“On my honor, I will try….”
So begins the Girl Scout Law. The Girl Scout Promise is similar. “I will do my best to be….” And then a litany of virtues from honesty through courage to sisterhood. Every Scout meeting begins with the Law and the Promise. You likely did the same as a child if you were a Scout. You likely also stood in your morning homeroom class and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Other organizations use songs, creeds, vision statements.
Do these Codes of Conduct actually improve conduct? The research says they do, as long as we remember them. Dan Ariely discusses the concept in his excellent book, “The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty”. His team conducted experiments which showed that a simple reminder about good conduct and moral behavior reduced the incidents of cheating. And this weekend, I had the opportunity to try it out.
My daughter’s Girl Scout Troop loves to camp, so there we were; out in the woods without much to do. [My fault, and the wisdom of giving 10-year-old Scouts too much time on their hands should be duly questioned.] Before long, the in-fighting began, with the various cabins pitted against each other.
We called each cabin out to the unit shelter and had them recite the Girl Scout Law and Promise. They weren’t in trouble. Each Scout was asked to simply evaluate her behavior in the context of who she is, as a Scout who does her best. And it worked! They figured it out. The warring ended and the cooperation began.
Are your cabins — departments — distracted by internal disputes? Are they more focused on each other than they are on the mission, the vision and the values of the organization?
Try reminding your team, early and often, of their greater purpose.
Remind them of why they are there. Not to earn money, or be seen as better than their co-workers. Remind them that they are there to serve the customer and each other.
Remind them of who they are.