CHANGING CULTURE IN OUR BANKS

A GUEST BLOG FROM DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT ABOUT WHY IT'S TIME FOR OUR BANKS TO CHANGE - AND QUICKLY:

It’s been a rough week for the UK banking sector. Again.

Fines for Barclays fixing the LIBOR rate, with at least two other major banks rumoured to have been up to the same tricks. Mis-selling interest rate swaps to small and medium sized businesses. A new proposal for a European banking union, setting the rules from outside London.

The Radio 4 chatter this morning was about culture change. Separating investment banking from retail banking – taking the casino out of the supermarket – is considered a step in the right direction, but banks need to refocus their culture. They need to put ethics back at the heart of their operations.

This was then picked up by Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King, who said: “We can see we need a real change in the culture of the industry.”  Prime Minister, David Cameron, speaking from the EU summit in Brussels, also added his weight to the argument: “British people are crying out for a return to good old-fashioned banking… That’s why the governor is so in favour of changing culture at the banks and so am I.”

So if you are in charge of change management at a big bank, how do you do that? Change management consultants are fond of telling us that it takes seven years to change a culture. The banks simply don't have that long.

What is culture change?

Essentially, it’s people taking different actions. 

That may be based on a new set of values. Or, as is more often the case, it might be about trying to get people to behave in-line with existing values that have been forgotten or ignored in the commercial frenzy. 

Either way, the key is – actions. For culture change to be real and sustainable, it has to be about what people physically do, not just what they think.

Reminding people about old values, or teaching then new ones, and then letting them go back to their desks, their trading screens or their customer service counters is not enough. We’re habit machines. The old ingrained behaviours will soon rise to the top. Most people will go back to doing the same things they’ve always done and nothing will change.

Culture change is not about telling people about new values. It’s about getting them to live new values. 

To evolve a new culture by doing things differently. Put ‘doing’ at the heart of a culture change strategy, and change can happen in seven weeks. Not seven years.

Behavioural change? It's mental!

What a night that was! 
Polly tweeted that the evening was ‘mental’. Rose said it was ‘high energy’. Andy gave his book to a stranger he got chatting to on the train. Charlotte travelled all the way to Richmond wearing a badge that said Harlot. Mike said "I've just had the most interesting 45 minutes I've had with a stranger for a long time!"
It was the  launch of Flex: Do Something Different at the Groucho Club on Monday night.
Everyone got into the spirit of Do Something Different. Armed with a pack of Do cards they left their inhibitions at the door, donned their rhyming badges, grabbed a glass of wine and went for it!

Bald caps and black glasses (in homage to Ben Fletcher) were de rigeur for the Do team on the night. Rhyming badges made guessing people's names good fun (this is Neil above), even if Charlotte did get some funny looks on the tube going home.

One Do was to 'Pat a bald man on the head'. Not difficult with so many baldies floating around. People who didn't pat a slaphead were too busy taking off their shoes and introducing themselves to others in a foreign accent. Or gurning in the Doodio...

The Doodio was where people could go and take their own crazy photos. Weirdo expressions were optional.

Paul (or Tall as he was here) went out and befriended Darren, a Big Issue seller. He ended up giving him his Do cards, his copy of Flex, and vowing to keep in touch. A heart-warming story from what was a very chilly night, the sort of thing that happens when we talk to the least likely person...

Do Something Different always seems to lead to people doing more for others. 

I love that. A beautiful demonstration of this came from a super guy called Mike Clark. Mike bought a signed copy of our book, got everyone at the launch to sign it and then gave it back to Ben and I. What a fabulously karmic goosebumpy kind of gesture. 

That's why we're trying to get a million people to Do Something Different. It's behavioural change with a difference. It has to make the world a better place.

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NEW BOOK REVEALS PROFS’ SECRETS

Our book launch in London tonight (16th Jan). How exciting!

If all goes well I'll post some photos up here soon. If not, I'll just post some random pictures of very sensible people being well-behaved.

The new book? It's by by Professors Ben Fletcher and Karen Pine and it's called FLEX: Do Something Different. How to use the other 9/10ths of your personality

SEE BELOW FOR HOW YOU CAN WIN A FREE COPY.

Do Something Different. What a nice simple idea, someone commented recently. Yes, the idea IS simple. That’s what we like about it. 

But the science behind it is less than simple. In fact, it is based on over 30 years research. And now you can read about all the science behind do something different in the new book.

The book covers topics such as:

• ·      The personality trap
• ·      Shaping a life
• ·      The myth of willpower
• ·      Behavioural change
• ·      Alleviating stress
• ·      Behavioural flexibility
• ·      Doing the right thing
• ·      Towards greater personal coherence
• ·      How Do Something Different works
• ·      What a Do Something Different intervention looks like

Now you can experience for yourself the way we test people’s habit levels and their behavioural range. Be warned, it can be quite an eye-opener! These tests are used in our online programmes to design tailor-made Do’s for our Do-ers.

The Do’s, usually sent by text or email, start off simply. ‘Walk a different way to the shops’. ‘Listen to someone else’s music’. As people start to get the hang of it, the Do’s get more tailored to their own profile, spotting the gaps in their repertoire.  Helping them to expand new areas of their personality.

