The Great Wall of China is an engineering wonder.
It was built, re-built, and fortified over a number of centuries to keep various nomadic tribes out. And it worked… so much so that some of today’s leaders took inspiration and wanted to build their own versions! Oh no, she didn’t!!!
But even the greatest of fortresses have the weakest point, right?
For the most part, the wall kept intruders out.
Built from many different materials, depending on the dynasty that was building it, some parts of the wall were made stronger than others. Some even used rice in the mortar recipe. Knowing this, it would be easy to assume what the weakest point of the wall was…
But you’d be surprised!
The weakest point of the Great Wall of China were the people!
Who now???
The most prominent successful invasions of the Great Wall were actually due to soldiers, guards, and/or generals simply letting the invaders in through the gates, in exchange for bribes.
A lesson we can all learn from this?
You can have the best systems and processes in place, BUT…
Unless your people do what needs to be done; you’re going nowhere, fast! Every outcome that the processes are intended to achieve depends on people’s behaviours, from the cleaner to the CEO.
But just because we know we should do something, doesn’t mean we’re gonna do it.
Be intentional about designing your work environment with triggers and consequences in place, to cause your people to want to do the right behaviours. This will ensure your organisation becomes much like an episode of the Oprah show, but instead of cars:
“You get an outcome, you get an outcome, everyone gets an outcome!”
Mirta is a Director of ViAGO Limited, a behavioral science enthusiast, and a mum to three boisterous boys.