In our Dance Floor Theory™ program, we divide member engagement within a community into six different stages… Technically it’s seven, but that’s another story for another time.
We call these six stages The Engagement Pyramid™.
Each stage is defined by a different set of characteristics for an individual. Fully engaged members display different characteristics than apathetic/uninvolved members. Thus, how we interact with individuals in each stage should be different. A “5” doesn’t want to be treated like a “Neutral.” And treating a “Neutral” like a “5” might be too much too soon and thus demotivating.
We call this process Engagement Based Leadership™.
Once we’ve recognized an individual’s stage, the next step is moving them gradually up the Engagement Pyramid step-by-step.
We call this X+1. “X” is the stage an individual currently is in, and “+1” is the next step that is challenging enough for that individual but not too challenging (e.g., +3), which might be demotivating. If you think of it like a video game, video games do a fantastic job of knowing your current level and the next motivating challenge for you. That’s the same thing as X+1.
The hardest step on The Engagement Pyramid™ is moving someone from a “Neutral” to a “1.” A “Neutral” is someone who doesn’t care and is indifferent to anything you do, and a “1” is someone who pays attention and is curious. Once someone is a “1,” it’s much easier to continue to move them toward a “5.”
Ask most leaders, and they will tell you apathy is a huge issue in increasing member engagement and retention. Even though most communities are filled with “Neutrals,” most of the engaging activities leaders do is geared towards “1” through “5” people because they are the ones who will pay attention to the flyers, emails, and Facebook invites and make the extra effort to show up to an event. But what about the larger percentage of the ” Neutrals members?” What can we do to engage them, to give them their X+1 moment, and to move them from a “Neutral” to a “1?”
Enter Free Hugs…
Well, Free Hugs is just one example of thousands of events we call Blender Events™.
Blender Events™ serves two purposes…
- They cause people to have a pattern interrupt throughout their day. Or, as we say in Dance Floor Theory™, get people to go from “Meh” to “Hmmm.”
- They build peer-to-peer relationships by mixing people with near-peers. Near-peers are models of success that are just a stage or two ahead in terms of engagement. In the Engagement Pyramid, a near-peer to an “X” would be a “1.”
Every time leaders host a Blender Event and cause a “Neutral” to have a pattern interrupt in their day, or get them to go from “Meh” to “Hmmm,” or connect them with a “1,” then we are supplying them with an X+1 Moment. The more X+1 Moments they have, the harder it will be for them to stay “Neutral” as they will start to display characteristics of a “1” whether they want to. And once they are a “1,” we can work on getting them to become a “2.”
The Free Hugs Campaign is the best visceral Blender Event™ I’ve found that demonstrates to groups what it’s like to have an X+1 moment.
So there you have it; that’s the ‘why’ behind Free Hugs. As you may have noticed, it has very little to do with the actual Free Hugs event and more to do with the introductions/connections/relationships that happen from the Free Hugs event.
