Page 91 - The Power to Change Anything

80 INFLUENCER

a pot that’s still moist with unfiltered water. They’ll need train-
ing to enhance their personal ability.

Source 3: Social Motivation. Next, when you sit down with the
locals to teach them how to eliminate the Guinea worm,
nobody is going to pay very much attention to your advice.
You’re an outsider and as such simply can’t be trusted. You may
be in good with the chief, but there are three tribes in the vil-
lage, two of which resent the chief and will resist anything you
offer because he’s behind it. Unless circumstances change, you
have a serious problem with social motivation.

Source 4: Social Ability. People in a community will have to
assist each other if they hope to succeed. When it comes to an
outbreak, nobody can make it on his or her own. If ever there
was a circumstance where the expression “It takes a village”
applies, this is it. For example, if someone comes down with
the worm, others may have to fetch water for him or her. And
when it comes to filtering, locals often have to buddy up in
order to have enough pots to both fetch and filter water. If locals
don’t enlist the help of others, you’ll be missing the key factor
of social ability.

Source 5: Structural Motivation. Given the villagers’ current
financial circumstances (living hand-to-mouth), individuals
who become infected can’t afford to stay away from work. This
forces them to labor in and around the water supply. Quite sim-
ply, to put food on the table, they’ll need to fetch water for both
their crops and livestock. This means that the formal reward sys-
tem is at odds with the three vital behaviors. Infected people
earn money only if they work near the water source. If you don’t
compensate for the existing reward structure, victims will be
compelled to serve their families at the expense of the entire vil-
lage. Try to move forward without addressing structural motiva-
tion, and your influence won’t reach far.