We are all susceptible to what has happened at the News of the World, the top-selling British Sunday newspaper that was shut down on the back of alleged phone tapping.
We are susceptible because each of us is faced with moral, ethical and legal challenges through the course of our working lives and those challenges are often so imperceptible that little by little the line falls behind us and we may not even realise it.
Behavioural economics can help us to understand a couple of the forces at play so that we can better withstand challenges to our personal and professional integrity.
We tend to follow decisions we have made before because it is more efficient, so if a situation arises that is similar to one we have previously encountered we default to the road travelled.
The first time a compromised action is taken it may have been discussed, agonised over and been made reluctantly.
But we don’t cope well with cognitive dissonance – trying to hold conflicting views simultaneously – and we are therefore very good at justifying to ourselves the actions we’ve taken. The seal has been broken and from that point on we tend to follow our decisions again and again.
Apart from never crossing the line what can you do to stop the self-herding cycle?
There are two things. First you need a circuit breaker and that will often come from outside the work culture in which you are operating (after all, that’s where the behaviour began).
A mentor, friend or confidante will help you by giving you fresh perspective on your situation and on your options, one of which may be to change your job.
Second, take yourself back to the first time you made the decision. What were your choices and how do they compare to subsequent decisions?
We can easily fall into the trap of thinking situations are the same because we have a tendency to apply unconscious short-cuts and rules of thumb to fast-track decision-making, so by forcing our decision-making back to conscious deliberation we can interrupt self-herding.
As for cognitive dissonance, it is important to understand why you made the first decision and why it made you uncomfortable. Use the sick feeling in your stomach as mental fortitude not to take the action again.
Self-herding tackles our propensity to replicate decisions we have taken but herding is about following the actions/decisions/values of others.
That is where the culture of an organisation can become toxic if morally ambiguous behavior is tolerated – let alone encouraged – because more staff will be swayed to act the same way.
What can you do if you want to change a toxic culture?
Get up to speed with the principles of change management.
Chip and Dan Heath wrote the excellent book Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard which covers the need to appeal to conscious and unconscious motivations within people to encourage change.
Outlining the penalties of inappropriate behavior – such as phone tapping – in a policy document may appeal to the rational mind but may not prevent the behaviour if it is otherwise condoned.
When employees see, for example, that dubiously sourced articles are published or that commission is paid on sales made in breach of policy those behaviours will continue and spread through the organisation.
The herd is a very powerful force to harness and your challenge is to ensure that the herd is pointing in the correct direction for your business objectives.
Always remember that organisations don’t cross the line, people do.
Understanding two key influencers of behaviour – our own prior decisions and those of the herd – is central to operating ethically, legally and morally, and to ensuring that we don’t become the latest News of the World.
Until next week, happy herding.
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