In the case of improving leadership behavior patterns, only a small percentage of what needs to be learned can be acquired in the classroom. Changing leadership behavior takes a long time, so the majority of skill-building must be gained through practice and experience—on the job. Even with great instructors. Even with great curriculum. Even with motivated learners. What is learned in the classroom is a vital beginning, but only the beginning.
In the May 2005 issue of Fast Company, John Kotter said: “The central issue is never strategy, structure, culture or systems. The core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people.” The article reported that if ten people were given the ultimatum…change or die…in the end only one would successfully make long-term behavior change. A good example of this is when a person suffers a heart attack. Immediately after this frightening experience people typically try to change their toxic habits. But most people revert back to their old habits within a year.
We see the same scenario in corporations. Executives notice tension among team members, low morale, high turnover and poor communication among managers. The company brings in a top-flight leadership program. The program and the talented instructors make a great splash. The participants love the program and they feel motivated to make changes. They want to change. And for a short while after the program, some of the participants get involved in new behaviors. But, within a year almost every manager reverts back to previous behavior. A lot of money is spent, but not much has changed.
The difficulty of changing behavior is related to how we learn new skills. Learning is a physical thing that happens in the brain. With continuous repetition, over time, brain cells are stimulated to physically connect into pathways that enable the new skills.
When golfer Tiger Woods tried to learn a new golf swing in 2004, he had a hard time making the shift. It took an entire year before he got his game back. His old patterns were competing with the new learning. He had to practice endlessly until new neural pathways were formed and he began winning again.
Also, when improved behavior patterns are introduced, the old patterns compete with the new learning. We want to do it. We know it makes sense, but the new way feels uncomfortable, and when something feels uncomfortable, we often give up and revert to old patterns.
Interpersonal skills (the skills we usually teach in leadership classes, sales training, customer service training, time management and more) are even harder to learn and change than learning technical skills. Why? We’ve been practicing personal skills our entire life. These patterns are ingrained within us.
These patterns can be changed, but in order to change old patterns we need more than classroom instruction. We need:
- Reinforcement through repetition
- Ongoing feedback and support
- To be held accountable for the change
To address this natural resistance to change, I recommend organizations do three things:
Increase hiring accuracy. Hire people who are naturally the best fit for each job. Now, less dramatic change is needed for success in the position.
Use automated feedback with all training and coaching programs. Assess to identify the areas of greatest need, and reassess to measure behavior change and hold attendees accountable for making the changes.
Get out of the training “event” business. Implement training as a “process” that includes lots of reinforcement over time: online courses, development plans, mentors, coaching, peer accountability, brown bag discussion luncheons and more.
In summary:
- Changing skills and behavior patterns means changing neural pathways in the brain.
- To make these physical changes in the brain, you need lots of repetition, ongoing reinforcement, support and accountability.
- Interpersonal skills are the hardest to change, because they involve habits that were formed over a lifetime.
- Improve hiring fit between the job and each employee’s strengths makes sense, because less dramatic behavior change is required.
- Think of training as an extended process, not an event; otherwise, you have one chance in ten changing behavior.
Suzie Price, Priceless Professional Development
