remember it. It worked, and the procedure the owner wanted them to follow was finally followed as a result. In delivering the SEE, the owner also became more confident in his role as manager.
To emphasize some behavioral change you wish to convey, try to couple delivery of your desires with some action that is completely out of character for you. For instance, thanking your employees, if you don’t normally do that. Or implementing a suggestion that you’ve been resisting for a long time.
(Here comes one of my out-of-the-box thoughts to help you come up with your own idea.) Try taking everyone outside and hitting a baseball onto the roof. Let them watch as you climb a ladder to get it. When you return with the ball, have everyone sign it. Take a picture of everyone, including your lead Zombie holding up the ball, and place the picture and the ball on display where everyone, including you, can see it as a reminder of the thing you want them to change.
Submit a comment and let me know how you employed the Significant Emotional Event in your workplace!