Whispers in their ear
Who has the most influence over the main players in your problem?
This is Andrew Benedict-Nelson, social change strategist and innovation educator. Each week, I share a question that you and your organization can use to find a new perspective on the toughest problems you face. Reply to the e-mail or comment on the site and we can talk about them together!
NOW FOR THIS WEEK’S QUESTION…
Take a look at some of the most important people and organizations in the world of your problem. All of these actors have other people and organizations who influence them but who may not play a role in your problem directly. Who are these outside influencers and what effect are they having on the way your problem works?
When I start work on a new problem with a student or client, I almost always start by asking about “the usual suspects” — the people or groups who everybody associates with the problem, also known as primary actors. I explained how to learn the basics about your actors in an earlier post. Today’s exercise is an additional step you can take to gain further insight into the groups that populate the world of your problem.
For every “primary actor” there is a group of “secondary actors” who influence that group’s behavior. The easiest example to think of is family. Even though your spouse, parents, siblings, or friends may not know all the details of the problem you are working on, their past and present behavior has doubtless had an influence on how you act. Sometimes this influence is general character (i.e. “this is the type of people we are and how we behave”) but in other cases it can be quite specific. (i.e. “if you hire that man I will never speak to you again.”)
By definition, the influence of these secondary actors can be difficult to discern. You may never be able to understand it perfectly. But just thinking about it can help you see aspects of your problem you couldn’t see before.
HOW TO DO IT
If you haven’t already, put together a list of the most important people and organizations that play roles in the social problem you are trying to solve. Don’t worry about making it comprehensive — you can always go back and add more people and groups. Just satisfy your internal sense that you’ve listed the most important folks. Check out this post if you want some help doing this.
Next, look at each actor one at a time and think about them independently from the role they play in your problem. Who are essential characters in their world? Who do they talk to or worry about on a regular basis? What associations are essential to their identity or well-being? If they are an organization, who funds them? Use these questions to make a list of who influences them. Remember, just about every actor has some outside person or group who has their ear.
Now comes the step where you get to cheat. Look around the list you’ve made and ask yourself if any secondary actors are influencing more than primary actor. If it makes you happy, write their names down again. You might be on the road to discovering a really important secondary actor!
The crucial step for this exercise is recognizing patterns and figuring out what they mean. For example, let’s say that you discover that all of your actors are connected to the mayor of your city. That could be a really significant discovery that tells you that you need to get the mayor’s office involved. Or it just might mean that all the actors live in the same small town. To figure out the difference, ask yourself, “Now that I see this pattern, is there anything I can do that I couldn’t do before?”
Finally, I’ll address one question that always comes up with this exercise. Let’s say that along the way you discovered a secondary actor so powerful that you think they might actually be a primary actor. How can you tell the difference? The key question is whether the person or group plays a specific, defined role in your problem. For example, in many political problems in the United States, industry lobbyists may exercise influence informally, but they are in fact primary actors. For example, everyone understands that nothing can be done about climate change without considering the actions of fossil fuel companies. But religious and cultural groups might be considered secondary actors, since they influence political decision-makers in a less defined way.
CAN YOU GIVE ME AN EXAMPLE?
Sure. This comes from an Insight Lab where I wasn’t actually present, but I interviewed a bunch of the participants afterward. A group of philanthropists in Chicago were wondering why the new generation of business leaders were not taking the leadership roles in civic life that previous generations had.
When these two groups of actors were studied more closely, it was clear that they had come from industries with different characters. The old guard came from traditional manufacturing and product brands where it was important to slowly cultivate market share (and relationships to go with it). The new generation were tech entrepreneurs who valued disruption and had not necessarily formed the same kind of local ties. Understanding these groups’ very different peer groups helped the Lab participants understand that they would need to make a different kind of pitch to get the tech leaders involved.
COOL, SO WHAT MAKES THIS WORK?
This question is an example of how to analyze a social problem using the actors dynamic. It’s one of six innovation dynamics I help people master to improve their critical thinking and build strategies for social change. Reply to this e-mail with your answer to the question and I’ll let you know what I think! Or learn more by visiting http://www.teachingsocialchange.com.
Image: Selection from “The Gossips” by Normal Rockwell
I'm applying this technique to a family dynamic--very interesting...