Following processes - there be no charm in it! (Or is there?)

This happens to the best of us. We run into a challenge repeatedly. To take care of it we put in place a process that ensures that we don’t run into the same problem again. Then we continue the same behaviours that led to the problem in the first place and the process lies forgotten on one of our many intranet portals. 

We also create learning material to educate people to use the process. We walk them through it and then magically expect them to start using a new process when they are already neck deep in their own work. 

But we don’t give up, do we? We continue making even more processes. We make those learning modules mandatory and gauging that compliance becomes yet another process. 

What’s it with making processes and then not following them? Is there a peculiar charm to it? 

In the personal context, there is. I put in place a practice which ensured that I worked out 5 times a week. Either at the gym or on my home elliptical machine. I started feeling different at the end of the month. There was more bounce in my step. The husband said my skin was glowing (yes, after 20 years of marriage). But now that process lies forgotten. The point is that once I think I can do it, I feel I can take it up anytime. And then there are so many pending projects that need my time. So now I am back to my ‘habits’ – some yoga, some aerobics, skin not glowing so much, and I feel OK. 

As a coach, I have self-diagnosed. It simply means that once I know that my personal ability lets me make a difference and I don’t see it as a challenge anymore, my personal motivation to stick to the process is gone. 

And oh yes, there is some charm to putting in place a process and then not following it, sarcasm intended... 

Now let’s look at influencing behavioural change in the organisational context. Your hope is that processes you put in place will ensure change in behaviours. 

Your business is composed of varying audiences. Some people enjoy not having a process in place, for others not having a process is anathema and some find joy in creating and administering the process. They care about different things and are motivated differently. Here are a couple of examples where an organization knew it needed a change of behavior and then build a process to achieve that goal: 

Use new workflows even when the old ones are giving results.

You could be on the marketing team and questioning the move to a new social media channel such as Instagram, simply because you are generating more and enough traction with Facebook or LinkedIn.

Receive last minute requests in spite of educational videos. 

Filing travel expenses is a huge transactional exercise for most of us. Also, you’ve got to do it within set timelines if you want the reimbursements to come in with your monthly payout. Many folks who I have spoken to file their expenses at the last minute on the portal. Some seek clarity at that point of time on the categories and the sub- categories. Others struggle with form submission and they eat into productive time of the accounts’ team for these queries. Lots of organizational overhead despite the well made video and learning material that is available to understand how to use that brand new, user-friendly portal.

As a practitioner of the crucial skills inventory, I can visualise massive opportunities to change behavior in the above situation. The right mix of personal skill and will, social support and knowhow and finally structural elements to support the behavior change you are seeking.

 To get people to work the new workflows, even more than education, what’s important is to weave in personal ability and social motivation. Using Instagram could be tough for those who are new to it. So make it easy. Instead of videos, teach the new tools in the old way- hands on. Get them to download the app on their phones and walk them through it. Once the education is in place, try to make it “cool” to be on Instagram! The idea is to harness peer pressure. What if the company starts doing all its in-house communication on Insta! Nothing like that to make the nudge even more effective. 

Processes rarely change ingrained behaviours of people. Because they suggest ‘what and how’ to do something, but they do not address the ‘why’ – at least a why beyond making the ‘process creators’ life easier. That’s where the idea of a ‘vital behaviour’ may be helpful. That behavior that you can influence and has the most disproportionate influence. In this case, we need them on Insta and to start using Insta. One of the most effective ways to influence them would be to first get them on Insta themselves may be by creating moments for them that lead them to use it. Before long, it becomes an unconscious practice and people start to see it like any other medium. 

Change management and culture tweaks sometimes need to work with very small behaviours, often imperceptible. 

Having a champion for the revamped processes certainly helps but it is not enough. Finding one or two vital behaviours that will create that avalanche of change that you are looking for becomes critical. To find these, one of the more easy steps is mapping a day in the life of the people who are the target for this behavioural change. Make a flow chart of all the actions, no matter how small they may seem to you. Map this against an ideal day and you will figure out some of the unnecessary actions that eat into their productive time. Now examine those people closely who already exhibit some semblance of the changed behaviour. These are the positive deviations from your process flow and your aim is to examine their small practices that can be imbibed by others. 

For this Insta problem, the company came up with a fun thing. Their offices were spread across 22 floors in the same building. As soon as the doors of the elevator closed, there was a huge sticker there that read “Insta Time!!!” With a visual of their CEO on his Insta. 

There you have it. Behaviour Change! 

More from the author in this series.

About the author:

My passion is to create opportunities and catalyse relationships that help us thrive! I believe that personal, organisational and societal change is an interactive development process and through my interventions I seek to build awareness and action across all. I have had the privilege to have trained leaders and management teams in 40 plus countries globally and on all continents.

Over the last two decades, I have engaged with leadership development, L&D and talent management across the entire spectrum from diagnosis to design to implementation. Currently I run my own leadership consulting practice which is at the intersection of Strategy, Leadership and Change.

Drop me a message at [email protected] or to schedule a call with me please use : calendly.com/shivangi/15-mins-call

Here are 2 initiatives I have founded : www.thrivewithmentoring.com, a non-profit that catalyses women to women mentoring (currently present in 5 countries) and www.xponential.cc (through which I bring award winning leadership trainings such as Crucial Conversations).