I started today like everyone else. Listening to the weather forecast for the next few days and anticipating the possibility of the first heavy snowfall of the winter. Or not. I don’t know about you but ever since the Michael Fish episode in 1987, I’ve never quite trusted the accuracy of forecasts and wonder how much they really have improved over the past 25 years?
I ended upin the supermarket this afternoon only to be faced with a scene of total devastation and mayhem in fresh foods and frozen goods as a herd of customers prepared either for the Ice Age or the end of the world. Even the non-event Mayan predictions didn’t create this amount of panic in the UK recently.
So true to my profession in coaching and change management I stood there and watched what was happening – I just love observing what happens at the extremes of human behaviour. Trolley piled with 12 loaves or bread, 8 packs of pasta, gallons of milk literally. Store staff said they hadn’t seen it this crazy since the last snow fell.
Now I can understand the logic to some of this behaviour – yes, we’re not used to even moderate amounts of snow in the UK and most of us don’t have winter tyres or snow-chains and few of us know how to drive safely on snow. However the purchases people were making seemed really disproportionate to the forecasts and more interestingly, people in the till lines were looking in others’ trolleys and suddenly dashing off to get more of the same. Then the store started to limit the amount of milk and bread that people could buy.
My reflection on today’s visit to the supermarket was about how easily we can be affected by the news and especially 24-hour news, how easily they can set our behavioural agenda and how fast the contagion can spread in herd mentality.
So my thoughts are – who’s in control? Us or others? Yes there are reasons to be alert and perhaps concerned, but no it isn’t a catastrophe or the end of the world. We have choices and following the crowd isn’t always a great idea.
But I have to admit, despite all that I’ve said, I did go shopping because I was concerned about the potential snowfall. But I didn’t panic, I got what we needed for the weekend and I accepted that if we ran out of something, we would survive. And yes, I was pleased with myself that I resisted panic and drove past the petrol station with a half-tank of petrol.
So, rise above the herd, stop and think. And tomorrow, build a snowman!
Cognitions . The Power of Partnership.
© Cognitions 2013