How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Seite 314

performance. In one study, there was a large difference in the
performance between asking someone to do their best and helping them
set their goals or standard for their performance.[12]
It is a general rule of thumb that greater or more difficult goals actually
increase performance. The reason for this is that lofty goals set a higher
expectation, and, as discussed already, expectations strongly influence
behavior. In a production plant, workers with little experience were
divided into two groups. One group was told to simply observe the
experienced workers and try to be able to perform at a skilled level
themselves within twelve weeks. The second group received specific
weekly goals that were progressively more and more demanding.
Needless to say, the second group fared much better.[13]
[12]C. A. Mace, Incentives: Some Experimental Studies (London: Industrial
Health Research Board, Report No. 72, 1935).
[13]Mortimer R. Feinberg, Effective Psychology for Managers (Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1986).

Environment
Your environment and the expectations of that environment should be
persuasive. In a theory they call the Broken Window Theory,
criminologists James Wilson and George Kelling suggest that a building
full of broken windows will cause people to assume that no one cares for
the building or its appearance. This in turn will spur more vandalism. In
other words, the environment's condition gives suggestions that lead
people to hold certain assumptions, and people then act on those
assumptions. The broken window invites greater vandalism and
crime.[14]
In his book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell uses an example of the
Broken Window Theory as he explains the New York City subway cleanup. The subway system was in dire need of rebuilding — a multibilliondollar endeavor. With the system about to collapse, the focus was
understandably on issues like reducing crime and improving subway
reliability. As a consultant hired by the New York Transit Authority,
George Kelling urged officials to utilize his Broken Window Theory.
Hired to clean up the subways, David Gunn immediately assigned people
to start cleaning up all the graffiti. Removing the graffiti seemed to be of
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