Ways to get people to do things they dont want to do

Ways to get people to do things they dont want to doWays to get people to do things they dont want to doA reader recently asked me a pointed question Ive read your work on creatinguser habits. Its all well and good for getting people to do things, like using an app on their iPhone, but Ive got a bigger problem. How do I get people to do things they dont want to do? Taken aback by the directness and potentially immoral implications of his question, my gut reaction was to say, You cant and shouldnt To which his response was, I have to its my job.This gentleman, who asked that I not disclose his name, is the corporate equivalent of the guy the mob sends to break kneecaps if a worker doesnt do as theyre told. For the past decade, he has run the same methodical process of cajoling, and at times threatening, people to do things they dont want to do. Its really unfair and mean. I know it is, he said. But people have to comply or else people get hurt.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moraThis man is an identity and access management auditor at a well-known public accounting firm. Not exactlyGood Fellas, but high-stakes nonetheless. His Fortune 500 clients pay his firm to ensure managers complete lengthy inquiries involving hundreds of employees collecting thousands of pieces of information, usually on tight deadlines. Ever since Sarbanes-Oxley, these user access reviews just have to get done.Though the auditors job is unique, getting peopleto do uninteresting tasks (specifically those that are infrequent and involve work done outside normal responsibilities) is a common challenge. What are the ways to get people to do things they dont want to do?A Shot in the ArmI pondered this question and searched my mental database for examples of companies Ive worked with or could reference as case studies. But instead, I thought about the belastung time I saw someone willfully doin g something they didnt want to do my four-year-old daughter came to mind.We had recently taken her to the pediatrician for a final round of shots before kindergarten and, to our surprise, she left the doctors office with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. To a child, there are few things mora terrifying than getting stuck with needles, and it was the closest equivalent I could think of to completing the auditors user access reviews.What made my daughters visit to the doctor so painless helps illustrate three tactics anyone can use to get people to do things they dont inherently want to do.1. One Prick At A TimeWhen the nurse stepped into the examining room, my daughter knew something was up. On a small tray, she carried four intimidating syringes. But instead of showing them all to my daughter, she thoughtfully kept them out of view. At the appropriate time, she reached for a needle, one by one, careful to consider how her actions would be perceived by my daughter. She ta med the instruments of toddler torment through what designers callprogressive disclosure to the nurse, it was just considerate common sense.Staging tasks into small conquerable chunks is so basic yet so underutilized. Who wouldnt take the time to ease a childs fear with a little well-planned parsing? Yet in the office, it is all too common to lob large complex requests at our colleagues and be surprised by the ill-will we get in return. In the auditors case for example, he admitted that his clients start by sending long memos accompanied by even longer spreadsheets detailing the entire tedious task. No wonder their emails are met with contempt.Managers pushing down tasks know all the level of details and tend to think everyone else should, too. But thats just not the case. Most users just want to know what to do next, and flooding them with too much information induces stress and fear. Having the forethought to appropriately stage the work can reduce this fear, which ironically, in both children and adults, is often much worse than the prick of the needle itself.2. Reduce The Pain With ProgressIn the auditors case, his requests were particularly painful because they were too infrequent to become skill-building routines. Whereas many tasks become easier with time as people improve their abilities, corporate fire drills are dreaded for many reasons. For one, they distract workers from their regular duties. They often require learning new processes or hunting down long-discarded information. And worst of all, they can last for an undefined period of time, providing little visibility into when the pain will end.Just as parsing tasks into smaller chunks can make a job seem more achievable, providing greater insight into the progress made is another way to reduce cognitive stress. In the pediatricians office, the thoughtful nurse asked my daughter to count to five as she administered each shot, giving my daughter an idea of how long the pain would last and creating a sense of control.For years, game designers have utilized mechanisms to track advancement. Progress bars help players understand where they are in the game just as tracking and estimation tools could help workers better plan their work. These tools help inform how much time the next task should take and its relative place in the entire job. Providing a sense of progression is a form of feedback and is a key component of making unpleasant tasks more manageable.3. Get Out The Treasure ChestTo our amazement, even after receiving four shots, my daughter left the doctors office without shedding a single tear. The nurse used staged disclosure and eased the pain through progress indicators, but the final secret sat just outside the examination room.There, on her way in, my daughter ogled a mysterious box she knew was filled with prizes. After your visit, the nurse told her, youll get to zupflmmel anything youd like from the treasure chest. Offering prizes for the completion of certain tas ks is effective in both children and adults, but beware, there is risk in rewards.Numerous studies have shown that extrinsic rewards - incentives that are separate from the activity itself - often backfire. Reinforcing behavior this way tends to extinguish the pleasure of doing something for its own sake. For example, studies of children rewarded for doing activities they already enjoyed - like playing drums or drawing pictures- resulted in less motivation to do the activity later on.Where long-term behaviors are the goal, more purposeful incentives are better.Self-Determination Theory, as espoused by researchers Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, contends that people are motivated by deeper psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Clearly, making sure people know why their work matters is always the first step.But while motivating through meaning is preferred, there are circumstances when prizes are in fact appropriate. When it comes to tasks people dont want to do, specifically infrequent and uninteresting assignments, utilizing extrinsic rewards is safe because there is no existing behavior to de-motivate or extinguish. Shots in a four-year-olds arm and the boring, routine work doled out by the auditor qualify as just such occasions.What are appropriate rewards? Like everything in design, that depends on the person. Making a game out of the task doesnt necessarily mean giving away points and badges if the user doesnt find those incentives appropriate. However, utilizing other incentives, particularly those awarded with anglied of variability, can be highly encouraging, just as long as theyre used only in this very specific condition and not as part of day-to-day operations.Better Behavior DesignUnfortunately, the corporate norm remains drawing up a long list of what needs to get done and throwing it over the email wall to be completed or else There will always be tasks people dont want to do. But, there are ways to get people to do thin gs they dont want to do. There are better ways to motivate others, principally by designing conditions where people actuate themselves.Fundamentally, people resist being controlled and both the carrot and the stick can be tools for unwanted manipulation. Instead, designing behavior by putting in the forethought to appropriately stage tasks, providing progress indicators, and finally, offering celebratory rewards under the right circumstances, are easy ways to motivate while maintaining a sense of autonomy.Whether in the doctors office or the corner office, it is the job of the person inflicting the pain to do their utmost to ease it. Not doing so is intellectually lazy, whether to a kid or to a colleague. Considering how the receiver could more easily comply with the request is at the heart of inspiring action.This article originally appeared on Nir Far.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people