Critical Mass

An operations manager had a problem.

Mechanical parts and components were scattered on the warehouse floor at all times. Employees even had trouble walking without stepping on something. For months, he repeatedly told his employees never to leave parts on the floor and always store them properly.

They never did.

The problem was that the warehouse was too big, and the manager was too busy to consistently enforce the standards they asked his employees to follow.

So, he decided to restrict the scope of change to a single point in the warehouse and to obsess over it. He chose the area next to a machine. He held a stand-up meeting with the warehouse employees and told them that the area next to the machine always had to be clear of all parts. He told them to clear it immediately and didn’t leave the warehouse until that area had been cleared.

For the next month, he made a point of visiting the warehouse multiple times a day and, first thing there, look at the floor next to that machine to see whether it was clear. If not, he would immediately stop whatever he was doing, walk to the nearest employee, remind him that the area had to be clear, and stay there until it was.

He obsessed over it.

After a week, the warehouse employees learned that the machine area was to be left clear.

After two weeks, the employees began noticing that the area next to the machine was easier to walk in and parts were easier to find there.

After three weeks, the magic happened. The employees began to clear the other areas of the floor of their own account.

The manager achieved what he couldn’t before by focusing change over a small area, obsessing over it, and letting others see the benefit of the change.

This is the magic of obsessive consistency. Once the workers understand that they can change faster than their manager, they will. Once they understand that if they change, good things happen, they will.

Good managers know the effectiveness of obsessive consistency.

Good managers aim to reach critical mass

They know that habits need a critical mass to form.

Some experts say an action becomes a habit once it is repeated for 21 straight days. Others say it becomes a habit once everyone in a room performs it at once.

Both groups of experts recognize the importance of reaching a critical mass of action, both on the temporal and social levels.

Consistency is essential for two reasons. First, it helps to achieve the critical mass that leads to action being converted to habits in our brains. Second, lack of consistency kills habits. The first time that you allow an employee to perform below standard without consequence, you open the door to him doing it a second time or to others doing it for the first time. They and their peers will interpret it as a signal that no one cares if someone performs below standard. It doesn’t matter whether it is true. What matters is the perception that is created.

Because good managers know the importance of reaching critical mass, they restrict the scope of the change to be achieved at a time. Instead of asking their subordinates to adopt five new habits this month, they ask them to adopt only one. Otherwise, they would have to divide their limited time between noticing and praising or reprimanding five habits or lack thereof. By focusing on noticing a single habit, good managers decrease the likelihood of missing an instance where a subordinate failed to express the required habit.

Because they know the importance of reaching critical mass, good managers restrict the number of people who must adopt a new habit at a given time. Instead of requiring their whole building to adopt a new habit, they focus on one or two teams at a time. This way, they won’t have to spread their attention too thin. They ensure that no bad habit will go unnoticed and no good one unreinforced. They know that employees watch how their colleagues are treated. If they see a colleague failing to adopt a new habit and nothing is happening, they will learn that they can do the same. By obsessing over a single new habit of a small group of people at a time, good managers ensure that no such occurrence occurs.