For example, a very systematic person might be encouraged to be more spontaneous, to:

·        Phone an old friend out of the blue

·        Turn up at the cinema and watch the next film that’s starting

·        Drop everything and invite a friend or colleague for a coffee 

And someone who’s introverted would be encouraged to try these extraverted Do’s:

·      Say hello to someone you've never spoken to before

·      Practise telling a funny story, embellish it for effect

·      Organise a night out at a karaoke bar, put your name down first.

The emphasis is on expanding the range of behaviours people use, so they flex the behaviours that don’t come naturally. People find they can approach old problems in new ways, which can help to reduce stress.

Professor Ben (C) Fletcher says about behavioural flexibility. “The more behaviours you have in your toolbox, the more able you are to react to different situations in your life, the less anxious you will be. Our Do Something Different programme helps people to develop new behaviours and break restrictive habits. It’s easy to do, most people find it great fun and it gets fantastic results.”

FLEX: Do Something Different. How to use the other 9/10ths of your personality, by psychologists Professor Ben (C) Fletcher and Professor Karen Pine, is published on 16^th January 2012, by University of Hertfordshire Press and available from Amazon.

TO WIN A FREE COPY ANSWER THIS QUESTION:

What type of machine do the authors of Flex say people are?

a) washing machine

b) mean machine

c) habit machine

Email me (k.j.pine@dsd.me) and I'll pick five correct answers at random to receive a free signed copy of Flex: Do Something Different.

When did you last do something different?

Are you a human habit machine?

Here's a quick test, taken from Flex:Do Something Different:

DO YOU OFTEN... 

• wear the same outfit because it’s easy or comfortable?
• express the same view?
• do something you said you'd give up doing?
• sit in the same spot to watch TV or eat a meal?
• visit the same holiday destination?
• recall negative things that people have said or done to you?
• watch a regularly scheduled TV programme?
• get bothered when people change plans at the last minute?

If you answered YES to three or more of these statements then you are probably very habitual. Yes, habits are comfortable but they mean many of us end up using only about a tenth of our potential.

The answer is to do something different. Why? Because it help improve a person's behavioural flexibility. And years of doing psychological research have convinced me that behavioural flexibility is the one critical asset we all need for a healthy and happy life.

That's why Do Something Different runs through all the work I do. It's incredibly powerful, and it's fun and life-enhancing too. 

We deliver behaviour change tools based on do something different via www.dsd.me and......

NOW - A NEW BOOK!
I'm so excited because we've put all the science and the methods for Do Something Different into ONE FABULOUS NEW BOOK.
It's called Flex: Do Something Different, How to use the other 9/10ths of your personality.
(Published by UH Press. See panel below right).

It's released on 16th January 2012 and is available from Amazon for pre-order. 


I hope you'll buy it, particularly if your habits need a good old shake-up!

Everything must change

This is a blog I wrote this month for Jayne Cox, the body image consultant who is currently running a wonderful campaign to help women cope with cancer. I thought I'd repost it here because the central message - about adapting to changes in circumstance - applies to the many twists and turns that life takes.....

There’s a song by Nina Simone that starts:

"Everything must change.... nothing stays the same"

It’s a beautiful haunting song.

One line goes, "There are not many things in life you can be sure of..."

A poignant reminder that everything changes. 

Our ideas shift. Our moods swing. People come and go. The weather changes. So does fashion.

Our bodies get sick. Friendships are gained and lost. 

We live in a world where nothing stays the same. And sometimes it’s hard to hang on to anything that will offer us security and protection. But there’s one lesson we can learn from nature. If you adapt, life is so much better. And that means letting go of old ideas and ways of being, and becoming more flexible.

Flexibility is key to coping with change, to having a good life and meaningful relationships. A flexible person is one everyone wants to be with. They don’t make unreasonable demands on others. They’ll go with the flow and still smile through it. They let go of the past easily and embrace change.

Faced with one of life’s crises, such as cancer, flexibility helps a woman cope with the fears and frustrations. She can adapt to the present reality, even though it may not be the reality she had planned.

Because reality knows nothing of your plans. It will come up with ever new ways to frustrate and frighten you. If you can’t adapt to the new reality you may be stressed, irritable, hostile - perhaps overwhelmed, grumbling, resisting.

That leaves little mental and emotional energy for dealing with what matters. Relaxing rigidity and expectations will help you to yield to others without getting too depresssed or upset. It also gives new space to those around you to express what they are thinking and feeling.

In our behaviour change work we give people who are coping with change a new mantra. Do Something Different. 

Because, in a changing world, if you’re still trying to hang on to old ways of being you might come crashing down.

Instead you can adapt and flourish.

Nothing has to stay the same. If you always loved classical music, try blasting out some rock. If your wardrobe was sensible and conservative, wear something wacky. If you were a shrinking violet, get gobby and voice your opinions. Wear odd socks. Give more hugs. Dance under the stars. Give some money away. Sing loudly.

If anyone says, “But you don’t…” be ready to say, “Well I do now”

Times of change are also times for reinvention. Don’t be afraid to use this time to become the person you always wanted to be.

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