Peer pressure gets a bad press and for obvious reasons. However, peer pressure can also be a force for good, particularly in terms of leadership development. Let’s explain why.
It is very easy to go on a training programme and get all fired up about how to do things differently - how to lead a team differently, how to schedule your workload differently or whatever else it is that you want to change. And then you get back to work and it all falls apart within a few days. Why? Because you have 50 emails to answer and everyone wants to talk to you because you’ve been off the radar for a couple of days, so you are soon immersed in the day to day of work. Top this off with the fact that everyone else expects you to be doing your job the same way you always have.
However, if you have set goals and shared those goals publicly, you have a much stronger chance of actually achieving them.
Research by Dr Gail Matthews, a psychology professor at a US university, supports this view. Her study shows that sharing goals with other people significantly increases the likelihood that they will become a reality.
The research, which encompassed 267 participants, found that 76% of those who sent weekly progress updates to a friend reported successful goal achievement. This compares to 62% of participants who wrote their goals and action commitments down and shared them with a friend. One group of participants neither shared their goals, nor wrote them down and only 43% had accomplished their goals or were well on their way at the end of the study.
The very act of formulating goals is good. It clarifies what you want and need to do. Working out how to achieve them and setting targets is the next important step in the process. Then sharing that with others, be it a friend, colleague or peers from your training programme, increases your chances of success yet further.
Going public with goals and aspirations sets expectations, both internally and externally. If a training cohort all do this – publicly state goals and regularly update on progress – it is very powerful. This is where the peer pressure bit comes in. Positive peer pressure incentivises people to set the ball rolling and then to keep it rolling.
There’s nothing like encouraging messages from peers, congratulating you on your progress, to make you strive for further achievement. Or seeing how others are progressing with their goals and realising that you have let yours slip – that’s a good motivator too. Sometimes, a little nudge from a goal-setting buddy is required to keep things on track. That’s when a cohort can pull together in a really powerful way.
To get some clear "outcomes" from a training session, ask the learner;
- What have I learned
- What will I do differently as a result of having learned this, and
- What difference will it make if I do?
Now the goal is clear and there is an intent form the learner's side, you can use peer pressure to increase the likelihood that something will actually change.
Here are our top tips;
Have the learners write their goals down in a shared portal - Discuss the goals in the group, including things that can help or hinder them in reaching that goal
- Encourage learners to report on progress, as well as set-backs in the portal
- Encourage the peers to support each other and help find solutions to problems along the way
- Create a buddy-system with scheduled check on progress (organised peer-pressure!)
- Always consider the learners' need for support and guidance at the point of applying what they have learned.
Building communities of practice from learning initiatives is one way of bringing the gap between theory and practice. Peer-pressure is a powerful tool in the facilitator's toolkit. Use it wisely and you can build vibrant and valuable communities of learning and mutual support.
Learn more about Noddlepod's use as a group facilitation tool.