Habits are often associated with negative behaviors. In order to challenge the thoughts about habits, people must be open-minded and willing to see the other side of the proverbial coin. Another point worth mentioning is that many people associate involuntary behaviors with habits. That misperception will be challenged in this article as well.
Simply put, habits are behaviors that are repeated. Habits include patterns of predictable and consistent behaviors that are observable to others. Behaviors are actions that are demonstrated in environments such as the workplace or home. People become known and associated with their behaviors and habits. They support their identity in any of the roles they they have in life.
Behaviors have a very wide range of actions and within those behaviors, habits are developed. While many people think that they take on a habit involuntarily, the reality is that people unconsciously take on habits which means there is a cognitive connection. Given that there is a cognitive connection between how people take on habits and make decisions, they can decide to take on or let go of them.
When people put their mind to deciding their behavior patterns, which lead to their habits; they are intentionally impacting how they show up with others. With that in mind, people can take full responsibility for their actions when they know that they had a part in deciding on them. Performance in the workplace becomes easier to manage when leaders work with people who own their ability to make decisions on their habits and behaviors.
Leaders who work and coach others on their performance are essentially looking for them to be high performers. High performance is all about repeating the behaviors that create the best outcomes. When this is achieved, leaders and team members are more likely to achieve more successful results.
When leaders begin to look at the potential for behaviors to be habits, they can see the possibilities of achieving high performance outcomes. When leaders coach others on achieving outstanding results and they connect that to their patterns of behaviors and habits that are required, they make the decision to perform accordingly. When leaders and employees are on the same page about the behaviors and habits needed to be successful, there is a synergy that must create a successful result.
Companies invest a significant amount of resources which includes time and money, in getting people to perform in ways that drive successful outcomes. When the company shifts its culture to include holding everyone accountable for the habits that always produce successful outcomes, high performance seems like a more likely result.
The key foundational point to getting people to decide to incorporate habits into their performance is having clearly defined roles and responsibilities in all of the processes and workflows in the company. There is a requirement to organize and standardize the steps in any of the processes in order for people to decide to form the habits intentionally. Keeping in mind, they will look for some recognition for taking on the habits to make themselves and the company successful. When leaders customize the rewards and recognition, they are morel likely to reinforce the habits.
Integrating habits into any company’s culture is just one way of reducing a company’s excessive spending on performance management and progressive discipline. When conversations are focused on supporting people to learn the habits that they can adopt to be successful, they are more likely to divide to take them on and demonstrate them.
A key to establishing a productive and successful culture of habits in any company, is the coaching process. When the leaders in any company are skilled and equipped to coach effectively, they are creating the predictive and consistent behavior patterns to achieve outstanding results.