A Leader's Challenge: Continuous Learning that Results in Positive Behavior Change

One of the hardest lessons a leader must learn is how to challenge, update, and change long-standing beliefs and behaviors that have served them well in the past but aren’t sufficient for the future. In his classic article, “Teaching Smart People to Learn”, Chris Argyris sheds light on why leaders often struggle with this type of learning. Argyris explains that because smart and successful professionals rarely fail, they have never learned how to learn from failure.

Most successful professionals rise to a level of leadership because they are great problem-solvers. This type of learning focuses on identifying and correcting errors in the external environment. Solving external facing problems is important but it does not prepare leaders for the other critical aspect of learning which is developing agility. Leadership agility is the ability for a leader to reflect critically on their behavior, identify the ways they are contributing to the problem, and then make appropriate changes to how they act. Leaders require a foundation of self-awareness, an ability to reflect on opportunities, shift perspectives for the greater good, and respond in ways that enhance relationships and drive meaningful results in order to be successful in today's business environment.

Knowledge and Skills Aren't Enough

In the United States alone, companies spend more than $15 billion on leadership development programs annually. Despite this large investment, executives and HR leaders continually provide feedback that their leaders aren’t prepared to address the current challenges of their environment. It is clear that the accumulation of knowledge and skills isn’t the primary challenge for developing leaders.

For a leader to succeed, they have to recognize when typical habits, behaviors, and thinking aren’t enough because the situation calls for them to bring forward new behaviors. This awareness of the need for behavior change is important but it isn’t enough. I have worked with many leaders who are fully aware of their need to make changes and have great intention to do so. The difficulty comes when they get engaged in the speed and complexity of their leadership roles and revert back to their old ways of doing things. During times of complexity and change it is easy for leaders to retreat back to their comfort zones by over-relying on habits that have served them well in the past but are inadequate for their new situation.

My work has afforded me the opportunity to work with many successful, well-intentioned, hard-working, and intelligent leaders and I have discovered this one simple truth: leadership will eventually expose your flaws. All of us have strengths, weaknesses, biases, and perspectives that serve us well in some situations and don’t serve us so well in others. Unfortunately for leaders, the complexity of needing to drive results and build strong relationships will place them in challenging situations where their weaknesses are exposed. This is the time when successful leaders look in the mirror and make changes to how they think and act so their teams and organizations can succeed.

The best leaders learn from their experiences by implementing a growth mindset, practicing self-reflection, seeking feedback from others, and drawing practical conclusions that result in successful behavior change. The product of a growth mindset, reflection, and feedback is behavior change that produces better relationships and results.

The "Will" and the "Way" of Behavior Change

Elliott Berkman breaks goals and behavior change into two dimensions in his research paper, “The Neuroscience of Goals and Behavior Change”. The first dimension is called the “Will” which captures the importance and motivation behind a goal or desired behavior. This includes wanting to achieve a goal and prioritizing it over other goals and the level of drive to achieve a new behavior or goal. The second dimension is called the “Way” which focuses on the skills, capacities, and knowledge required to perform a behavior. This includes mapping out the steps one needs to take to have the skill to execute an action, as well as related thinking processes such as emotional, social and intellectual capacities. Below are researched practices that are proven to support your “Will” and your “Way” for transitioning learning into new desired behaviors and perspectives for improved performance.

Activating the “Will”

The “Will” is all about selecting the right goals. For the purpose of this article, let’s define a goal as any desired behavior change, perspective, or approach that wouldn’t otherwise happen without some kind of direct focus, commitment and plan. Leaders set goals when they need to do something that hasn’t happened yet and isn’t likely to happen on its own.

See the actions below for how leaders can create goals that provide the necessary “Will” to invest the focus and effort needed to achieve a goal.

Fewest, Most Important Areas for Growth or Improvement

You have probably heard the saying that “if everything is a priority then nothing is a priority”. Too many goals cause a lack of focus and can jeopardize success in accomplishing the desired change. Research shows that people who choose to focus on one or two attainable goals at a time will be much more likely to achieve the desired results than individuals that select three or more goals to accomplish at one time.

