How do we make people do stuff?

How do we make people do stuff?

The simple answer is that we don't.

In any absolute sense, we can't -- and thank goodness for that!

History provides us many examples of organizations who have tried (and failed) to force people into actions they didn't want to take. There will always be a resistance, and sometimes resisting at their own peril and never making it into the history books at all.

Fortunately, when it comes to training, the consequences aren't so dire. Eventually you can theoretically be fired for failure to comply with compliance training policy, though I've yet to see that happen in real life, personally.

The better question is: how do we help people want to do the stuff that we want them to do?

Like that compliance training course on Harassment Prevention or Customer Information Security, how do we frame that to be in people's best interest?

Answer #1: Ensure that we made it for the people we want to do it.

No training is for "everyone". Not ever. Not everyone can understand English, or hear sound, or see what fancy thing you made. Everything we make, we make for a subset of "everyone". Who are they? What do they care about? What is their life like? What are the most common issues they stumble over? What are their self-described needs on the topic, if any?

When it comes to Harassment Prevention, maybe it's not telling people how not to harass each other. Maybe it's helping them stick up for each other instead. Maybe it's helping people who are awkwardly trying to connect do it in a more appropriate way. Yes, we have to include the legally-mandated contact numbers and consequence lists, but it doesn't have to be the focus. No one shows up wanting this information on day one, or every year in accordance with company policy. What we can give them are dangerously real-world scenarios that engage them and spark conversations and cultural shifts. We all want a workplace that's safe for everyone, right?. Because anyone who doesn't really should be let go, prior to commiting any actions with potentially legal ramifications.

For Customer Information Security, we all want our own info to be safe. Telling stories that connect us to those whose information we're handling are key to helping the otherwise boring content hit home. It's about being responsible and limiting company liability, sure. So sneak those policies in there, but don't make them the focus. The focus is on ensuring that our occasional accidents or bad habits don't result in people's lives getting ruined. And that anyone who has alterior motives for the personally identifiable data of others is exposed and expelled from the organization.

There are people who don't want to take training because they think they know the content already. They're often right!

But we have a chance to help them get to know the content differently. Better. In more nuanced and more important ways.

Yes, it's required. That doesn't mean that it's required to suck. The suck factor is on us. Lawyers squirm when I say this, but I think it's our job to be relentless advocates for our people. We need to make this stuff matter, or...it just doesn't.

That may mean dozens of rounds of approvals for a simple compliance course. It may mean escalating things above legal to the organization's leadership for resolution. You might get yelled at and told to cut it out. You might get threatened or bullied or dismissed.

Here's your big chance to resist. Your life is not on the line if you don't comply. Your job might be. You make the call on how much is too much, and how much just isn't worth it to you.

The only job I was ever fired from was for a case like this. It was scary. It sucked. And I've never regretted it. I hope you are never in that position, but I trust you to make the best decision you can, given all the factors you'll have to weigh.

You know what happens when you're willing to fight that hard for people's trust? They tend to trust you.