Page 233 - The Power to Change Anything

222 INFLUENCER

directly affect behavior. Whyte chose not to confront norms,
history, or habit. Instead he simply eliminated the need for ver-
bal communication and all its attendant problems. He did so
immediately, and the improvements lasted forever by chang-
ing, not people, but things.

FISH DISCOVER WATER LAST
If you didn’t think of Whyte’s solution, you’re in good company.
Rarely does the average person conceive of changing the physi-
cal world as a way of changing human behavior. We see that oth-
ers are misbehaving, and we look to change them, not their
environment. Caught up in the human side of things, we com-
pletely miss the impact of subtle yet powerful sources such as the
size of a room or the impact of a chair. Consequently, one of our
most powerful sources of influence (the physical environment)
is often the least used because it’s the least noticeable. In the
words of Fred Steele, the renowned sociotechnical theorist,
most of us are “environmentally incompetent.” If you doubt this
allegation, just ask any of today’s cooks and servers why they don’t
scream and curse at one another as did many of their predeces-
sors a half century ago. See if any of them ever point to the order
wheel as the source of their cooperation.
The impact of the physical world on human behavior is
equally profound within the business world, and, as you might
suspect, just as hard to spot. For example, the authors once met
with the president of a large insurance company that was los-
ing millions of dollars to quality problems that were widely
known but rarely discussed. To turn things around, the presi-
dent had decided to nurture a culture of candor within the
organization. He declared: “We’ll never solve our quality prob-
lems until every single person—right down to the newest
employee on the loading dock—is comfortable sharing his hon-
est opinion.”
Despite the president’s passion for candor, the heartfelt
speeches he had given, the fiery memos he had written, and