Educate
Information Overload
By John Dickerson November 7, 2018
We have entered a time where competition for people’s attention is at an all time high. Tristan Harris, former Chief Ethics Officer of Google, describes this as an attention economy! Behind every screen are thousands of engineers trying to keep your attention for just one more click. He also believes we are approaching the tipping point on free will and persuasion.
So as an employer we want to communicate, strengthen our staff, change our culture and services to meet increased demand; yet our audience – our staff – are inundated with information. Often, this type of information is negative, trying to persuade, or simply discarded. We find that staff check their email infrequently, and when they do, reading, responding, and completing the requested action from their employee is as low as 16%! Our staff are not unique. These numbers are mirrored across the business industry.
Recent data indicates that 77% of people report living stressful lives: 33% experience extreme stress in their life, either personal, work, or community. Another study shows that over 50% of Americans do not have $400 in savings. As a result, an unexpected bill puts them over a financial cliff and more likely to fall prey to payday lenders. And throughout all this, messages are coming from every direction.
In this time, we are experiencing a 50% turnover rate in the field of Developmental Disabilities – ranging from 20% at best to 90% in places most in crisis. These turnover levels cause extreme stress not only for our staff, but also people with disabilities and their families. For our managers, it means much of their day is spent filling shifts, juggling staff, moving people around and often covering shifts themselves. Stress increases for everyone.
Compounding matters is the fact that 80% of our communication between staff and managers is by text, email or phone. It is largely impersonal. When asked, managers and staff agreed that 70% of their communication is defined as negative and transactional, often focused on problems. Not only is it impersonal, it is negative! Again we add to the stress in people’s lives.
Enter Quillo.
We focus all of our energy around two areas – positive psychology and personal wellness. Quillo uses short sixty-second videos delivered daily to the smart devices of staff, shifting the conversation negative to positive, from compliance to value, and from anonymity to acknowledgment.
We have found that over 35% of people who download Quillo are using the app – a number that exceeds industry standards for utilization. That number is growing as people identify with positive messages – especially from their leaders.
We are in information overload, so finding the right communication is essential. We have learned that people crave connections, especially when they lead to a greater sense of self-worth. It starts one conversation at a time, one relationship and one community of people committed to the same goal.
Quillo is a powerful tool to help you on this journey. For more from one of our regular users, watch the video below to meet Mary and hear her reaction to Quillo.
Thanks for all you do.