Stop giving advice or solving the problem
Daniele Catalanotto
Daniele Catalanotto
A Service Design principle to change behaviours.
Context
Two different approaches to change inspired me and seem like two puzzle pieces that fit well together: Motivation Interviewing and Community-Led Total Sanitation.
When teaching Motivational Interviewing, a technic used by psychologists to help people overcome addition, specialists say that giving advice forces people to express why they don't want to change, which makes them say and hear that they are not ready for change. So advice doesn't work.
The Community-Led Total Sanitation helps people to realize that outdoor pooping is shitty. There is no training or education offered. Instead an external guy came and asked questions like: Where do you shit? Who shat here? Who's shit is this? Where goes the water go when it rains? There are flies on the shit, do you have flies at home too? Step by step this make it possible for people to realize that they are eating the shit of their neighboor. So solving the problem for others doesn't work.
The Community-Led Total Sanitation helps people to realize that outdoor pooping is shitty. There is no training or education offered. Instead an external guy came and asked questions like: Where do you shit? Who shat here? Who's shit is this? Where goes the water go when it rains? There are flies on the shit, do you have flies at home too? Step by step this make it possible for people to realize that they are eating the shit of their neighboor. So solving the problem for others doesn't work.
My early thoughts in video
Side notes
This is the first draft of this Service Design Principle. Once adapted and refined multiple time, this principle will be part of the book "Service Design Principles 201-300"
Daniele Catalanotto
Second draft
The Community-Led Total Sanitation helps people to realise that outdoor pooping is shitty. There is no training or education offered. Instead, an external guy came and asked questions like:
Step by step, this makes it possible for people to realise that they are eating the shit of their neighbour.
So solving the problem for others doesn't work.
Therefore, we should stop giving advice or solving problems for other people. Instead, let them realise by themselves that there is a problem and ask them how they think they would like to solve it. Only offer advice if people have realised they have a problem, expressed ideas on how to solve it, and asked for help.
When teaching Motivational Interviewing, a technic used by psychologists to help people overcome addiction, specialists say that giving advice pushes people to express why they don't want to change, which makes them say and hear that they are not ready for change.
So advice doesn't work.
Instead of giving advice, motivational interviewing advises you to let people discover and think about the qualities and forces they already possess and what they think about the situation at hand. (1)
Action Question
Footnotes
(1) There is a lot of research on this topic, which you can find by searching for "motivational interviewing academic studies".
These two different approaches to change (Motivation Interviewing and Community-Led Total Sanitation) seem like two puzzle pieces that fit well together: