Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, Second Edition

by Joseph Grenny

To see how the search for vital behaviors is key to a rigorous influence project, consider the efforts of learning expert Dr. Ethna Reid. She has spent over 50 years doggedly observing teachers in order to identify the vital behaviors that separate the best from the rest. She has codified, gathered, and studied data on virtually every type of teaching behavior, compared these behaviors to the desired results, and discovered a handful of high-leverage actions that make all the difference. One of the vital behaviors Dr. Reid has unearthed concerns the use of praise versus the use of punishment. (For some, this appears to be a no-brainer.) The best teachers reward positive performance far more frequently than their counterparts. A second vital behavior is that teachers rapidly alternate between teaching and testing. Then, when required, they make immediate corrections. Poor performers drone on for a long time and then let students struggle, often allowing them to repeat errors. By watching positive deviants (those teaching similarly challenged students who get substantially better learning) and discovering the actions they took that separated them from the pack, Dr. Reid has been routinely successful in uncovering the vital behaviors leading to improvements in everything from reading comprehension to vocabulary acquisition. Of course, the real test of a vital behavior comes when scholars take newly discovered vital behaviors and teach them to experimental groups. If they have...