Monday 22 August 2011

Elevator Experiment - Social Proof in Action

Here's a really interesting social experiment that was carried out by the people at Candid Camera. It provides a perfect example of social proof, which can be useful knowledge to have when you want to influence others.

What you will see here is that people are influenced by the behaviour of the other people in the elevator, after all, they can't all be wrong can they?



The principle of social proof states that one important method people use to decide what to believe or how to act in a situation is to look at what other people are believing or doing.

Our need to revert to this behaviour usually happens in two instances. These are:

  • Similarity – people are more likely to follow the lead of others that are similar

  • Uncertainty – when people are unsure and the situation is ambiguous they are more likely to follow actions of others to determine what is correct
Social proof is inherent in many aspects of our life and is certainly growing with the advent of the internet and other technical advances. The use of reviews by many websites, including Amazon is an example of social proof in action. More recently, Blogs have become a method of creating a following of like-minded people.

Social proof can be an extremely powerful tool in the marketing of a company’s products and services. After all, if your current customers (who happen to be a lot like me) are so happy with your products, then surely I will be too?

This youtube clip is really helpful in demonstrating how individual's can be influenced by others and the need to pay close attention to the theory of social proof. This is covered in more depth in the Trainer Bubble training course materials, 'The Power of Influence', which is available for purchase from the Trainer Bubble website. You should buy these, everyone else is!

Friday 19 August 2011

Icebreaker - A new way to present them

You might have guessed that we're a little addicted to creating videos at the moment. We think it's a really interesting way to deliver information and we thought we'd test the concept on an icebreaker. See what you think...



Wednesday 17 August 2011

Body Language Training

We've been getting a bit carried away with the promotional videos lately. Here's our latest effort for our Body Language Training materials available at www.trainerbubble.com



Thursday 4 August 2011

Trainer Bubble Promo Video - Just for fun

I've just been having a bit of fun with creating a new promotional video for Trainer Bubble. It's not as slick as I'd like it, but was good fun and helped me procrastinate a bit today!

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Team Building - Developing a Team Vision

When trying to implement a team building programme, a useful starting point is to help the team appreciate what makes a team work to the same goals and principles. Core to this team building principle is the ability to develop a team vision.

Every team must have a clear understanding of what they are trying to achieve and how this fits into the wider organisational picture in order to work effectively. It helps if this is presented in a challenging and meaningful way, where individuals feel that they are contributing to a wider goal.

Without this sense of purpose individuals begin to work independently and become focused only on their own set tasks with little concern for the impact it might have on others in the team or organisation. I’m sure you can think of situations where somebody says they are, ‘just doing their job’ and yet the impact of their actions has a hugely detrimental effect on others.

Quite often in business the purpose and direction of an organisation is summed up with a vision statement. You may already be aware of some of the larger organisations vision statements from the past…

Land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth by the end of the decade. - NASA

PepsiCo's responsibility is to continually improve all aspects of the world in which we operate - environment, social, economic - creating a better tomorrow than today. - PepsiCo

To be the world's best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile. –McDonald’s

To empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device. - Microsoft

Now, you might not agree with these vision statements or even think they are clear, exciting or achievable. However, they do provide clarity and a common purpose to the organisation it was designed for. When trying to improve team building and develop teams, this is crucial.

The idea of using a vision statement can also be useful for teams within an organisation as it gives everyone a guiding principle that clearly emphasises the aims and focus of the team, while giving everyone a common purpose and goal.
A key benefit of a vision statement for a team is that it provides clarity when their might be confusion. For example; if a team member is presented with a difficult decision to make that could affect the rest of the team or the organisation as a whole, they can think to themselves, ‘Does this action align with our team vision?’ The answer will tell them how to progress.

A good example of how well someone buys into a vision statement and is clear on their role within an organisation relates to the NASA vision statement provided in the slide. The story goes that President Kennedy was on a tour of NASA headquarters and was being introduced to the staff. Upon leaving he walked passed a gentleman that was quite clearly a janitor holding a broom. In his usual polite way JFK said to the man, “...and what do you do here?” to which the janitor replied, ‘Sir, I’m putting a man on the moon.”

I think it’s clear that this guy had bought into the vision of his organisation!

This is a short excerpt from the Trainer Bubble training course materials for, Team Building, which can be purchased from our website at www.trainerbubble.com