Changing behaviour is hard. Whether it’s adopting a healthier lifestyle, becoming more productive, or breaking a bad habit, it can often feel like an uphill battle on a slippery slope as we try to gain traction. Behaviour change is just as challenging in leadership as it is in our personal lives. As we move through our careers we are rewarded for certain behaviours and they become our “go to” behaviours, hardwired within us. Unfortunately, as our circumstances, scope and those around us change, we sometimes find that ‘what got us here, won’t get us there’ and we need to make shifts in our leadership approach.
At The Roundtable we’ve spent close to two decades exclusively focused on supporting key talent as they navigate changes in expectations, demands and corporate pressures. As experts in behaviour change, one of the things that we know to be true is that if leaders are going to make sustainable progress, they need an intentional action plan.
If you’re trying to shift your own behaviour or coach others to do the same, here are some of our best practices to get you started.
1. Get specific.
To achieve long lasting behavioural change, you need to start with a clear understanding of where you are starting from, and a clear vision of where you want to get to. When it comes to behaviour change, it’s usually a very small shift that you need to make that will make a massive impact. Identifying that one linchpin behaviour is the first place to start. We call this the “getting surgical”. At The Roundtable, we use a developmental behavioural 360 tool accompanied by a motivational assessment to really pinpoint critical behaviours. You can ‘get surgical’ by reviewing performance review comments and identifying one or two areas that you want to get better at. With some specificity in hand, you can now go through the process of creating a plan.
2. Get tactical.
If you set a goal to lose weight, you would need to create a plan around food intake and one of the first things most nutritionists will do is provide you with a specific meal plan on what and how much you can eat. Changing any behaviour – whether it’s eating or getting better at listening – requires clarity of ‘how’ you’re going to get that done. Coming up with specific things that you will ‘say’ and ‘do’ to put your new behaviour into action is critical to being able to shift from intention to intentional action.
3. Keep Track to measure progress
Adopting a process to keep track of your daily activities will help you make progress. This includes documenting what you achieve every day, but should also include mechanisms for reminding yourself to reflect on what is working about your plan and what feels hard or isn’t working?
Reflection allows us to consolidate our learning, refine processes and recalibrate as needed.
4. Get the help of an accountability partner
It can be hard to take an accurate assessment of your own progress. Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves and fail to recognize the distance we’ve come, and other times we cut ourselves too much slack or fail to push ourselves hard enough. By sharing your goal with someone else and asking them to help keep you accountable you’ll be able to get a more accurate assessment of your progress.
5. Anticipate Setbacks
When we are trying something new or difficult, setbacks are inevitable and it is easy to get discouraged by them, especially when you don’t have a plan. Incorporate some risk management in your plan by thinking about what might get in the way of your goal, and how you will manage it. Giving thought to this early in your process while you’re still excited about your goal will give you the direction you need when times get tough.
6. Celebrate success
Part of your plan should always include how you celebrate success along the way. When you are pursuing a tough goal like changing a leadership behaviour, it can be easy to get discouraged or fall into old patterns, especially when times are busy or we are dealing with a crisis. As part of your plan, identify small milestones along the way, and plan ahead for how you will celebrate each one. This small action will remind you to pause and reflect on the progress you’ve made and help sustain momentum keep you going.
We believe the old adage “failing to plan is planning to fail” when it comes to behaviour change. We also know that what got you to where you are today won’t always help you tackle the situations facing you now, or in the future. Leadership is a constant journey of reinvention, recalibration and renewal. If you’re interested in how we can help you or the leaders in your organization learn how to adapt behaviours to meet the new demands of today’s world of work, reach out to a member of our team. We’d be happy to help.
