Behavior change, 5 tips on how to successfully become the best version of yourself.
Bookshelves full of books have been written about behavioral change. Or in the case of organizations; cultural change. (which, in my opinion, also only works through behavioral change.) Plenty of theories have been devised about how to do that successfully and why something has failed. Billions have been spent on personal coaches, assistants, trainers, consultants, etc. In addition, stacks of reports have been written about organizations, teams, and people. And yet, it remains a stubborn phenomenon. Why is it that culture and/or behavior are so difficult to change? It is my firm conviction that we think and talk too little about mission, vision, objectives, and plans. We also fail to pinpoint the real sore spot, we often show a lack of reflection and then treat the symptoms instead of tackling the causes. We also often overestimate the impact of our actions and underestimate the countercurrent. Motivation is an essential factor. And lastly, don't scrub the area.
Moreover, an example: You are an adult man and consider yourself unhealthy. You have low energy, regular physical complaints, you exercise too little, you smoke, and you eat too much, about 3500 kcal per day. Furthermore, you sleep poorly, presumably because you are a regular drinker and experience a lot of stress at work. Furthermore, you want to change and decide on January 1st, as part of your New Year's resolutions, to start a diet of 2000 kcal per day. You currently weigh 110 kilos; 1 kilo of fat is 7700 kcal, so if you eat (3500-2000=) 1500 kcal less per day, you will have lost over 17,5 kilos by April 1st and your problem will be solved.
Raise your hand and shout (YES!!) if you think we succeeded.
So, no one convinced? Yet I regularly encounter these examples when talking to people who feel their commercial results could be better. I am asked as a trainer to train a field sales team. The budget is limited, time is too short, expectations are sky-high beforehand, and the result had to be achieved yesterday. Furthermore, oh yes, and the management team actually has no intention of investing any time in personal development this year. The problem lies with the field sales team, you see; they need to be trained.
Just like the unhealthy man, you can't blame the entrepreneur for not understanding that it doesn't work that way. We are all often caught up in the day-to-day routine, have blind spots, suffer from cognitive dissonance, and are judged on results, so we try things out. There is nothing wrong with that in itself, because every little bit helps, you might say. In short, however, we so often fall back into old habits too quickly. 'Culture eats strategy for breakfast'; in other words, 'habits eat good intentions for breakfast'. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman says about this: “We are largely driven by fully automatic processes over which we have no control. And we don't realize that we function this way.” Incidentally, perhaps you are familiar with it. movie of the upside-down bicycle? If behavior is really ingrained, it is not so easy to change. But it is possible!
However, you might be wondering now how *I* can change. I’ll give you 5 tips.
- Start with mission, vision, plan, and goal. This isn't just for organizations; just try writing them for you as a business. And don't set the bar too low; I've been joking for years that there's only one activity you get better at if you keep lowering the bar, and that is limbo dancing. That is why you may have heard of the BHAG (pronounced bee-hag) by Jim Collins: the Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Dare to express your ambition; what is your dream? Share that with each other and see where the similarities lie. Make a plan, arrange support, identify saboteurs and stumbling blocks, and secure a budget for implementation rounds 2 and 3. (Or do you still believe that everything new you come up with will go right the first time...?) In short look before you start. If the unhealthy man had started doing this, his solution would have gone beyond diet.
- Where is the problem really? I know someone who very regularly asks the question: “Is that true or do you think so?” People should ask themselves that question regularly. They should be aware of a high risk of cognitive dissonance and our natural urge to reduce it. In layman's terms, look more often in an honest mirror instead of the distorting mirror we usually look into. Gentle healers make stinking wounds. The entrepreneur who asks me to train a field service would do well to throw off the blinders and discuss the ailment, the symptoms, the possible causes with me, in short, a solid diagnosis.
- If you want to know the effects of your approach, you will have to start measuring. So quantify your objectives; there is an M in SMART for a reason. If we rely on intuition, we overestimate our effort and the impact it has. If you spend a whole day telemarketing without writing down what you do, most salespeople estimate they have made around 80-100 calls. If they start tallying, they usually don't reach 50. We also often underestimate resistance. After all, for personal behavioral change, development goals often work better than performance goals. To measure = to know but also Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. The unhealthy man with good intentions probably overestimates the amount of calories burned during an hour-long walk and underestimates the impact of a bowl of nuts on the table in the evening. Counting calories (in and out) can help you. He could also write down a development goal: I want to explore at least three different ways in the coming month that will make my lifestyle healthier.
- Personal result = knowledge + skill + talent x motivation. In this equation, motivation or drive is the biggest accelerator of results. It is not without reason that all my training programs in recent years have started with a day or part of the day dedicated to this. Intrinsic motivation among my participants is the greatest predictor of a successful trajectory. This also applies to behavioral change. If you don't want it, or even better, if you don't really want it, it's not going to change. Despite all good intentions, the bumps in the road are unbearable if your motivation is not good. Winners are not people who never do anything wrong, they are people who never give up. We can motivate the unhealthy man with his BHAG, we visualize his ambition, measure his progress, celebrate his success, regularly compliment him and reward him for his results.
- And then, finally, the environment. If we do not change the environment, the tendency to relapse increases. The recent period presented a wonderful opportunity for entrepreneurs to implement changes in employee behavior. Nevertheless, suppose you believe that more customer satisfaction research needs to be conducted. You have tried this a few times with the internal sales team, but it just never gets off the ground. Chances are you would have succeeded during the Corona crisis. On the other hand, everyone was working from home—a different environment, different dynamics, and a much greater chance of success. Changing the diet makes you eat. For example, the unhealthy man would do well to change supermarkets. Then you shop much more consciously.
These are my 5 most important tips for making behavioral change successful. We should therefore spend a lot of time planning the change. Arranging and figuring out all sorts of things before we start. However, do realize that most changes have not come about because they were not actually started!! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. So start, start doing, experience, learn, implement again but now more fun, adjust, organize success, celebrate success, motivate, until you succeed. It is not without reason that our slogan has become “Success through action”. Because change is a skill and practice is essential. If knowledge and insight were enough, we would all be healthy, rich and at our ideal weight. It's all about doing!
Also, good luck with the sale.
Hans Roelfsema
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0651235193