Some things set the tone for other things. Norms are established, announcing what is accepted or permitted and what is not. Some things can be the first step upward in a virtuous cycle or the first slip downward in a vicious cycle.
The Broken Windows parable comes from an article of the same name published in The Atlantic Monthly back in March 1982:
“Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it’s unoccupied, perhaps become squatters light fires inside. Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars.”
The idea is that visible evidence of anti-social behavior licenses further anti-social actions and a vicious downward spiral can erupt. The good news is that evidence of positive social norms also have an impact and can and will spur caring behavior in turn.
I preach this principle like a religion to my property management company: “Always keep the grounds neat, the halls clean. Dirty hallways, cobwebs, and litter all drive away good Customers who like clean premises and leave you with those people who are comfortable living in squalor and will not think twice about adding to the mess. This will make your job of maintaining attractive premises much more difficult and expensive.”
The little things can be very important when they serve as signposts, way markers to the big things.
So fix whatever your equivalence is to broken windows, for they can send a powerful message of caring, of a refusal to tolerate sloppiness, of a commitment to maintaining high standards.
Click here to read the Wikipedia entry on “Fixing Broken Windows”
This is a classic from the NSC Blog archive. Originally posted August 11, 2008.
So true. “Broken window theory” was a HUGE part of Giuliani’s restoration of New York in the 90′s as outlined in Malcolm Gladwell’s best seller “The Tipping Point”.
I often describe it to my teams as the “Wendy’s bathroom theory”. If you go in to a public restroom and you notice that it is very clean you make a concerted effort to keep it that way. If however, it is disgusting you are likely to almost add to the mess because you don’t want to touch anything. Terrible; I know.
It always gets nods of recognition though from my people and they understand immediately. No matter how many times Residents and guests may ruin something or do damage we’ll be right there to fix or clean it up. Every time. Without fail. Because if this is all just one big game, it’s not going to be a game we’re going to lose.
Giuliani started by stopping fare-beaters in the subways and almost magically crime was falling by leaps and bounds. It all starts in small ways and doing the small things inevitably leads to big change.