could have a potentially large impact. Or, rather than leave it to chance that employees will proactively read them, you could take the stories to your staff. In the same way Adam Grant arranged for staff to read stories about the impact their efforts could make, the team leader and supervisors might begin each staff meeting by reviewing a customer account of a job well done. Given some of the insights we have previously discussed on commitment strategies it might even be more powerful to ask team members to pick out their favorite stories and read them out loud to their colleagues rather than a manager reading them.
Another change a savvy manager could make would be to actually ask customers to come and tell their stories so staffs could hear their accounts firsthand. These days, thanks to technology like Skype and FaceTime, this doesn’t even require a physical visit to the company’s office, so it’s fairly easy for workers located in a place like Ames, Iowa, to see the impact they and their products have had on customers in Nairobi, Kenya, for example. Evidence of the potential upsides of this approach comes from a further insight gleaned from Adam Grant’s studies—that is, when callers had an opportunity to meet scholarship students face-to-face and hear their stories, it further fueled callers’ motivation and success.
The applications of this SMALL BIG are potentially limitless. Pharmaceutical companies, for example, could reconnect their sales representatives to the significance of what they do by arranging for patients to describe how their life has improved as a result of their medication. Social workers and home helpers are likely to feel more appreciated if they learn, firsthand, of the difference they make to people’s lives.
Finally, in recounting a story from his experiences in the call center, Grant describe a sad sign he saw above someone’s desk. It read “Doing a good job in this place is like wetting your pants in a dark suit. You get a warm feeling no one recognizes.” Maybe that’s the smallest change of all for a manager to make—to simply say “well done” to an employee who has made a difference.
Chapter 12.
What SMALL BIGs should you look to avoid when it comes to successfully making decisions?
I n 1973, Barry Diller, the then VP of prime-time programming at the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), shattered the record for the amount paid for the rights to broadcast a single movie, shelling out $3.3 million to air The Poseidon Adventure on TVs around the nation.
This huge sum alone would have been enough to raise many eyebrows ($15.3 million in today’s dollars), but even more astonishing was the fact that the moment he put pen to paper, Diller already knew he would be losing at least $1 million on the deal.
So, what would influence a seasoned executive with years of industry experience to pay more than he should have, wanted to, or even needed to? And when it comes to your own negotiations, what small changes can you make that could help you avoid making a similar error?
Let’s leave 1970s TV for a few moments and transport ourselves to an entirely different environment—the modern-day business school. On the first day of his negotiating class Max Bazerman, a professor at Harvard Business School, conducts an interesting experiment. He takes a $20 bill from his wallet and offers it up for auction. Anyone is welcome to take part in the auction provided that they abide by the auction’s two rules. Bids must be made in $1 increments and the runner-up must, as a penalty, pay an amount equivalent to their last bid while receiving nothing in return. The auction begins and hands quickly go up as people try to seize the opportunity to acquire cash on the cheap. “The pattern is always the same,” Bazerman says. “The bidding starts out fast and furious.” But then something interesting happens.
As the bids approach the $14–$16 range it suddenly becomes clear to each bidder
Lisa Grunwald, Stephen Adler