Balancing the New and the Familiar

The launch of the iPhone 7 hasn’t created quite the level of buzz seen in prior releases. Just a few years ago iPhone fans would stand in line for days excited to upgrade to the latest and greatest version of the original smartphone. But not so much with the iPhone 7. Tech analysts have pointed both to the lack of new features and the removal of old features (goodbye headphone jack) as one of the reasons for sluggish sales. Alternative explanations could be the competition (Samsung) has upped their game, or the era of smartphone transformation has simply slowed to incremental improvement.

Fortune magazine discussed our human preference for “new” in a 2015 piece, describing research conducted at the University of York. Participants played a team-building, adventure-type game titled “Don’t Starve.” In the first phase of the experiment, participants were told a map, which was a key component of the game, was generated at random. Then they played the game a second time and were told the map was generated by “new” artificial intelligence (AI) technology, based upon the skill level of the participants, but in actuality the map was generated at random the same as the first time they played. When participants were surveyed to compare the two versions of the game the research hypothesis was supported, i.e., participants rated the AI version better, e.g., more interesting and challenging. So according to Fortune, once again science proves what we already know! People like new things just because they are new and not necessarily because they are better or even genuinely different.

Of course when people start talking about technology I start thinking about people, so my question is, do leaders and managers prefer new when it comes to people issues?

My anecdotal response is yes, because having worked in business for almost 30 years, I can’t count how many times I’ve heard some version of the following:

We need some fresh ideas around here.
Let’s bring in some new college grads to help figure this out.
What has he/she done for us lately?
Our focus must be on the next big thing.
Susie/Billy just isn’t getting it done like they once did.

Getting a bit more personal here, perhaps you’ve seen your boss show preference to the new hire, the whiz kid, or the consultant recognizing him/her for things you’ve been doing for years! You’re thinking, “why don’t I get those assignments” or “why didn’t he/she ask my opinion?” Or maybe you are the boss and you see some of your own behavior in the bullets above.

I’m not delving into age discrimination here, but rather a subtler form of preference; I’m not trying to lecture anyone, just attempting to think about preference and what we can learn about it. Why do we chase something new rather than invest is something we already have?

As an example, working in a sales organization I taught classes about the value of growing existing relationships (current customers) versus solely seeking new ones (sales prospects). This is Sales Management 101 – keeping an existing customer is easier and better than finding a new customer! But I also made many sales calls where we would “swing for the fences” and meet with a cold call hoping he/she would give us a huge order. Most of these cold calls provided a zero return; they didn’t result in a sale. So why did I chase the new instead of cultivating the old even though I knew better? It was exciting and stimulating! It was high risk and high reward. But also a low probability of success.

I see this same phenomenon in my work with the church world. Church leaders often ask similar questions and make similar statements to those listed in the bullets above. How do we appeal to millennials? How do we reach the “nones?” What’s our next big thing as a church? Should we go multi-site? Of course, this is The Mission of the Church, to present the gospel, but my point here is we sometimes neglect the existing to search for the novel. We build an addition on to our house but quit mowing the grass. We focus on the new and neglect the familiar.

In the interest of closure, here are two guideposts that provide similar direction and perhaps blend the Church and business worlds.

Focus on relationships. Investing in people always provides a greater dividend than investing in things. But investing in new relationships should not come at the expense of existing relationships. As an employer, it means listening to and valuing those people who “got me to the dance” as much or more than the employees who just joined the company. It means continuing to grow those old relationships and occasionally ignoring some of those faults that I know will likely always be a part of employee A or B because they may be ignoring a fault or two that I have as a leader. It means feeding and clothing the existing parishioners while attracting new ones.
Recognize and seek the balance point. As a consultant, I spend considerable time encouraging people to change their paradigm, to consider the new when the old is so comfortable. This probably accounts for 75 percent of my time. But as we’ve discussed, it works in the opposite direction as well. We often recognize our preference for the status quo, but we don’t always see our preference for the new and shiny. We need not adopt every new idea without totally considering its full impact, benefit, and examining our own behavior, asking the hard question, “am I just considering this because it’s new and different?” Perhaps you’re just reacting to good marketing or a victim of another aspect of status quo – seeking what’s new when it truly doesn’t add value.

We’ve been dealing with the classic paradox here. Sometimes I want to wear those comfortable, broken-in tennis shoes I’ve had for years; sometimes I want the latest and greatest Jordan’s. We all have biases and a certain unpredictability in our behavior which is part of our humanity. I’m simply suggesting we become more aware of it and factor it in to our decision making. In particular, when it comes to the important things – people!