Meaningful and Important 

Is the goal meaningful and important? It is important to identify your motivation or “why” for wanting to accomplish your development goal. If the “why” for the change isn’t important enough for you to invest the time and energy required for success then find another goal. Without a strong personal motivation for the desired change, your goal is set up to fail.

Within Your Control and Achievable

It is important to choose a goal that you believe allows an appropriate level of control or influence for you to achieve it. Belief that you can be successful is important because you won't invest the necessary energy if the goal feels unachievable.

 Leverage Small Successes

Goals need immediacy for them to get your attention and to allow you to feel that progress is being made. Small successes are the building blocks of bigger wins because they create urgency and opportunities to have success which provides self-confidence and encourages continued effort. Smaller more immediate goals let you use how the brain functions to your advantage. Scientific studies show that working towards meaningful and achievable goals is one of the major causes of the brain to release a neurotransmitter called dopamine. This chemical is often called the “feel good” neurotransmitter because it does just that, it makes you feel good. 

A Map that Shows the “Way”

Setting goals is easy; achieving them is hard. Research shows that a documented plan to guide your “Way” is helpful in achieving development goals. Below are actions for making a plan that will show you the “Way” to achieving your most important goals.

Identify Skills Needed

A quick assessment of the knowledge and skills that you will need to achieve the goal is important and can be accomplished by asking the following questions.

• Do I understand the right knowledge and skills to be successful?
•  Do I possess the right knowledge and skills to be successful?

If the answer to either of these questions is no, then you should begin to use your friend GOOGLE to gather information about ways to either acquire, develop, change, or improve for you to achieve your goal. If you do uncover knowledge or skill gaps, you will need to identify actions for how to address these deficits within your plan.

Opportunities for Action

Action is a required ingredient for developing new habits, behaviors, and approaches. When creating a plan you will need to define and, possibly, create opportunities to practice your new ways of doing things. Your plan might include training or reading to acquire missing knowledge or skills but the most important activity in developing new behaviors is practice.

Social Support

Research shows having a strong support network in place can make you more likely to achieve your goals since it positively influences your thinking and self-esteem. Finding the right people to provide guidance and support is critical for achieving your goals. The bigger your goals, the more social support you will ultimately need to be successful.

One of the most important benefits of a strong social support network is creating accountability to the goal or behavior change. The American Society of Training and Development did a study on accountability and found that you have a 65% chance of completing a goal if you commit to someone. If you have a specific accountability appointment with a person you’ve committed, you will increase your chance of success by up to 95%. This shows the real power in speaking your intention because it creates accountability and solicits support from others. 

Plan for Obstacles

There will always be obstacles that get in the way of you achieving your development goals. Some of the most common obstacles I hear leaders share are time, focus, resources, lack of prioritization, strong emotions, and stress. It is too overwhelming to have to plan for each of these inevitable obstacles. In Ray Dalio’s, book, "Principles", he writes about finding the “One Big Thing” that stands in the way of your success and then dealing with it. Answering the following questions will help you prepare for the “One Big Thing” that could stop you from reaching your goal.

• What is the “One Big Thing” that will stand in the way of me accomplishing this behavior change?
• What can I do to stop this “One Big Thing” from getting in the way of my success?

Remember that you won’t be perfect. In any behavior change, setbacks and reverting to old undesired habits is a common occurrence. Leaders shouldn’t view setbacks as failure which can cause disappointment and loss of the drive to accomplish the goal. Accept and understand that an occasional failure or setback is part of any behavioral change process. When there are setbacks, use them as an opportunity for self-reflection that results in insights and actions that will guide you forward.

Leveraging these practices to develop the “Will” and the “Way” will help leaders accelerate the development of new perspectives, behaviors, and habits that are critical for achieving results and building relationships in a complex and rapidly changing world.

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Tony Gambill is a principal consultant for CREO Inc., an innovative management consulting and advisory firm based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park. Tony brings more than 20 years of executive experience in leadership and talent development within global for-profit, non-profit, technical, research, healthcare, government and higher educational industries. www.CreoInc.net