As the pandemic keeps going and going, COVID-19 seems to be here to stay. Over the last 2 years, my wife has picked up a new hobby, which has the name of “Albo Monstera”. It’s an expensive type of plant that contains certain genetically modified traits that make the leaves turn white. The more white spots a leaf has, the more expensive it becomes. Taking care of these plants is time-consuming and sometimes stressful as she has to deal with water, light, humidity, soil, bugs, and temperature, just to name a few. There are so many things that you need to know to keep the plants alive and healthy.
Watching her maintaining a beautiful corner of our living room that is full of lively plants, I learned quite a few things that are related to what I do for a living, which is people management.
Each person is different and genetically defined in a certain way
As the plant collection grows, we used to go hunting for these genetically modified plants in stores. A plant either has the traits, or they don’t. It is almost impossible to introduce a genetic modification once the plant has matured. Even the ones with the white genes, they can even correct those errors in the genetic code and return their leaves to the original green color.
With people, I find it is a lot easier to bring out what people already have inside. The process of finding out what a person is like takes time, but once you know what’s inside (his/her personality, interests, passions, aspirations), it is very easy to nurture and feed those seeds that are already there. Trying to introduce new personalities/characteristics to a person is like trying to genetically change a plant’s DNA hoping for a good trait to show up. Maybe you can do it, but I find it is usually not worth the time. Stick to what’s already inside.
You can only lead the horse to the water
With the monstera, you only want to water them weekly, and with a certain type of water. Water them too much and their roots can rot. Water with non-distilled water and something bad can happen (I’m not entirely sure what, tho, something). The plants also want warm temperatures and high humidity for an optimal growing environment. Even when you do everything right, all you can do it to sit and wait for them to grow into the beautiful plants they are destined to be.
With people, I have learned the hard way many times that forcing people to do certain things, just because you know that it is good for them, is a sure way to get them to hate it. Nobody wants micro-management or to be told exactly what to do all the time. What I can do is lead them to the opportunities and nudge them toward them. I would come 50% of the way, and wait and hope they do the other 50%. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but I’ve learned to sleep better at night knowing I’ve done everything I “should have” done for my peeps.
Environment design and choice architecture are the two concepts I am very interested in. I strongly believe they are the key to “nudging” the people you want to lead toward the desired outcome. Just like a plant, you can give it everything it needs to grow and wait, all you can do to your team is to give them what they need to succeed and hope for the best.