There is a simpler way to inspire change. In recent years, social scientists led by Todd Thrash have demystified the phenomenon of inspiration. At its core, inspiration is what happens when a person feels stimulated to bring some new idea to life after becoming spontaneously aware of new possibilities. Bold visions of greatness and charismatic speeches are certainly one way to elicit that feeling. But a few years ago, we stumbled onto another way.
In a series of field experiments, my colleagues and I at Decision Pulse asked groups of managers across four different companies to anonymously submit changes they had decided to make in response to a larger change initiative. We then asked the managers in each group to view the list of decisions made by their colleagues, and to vote for the decision that had the biggest impact at their respective companies. After our experiments, a clear pattern emerged among the winning decisions. See if you can spot the winner in this set of choices below from managers at a health insurance company.
