I’ve had several conversations in recent weeks with students and parents about the dreaded acronym: G.P.A. Many students are below the 3.0 requirement for the program and several others, while above 3.0, are not where they would like to be to get into their dream college. Most of the time, we are talking about a few basic fundamentals for success in school: effective time management, being present in class, paying attention, and asking questions. These are not revolutionary strategies, and most students have heard them repeatedly over their school career from parents and teachers. Still, for many students, it’s not sinking in.

This inability (or unwillingness) to mind seemingly simple advice is no different than my four-year-old punching his brother in the back whenever he gets frustrated, despite my and Andrea’s repeated pleas and punishments. He hears me when I tell him, he understands it’s wrong, but he keeps doing it. Likewise, despite your demands, your 14-year-old keeps checking her phone when her teacher is explaining an important concept. So what do I do with my son to help him stop punching his brother? What do you do with your sophomore daughter who won’t submit work even though she knows it’s hurting her grade, no matter how many times you beg her?

It turns out a person needs to hear something between 10 and 20 times before it sinks in (after 20 times it becomes counterproductive). But there is a catch here. Harvard Business professor Tsedal Neeley concluded in a study of “redundant communication” in organizations, that employees were much more likely to change their behavior in response to messages from those who were not in a position of authority.

So let’s extrapolate this out to students: we know that parents and teachers are authority figures. So yes, and you’ve heard it from me many times: these messages need to be coming from peers and mentors.

This is not to suggest that parents shouldn’t have direct conversations with their kids about, for example, subpar grades from the first semester. And yes, sometimes good old-fashioned nagging is just fine (otherwise I never would have cleaned my room when as a kid). But also look for those other people in your kids’ lives who don’t hold any authority over them and let them deliver these important messages multiple times and in multiple ways.

And of course, we must keep in mind that some kids just aren’t ready to change their behavior until it they’re ready, no matter what anyone else does or says.

Now you’ll have to excuse me. James just punched Sam in the back again.

Sources

“It’s Not Nagging: Repetition is Effective Communication” Jojarth, Martin.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/its-nagging-repetition-effective-communication-marton-jojarth/

“How Managers Use Multiple Media: Discrepant Events, Power, and Timing in Redundant Communication” Neeley, et al.

https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/orsc.1110.0638