Okay, we all have our New Year's resolutions were ready to go right? Problem solved right? Here's the thing with New Year's resolutions they simply do not work without behavioral change and positive reinforcement. The most common one we hear is to lose weight. If somebody has a New Year's resolution to lose weight but have not made the behavioral decision to eat less and exercise more and have somebody in their life to reinforce those behaviors the chances are that goal will not be met.
What is change? How do we prompt people to change? Do people even really want to change? What are the relationships people have with change in your workplace? How does a particular leaders management style affect people's willingness to change?
Let me ask you this. Wouldn't you agree performance and people cannot improve without change? If we all agree that's true then why do people have such a negative or adversarial relationship with the concept of change? Is it because it's more work? Do managers simply demand change when performance is lacking; therefore both the manager and the employee frustrations increase?
In our patented progress coaching program we discussed three levels of change:
- Effort- is the employee producing effort that is authentic and true? Is the effort being rewarded? The key to successful change is to initially produce effort in regard to getting better and when reinforced by the direct manager progress is often not that far away.
- Progress- is the employee showing specific signs of progress, illustrating traction in a particular knowledge or skill area? If managers recognize a particular area of progress as it relates to a particular performance area the employee not only knows what to continue to practice but the relationship with effort becomes even more positive do to the progress being recognized.
- Results- are results being achieved and have they become predictable and sustainable? If employees are producing effort and sustaining progress in particular performance areas on a scheduled and continuous basis results will become more predictable and sustainable.
The mistake we make as leaders is simply focusing on results which can be unbelievably counterproductive. For example, a sales leader who demands an increase in sales due to poor results in a particular quarter could be creating more problems than he or she may even realize. Let me explain. If you have half your sales force struggling with the knowledge or how to negotiate when it comes to a particular competitor price objection simply demanding results will elevate that frustration because the true challenge has not been addressed and/or solved. The staff begin to talk among themselves complaining about the lack of direction, training, and coaching. This can increase the lack of trust in that particular leader as some might assume they may not even know how to negotiate that particular challenge. If the staff had the proper knowledge and produced effort on a continuous basis through role-playing and practicing wooden progress and results at some point become a reality?
Change is an awesome concept! If employees had a positive relationship with change and sought change before being asked to change think of what our workplaces would be like.
Here's a clip here is an audio clip that will further illustrate the value of change and some of the absurd relationships with change:
We have identified nine particular areas that affect people's ability and capacity to change positively. If you would like fill out this form and we'd be happy to run a few assessments at no charge to give you visibility to specific employees capacity to change: click here
