The Slinky Effect

648 words, < 3 minutes

Why does it sometimes feel like we are so much faster or slower than the rest of the group? Why do traffic jams appear for no reason?

Position in a group matters more than we think.

The Slinky Effect appears whenever a group is trying to go in the same direction and something disrupts movement towards a goal.

A disruption causes a reaction that ripples through a group with surprising results. The leader reacts to the disruption, while the rest of the group reacts to other people’s reactions. Without context, a surprise change often causes an overreaction that increases with each additional person in the group.

A slight pause gets exaggerated into a confusing crawl.

Meanwhile, the leader hardly loses any momentum and wonders what happened to everyone else. As the gap widens, the people at the back of the line have to spend much more energy to try to catch up. It is easy to push a pedal in a car. It is much more difficult to hustle with a 50 lb. pack on a trail.

Now imagine we’re on a challenging climb up a big hill. The first person charges forward until they get tired and stop for a break.

One by one, the rest of the group arrives, exhausted from the climb. The first people rest and relax until, finally, the last person catches up to the group.

Now that the group is together, it’s time to start moving again. Right? After a quick break, the leaders are anxious to keep moving.

Some call it the Courtesy Wait. Others call it the FU Wait. What we call the wait depends on the group, or more importantly, our position in the group.

In a small group, the person at the back may never get a break.

That’s the Slinky Effect. The back of the line makes bigger adjustments, rushing with limited information, trying to keep up, while the people in front wonder why everyone else is so slow and can’t wait to keep going.

The Slinky Effect isn’t limited to traffic or hiking up a hill. It appears anytime a group is in a linear or hierarchical structure and working together (physically or mentally) to make progress towards a common goal.

The people at the front of the line usually don’t realize their advantage. The cause of the Slinky Effect is often invisible even when the result is obvious.

When we toss a beautiful mix of personalities, abilities, and previous experiences together in a group, it is impossible to predict how the group will react.

One of the most effective tools to guard against the Slinky Effect is to talk about the Slinky Effect. When we acknowledge how position impacts our personal experiences, maybe there is a little less physical and mental finger-pointing.

Consistency reduces the Slinky Effect and decreases frustration.

Transparent communication minimizes overreaction to surprise changes.

Clear goals and clear routes to success create opportunities for independent creativity that allow the back of the line to escape from the single perspective of follow-the-leader.

Most importantly, everyone should understand the purpose and the goal of the group. The first person might reach the goal faster by setting their pace in the lead, but is that the goal? If the goal is to keep a diverse group of people together who have different strengths and abilities, it is helpful to experiment with different leaders and mix up positions in the group.

For some group outdoor activities (like hiking and mountain biking), try putting the person moving at the slowest pace in front. Let them set the pace for the whole group. The people in the back might be frustrated by going slower, or maybe they find out that they have to work a whole lot harder to keep up. They might even discover that they weren’t that much faster.

They just happened to be first.