A plan without behavior remains a wish.
Most plans fail the moment they are written down, because they are formulated as goals rather than behaviors. “Collaborating better” and “working in a more customer-focused way” sound good, and everyone agrees. That is precisely what makes them treacherous. On Monday morning, no one knows what they need to do differently to achieve this. So everyone does what they have always done, with the genuine feeling that they are contributing to the plan. Research into goals confirms this picture: vague intentions like “we will do our best” yield structurally less than specific agreements about what someone is going to do.
Meanwhile, daily life goes on as usual. The phone rings, a colleague calls in sick, a client has an emergency. Those who are busy deal with urgent matters first, and a plan without a fixed place in the week is never urgent. And so the plan is pushed back a day at a time, until it has disappeared from the table unnoticed.
The camera button: make visible what needs to change
The first step is therefore to translate the goal into observable behavior. A simple test helps with this: could a camera film it? “Better collaboration between sales and planning” cannot be filmed. “A salesperson calls planning first before committing to a delivery time for the customer” can. The same applies to “being more proactive towards customers.” This becomes concrete when every account manager calls five customers every week who haven't ordered anything for three months.
That translation sometimes feels small or even a bit academic, especially for experienced professionals. Yet this is precisely the step that is skipped in most organizations. Only when behavior is concrete can you schedule it, agree on it, see if it happens, and follow up on it. The translation works best when the people who need to demonstrate the behavior create it themselves. An agreement formulated by oneself feels like a personal promise, and people demonstrably keep those more often.
Enthusiasm is running out, routines remain
Those who rely on motivation are building on something that fluctuates. At the start of something new, energy is high, and that is valuable. As soon as the first busy week arrives, that energy drains away. That is human and predictable. Research shows that about half of New Year's resolutions never lead to action, even among people who are sincere. Thus, even motivated, capable people fall into the gap between wanting and doing.
Discipline bridges that gap. Here, discipline means consistently carrying out a small number of agreements, even on days when it doesn't come naturally. A calculation example shows why that makes such a big difference. An account manager decides to call ten extra customers every week. He does this with full conviction for three weeks and then lets it go, resulting in thirty calls. His colleague agrees with himself to make five extra calls per week and sticks to that for the entire year. That amounts to well over two hundred calls. The more modest approach yields more than seven times as much, and likely more repeat orders as well.
Daily hygiene: where the result is made
Small, fixed routines form the daily hygiene of an organization. They are the habits by which a plan becomes part of the ordinary work week. On the production floor, this could be a ten-minute kick-off meeting in which the team reviews the day's schedule and bottlenecks. For a field service team, it might be the first hour of Tuesday, which remains free for making calls. An internal service department might agree that every quotation is followed up by phone within two working days. An office department can take fifteen minutes on Friday afternoon to look back on the week.
Such routines work because one does not have to decide on them over and over again. Research into habit formation shows that new behavior takes about two months on average before it becomes automatic. Differences vary significantly per person and per task. This period is shortened if the new behavior is tied to an existing moment, such as the start of the shift or the weekly meeting. Furthermore, making progress visible, for example with a simple tally sheet on the board, further increases the chance of success. People who track their progress achieve their goals more often, especially if colleagues can see that progress. A fixed time to look back makes the whole process complete: what went well, what could be improved, and what do we adjust?
The team imitates what the leader demonstrates.
Managers play a key role in this, and that role is simpler than often thought. Their most important tool is the 'how' question, asked again and again:
- What specifically are you going to do differently next week?
- At what time of the week do you do that?
- How will we know in a month that it is working?
- “What do you need from me to keep going?” That is perhaps the most important one.
With such questions, the manager places the reins with the employee, where they belong. Everyone then takes responsibility for their own part of the plan.
At the same time, a team keeps a close eye on what the manager does himself. If he skips the weekly meeting as soon as things get busy, everyone understands that the agreements are non-binding. If he sticks to the routine, especially during busy weeks, the team usually follows suit automatically. In that sense, discipline is contagious. Leadership here is something very ordinary: doing what you have agreed to do.
From ambition to result
Organizations that translate their ambitions into concrete behavior have plans that remain alive months later. Teams know what is expected of them and stick to new routines, even when things are busy. Leaders spend their time improving what works. The results become visible in conversations, orders, and collaboration.
Do you want to know how your organization moves from knowing to doing? Then schedule a no-obligation introductory meeting with Richard van Heukelum.
