Beating organizational procrastination to help your cause.
Right now. That’s what our brains care most about. Overvaluing short-term benefits vs. longer-term consequences is a critical culprit in many of the problems we are working to solve. In behavioral science terms this is known as present bias. And it’s the same hardwiring that fuels substance misuse, stunts environmental conservation and impedes preventative healthcare. It impacts all of us every day.
Procrastination is the more pedestrian side effect of present bias. When things get tough, we check email. That feels like an accomplishment. And how many times has the present-biased devil on your shoulder told you the hard things can wait? Like dismissing the staffer who drains your team’s energy or putting off the grant application due next month.
What’s brutal about scenarios like these is the cognitive dissonance they cause. The inner conflict that occurs when you know better but don’t act accordingly. It festers beneath the surface, causing anxiety and tanking job satisfaction. Avoiding later is killing you now.
Now let’s combat the cycle. How big of an impact does your organization have right now? Visualize that impact.
Back up and think big. Imagine three years from now.
Take a moment. Visualize that success.
As devotees of causes, you probably first visualized an individual your organization has benefited. Many of you then visualized that person, family or community replicated many more times. You are doing good things, so naturally, you want to do more.
Then reality sets in. You start ticking off all the things that make expanding your impact difficult. Here are the three I hear the most:
1 |
Sustainability |
“Our funding is tight as is. I don’t know how I’d find the money to expand.”
2 |
Capacity |
“My staff is stretched thin already. I can’t ask any more from them. If I did, I know some of them would leave.”
3 |
Mission Alignment |
“Growth means change. Our culture is mission-based. I’m scared we’ll lose our way and compromise our core values.”
The most insidious thing about present bias? It’s rationalization impersonating a cool-headed realist. The same thing that allows people one more cigarette, a super-sized drive-through meal, a day with no exercise, or a night of binge drinking. And like all rationalizations, the bubble eventually bursts.
Given the scale of our problems and the evolution of our economy, change isn’t a choice.
If you’ve gotten this far, you’ve already taken the first steps to combat present bias: goal setting, time perspective shifting, and visualization. So here are a couple more for the road:
Consequence awareness: Think about what’s at stake if your organization doesn’t evolve.
Accountability and support: Develop a time-activated plan with the help of your staff and board of directors.
How about one more behavioral science principle to motivate you? Habituation. We’re most stimulated by new experiences. As the events become more habitual, we become less responsive and effective. Remember the fervor you felt when you started your job? Get it back by breaking free of present bias and reaching for something new.
You deserve it,
Kevin
