In my last blog, I mentioned that I read Influencer by Kerry Patterson and the group at VitalSmarts. Last week, I described the importance of telling stories to provide vicarious experiences for those you wish to influence.
Today, I would like to highlight the benefit of limiting your influence to no more than three vital behaviors. The authors outline that people who exert great influence do not attempt too many changes. Instead they identify the three vital behaviors that will have the most impact. I cited two examples in the stories I told last week. I also realized that their counsel paralleled Jim Collins advice about hedgehog concepts.
I put the authors to the test in my own profession. Among other things, I help people find jobs. I've co-produced or co-authored two workshop programs to do so. I've taught people how to find jobs for three decades. I thought "What three behaviors are vital to finding a job?" Several colleagues and I discussed this over a three month period. We realized that we taught too many behaviors and skills. We confused people and distracted them from success.
We examined people who found jobs quickly and with high salaries. We identified three vital behaviors people looking for a job need to perform (I'll share what the three are in a future blog). We tested our hypothesis with a group of 12 people who had several barriers to finding a job: criminal records, disabilities, work behavior problems, and more. Ten of the twelve found jobs within 3 weeks. We also tested the hypothesis with a group of professionals seeking jobs paying $50-125,000. Those consistently did three things found jobs in less than 6 weeks.
I highly recommend that you read Influencer if you want to increase productivity, improve performance, or change behavior in your family. Work hard to identify the 1-3 vital behaviors that you wish to influence. It works.
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