Leaderboard

Benchmark Six Sigma Expert View by Venugopal R Ben Franklin effect may sound paradoxical. As quoted in his auto biography, his statement, in simpler terms, implies that one who has already done you a favor will be highly likely to do another one. He had also written that in his personal experience, it was one of his adversaries whom he approached for a favor and later they ended up becoming lifelong friends. Based on my own personal experiences, both in career and day-to-day life, there have been many instances, where we can relate the Ben Franklin effect positively, and at the same time, there have been negative incidents as well. However, since there is more to gain than lose by trying and adopting the approach, it is worthwhile discussing and exploring this topic. As per general human psychology, most people hesitate to approach someone for a favor for various reasons; more so, if it happens to be one with not-so-good relationship. Let us consider two different situations: For many instances, there may not be anything wrong in asking for help when one needs it from someone who is in a better position to provide that help. What might come in the way could possibly be a psychological barrier. Second case is when the person happens to be one with a strained relationship due to some past incident. While we could have examples for the above situations both in business and personal lives, we will discuss a few business scenarios. Customer Supplier relationship When we find it difficult to deliver products / services on time or right quality, we may request our customer for help. It could be clarifications on specifications, provide training on a process, help us with some checks at their end and provide feedback or discuss on an alternate approach and so on. Many times, reaching out to customer for such assistance is hesitated or postponed, with a notion that we might project a negative impression by asking for help – however, we would have noticed that more often than not, the customer would have been eager to help us out. Upon thanking the customer for their help, we can expect that this would encourage them to enhance the collaboration and support us during genuine situations in the future as well. Similarly, during certain occasions customer may reach out to their suppliers or service providers for helping them out with an exigent situation, which may be beyond the contract boundaries. This could encourage the supplier with a feeling of importance and result in offering such help in the future. However, it is important that this does not evolve as an unchecked ‘scope creep’ and impair a healthy business relationship. Leader Subordinate relationship The leader may ask for a help from subordinate without reservations, maybe to explain some subject which he / she may be good at or it could be taking his / her view before making a personal purchase, on a product for which he / she has good familiarity. This could highly motivate the employee who would look forward to similar opportunities in future. This could happen the other way as well, when an employee approaches his leader for help with some topic, or to obtain some attestation for a personal requirement, or some personal guidance on career. Such mutual help when requested from either side, so long as it does not amount to exploitation of authority or freedom, would foster healthier relationships and result in better performance as a team. Inter functional relationship Co-operation between different functions in an organization is very important for the success of a ‘process oriented’ company. Seeking ideas, involving other stakeholders to provide their viewpoints and support by providing them a larger organizational picture are essential principles for driving organizational excellence. It is akin to the prime minister of a country seeking ideas and support from all parties, including opposition parties to jointly address a national emergency. Key points to bear in mind We can certainly identify many more examples related to business and day-to-day lives. However, we may not see ‘Ben Franklin effect’ work in all situations. The underlying principle behind the Ben Franklin effect is that the requested favor should be such that it evokes a feeling of pride and importance on the other individual. Hence, it matters, who needs to be approached for what type of help. Ensure that you do not put someone in an embarrassing situation by asking that favor. It is also important how, or the manner in which such a request is put forth. It should neither be commanding nor pleading. You should also ensure that a genuine appreciation and compliment is given in return to the help provided.