If we’re trying to get others to take action, we have to start with the big things.
We need to understand their worldview, the story they tell themselves—about themselves and about status and power. We need to align our narrative to these elements and make them the hero of this story.
Hopefully, we’re getting most of these pieces right most of the time.
But our job is to do more than this.
Our job is to also smooth the path towards action in a million tiny ways. These small tweaks add up to big changes in behavior, and we can practice them all the time. Think of this as the things we do to file down the big pieces, so they snap together.
The purpose of these steps is to make it that much easier to get a person to do what we hope they will do.
And that starts with empathy.
What does it feel like to be them?
What is their day like?
How much of their attention have I earned?
How many steps am I asking them to take?
How easy is it to take these steps?
How obvious is what I’d like them to do?
How much trivial stuff am I asking them to ignore along the way?
So often, we are, unintentionally, us-focused. We give people information in the way we’d be happy to receive it—an orientation clouded by our hope that (of course!) they’re inclined to do what we’d like them to do, so they’ll be OK pushing through these small inconveniences. Things like:
Using language that makes sense to us (including jargon).
Assuming that they have the same context we have.
Thinking that they’ll correctly choose between multiple paths.
Or fill in the blanks.
Or wade through uncertainty and clutter.
Think of it this way: Amazon spent millions developing the patent for ‘Buy With 1-Click,’ and that patent led to billions in new revenues.
If it’s worth that much to them, it’s probably worth that much to you.
So, the next time you’re asking someone to do something—especially if you’re doing it electronically (Slack, email, etc)—take a moment to ask yourself:
“How could I make it twice as easy for them to do what I’ve asked them to do?”
Here are some more ideas on how to do just that (bonus: AI could help every time. The prompt is: “Please make this note simpler and clearer, with a more direct call to action.”)
