Organisations and Habits: A Surprising Parallel

The central idea of this post is straightforward: achieving organisational goals is remarkably similar to achieving personal goals by changing habits. Strangely enough, what’s laid out in books on organisational management, operational optimisation, and quality control appears in a clear, structured, and surprisingly accessible way in Small Habits that Make a Big Impact on Your Life by James Clear (No. 1 NYT bestselling author of Atomic Habits), a course I recently watched on MasterClass at Max Truong Kong (Popov) recommendation.

As always, I approached it with scepticism, expecting something painfully obvious—a tick-the-box exercise before moving on. But I was wrong. From the very first episode, professional parallels and references to books I’ve read began to emerge. Consciously or not, James Clear touches on the most central and significant themes. Rewrite these ideas through the lens of business, and you’ve got an entire course on organisational improvement.

Process Thinking

James Clear suggests viewing the results we achieve as a direct consequence of our habits: “Results are a lagging measure of inputs.” Our habits determine what we can achieve, just as processes do within an organisation. Processes in an organisation are its habits. If we want a consistently high-quality product, we must design processes that can reliably deliver quality hour after hour.

The only difference is that good habits don’t guarantee success, but they put you in the best position to achieve it. Well-organised and statistically managed processes, however, not only ensure a good result but can also be measured and predicted with precision.

Anchoring Change

In the course, James says, “Small changes could lead to a bigger result,” and this is true for any organisation. Acquired habits consolidate outcomes. In the corporate world, this is the role of standards.

The well-known PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle, aimed at continuous improvement, is enhanced with the letter S for Standardise, transforming it into a methodology that solidifies results of small changes -SPDCA. Without standardisation, systems tend to revert to their original state due to resistance to change, familiar routines, or the complexity of new processes.

For every step we climb on the mountain of improvement, we must establish a new standard to hold our ground.

Systems: The Core

When discussing human systems, James touches on one of the most critical themes: organisations as systems (after all, isn’t a person a type of organisation?). “The problem isn’t you, the problem is your system,” he says, echoing Edward Deming’s timeless wisdom: “A bad system will beat a good person every time.”

Let me put their quotes side by side:

• W. E. Deming: “Every system is perfectly designed to get the result that it does.”
• J. Clear: “To achieve the goal, you have to establish a system. Because the system will always win.”

Within an organisation, every process operates precisely as it was established. A production line cannot deliver high-quality products if there isn’t enough time to manufacture them, employees are under stress, or materials consistently arrive defective. This is the system. No production operator can override it. As Deming famously put it, “The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better.”

Transforming a system’s behaviour, improving performance, and cementing new practices is the responsibility of leadership. As James so aptly says"Dream big, execute small":

• Dream big: What is the value you want to create for your customer? What does the future of your business look like?
• Execute small: Which processes are the weakest right now? What can you improve today?

I fully agree with James when he says: “We don’t rise to the level of our goal. We fall to the level of our system.” That’s why the priority is to create a system capable of meeting organisational goals. As James notes, “Goals have an endpoint. Systems last forever.”

In essence, there’s little point in chasing better goals if you aren’t prepared to work on a better system. Like with our personal habits, we can’t create a perfect system overnight, but we can start small, because “It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being consistent.”

Organisational Identity

James offers a perspective where we see ourselves as an onion—starting from the outer layer, we believe that achieving outcomes will shape us into the identity we desire. Instead, he suggests starting from the inside: determine the identity you want, build the habits and processes to match, and the results will follow.

This logic applies to businesses as well.

For instance, if a company has historically produced mid-range cars with matching features and not the best quality, it can’t simply decide that tomorrow it will launch a luxury sports car and automatically enter that market. It won’t. It won't change their identity. To succeed, the company must also look inward: “Yes, we want to compete in the high-end sports car market, but what processes do we need? What system will get us there? What needs to change so our processes can deliver such a product?”

Without such introspection and changes, the final product will be a glossy exterior hiding the same problems from the same old system—and the product will reflect that.

Conclusion

James Clear, through a different lens, brings us back to the critical discussion of building reliable systems that deliver consistent results. And I’d argue that our organisations are not so different from ourselves. Perhaps that’s because they are created by people and run by people.

If you don’t have the time to read the dozens of professional books that came to mind as I watched, I recommend James Clear’s videos—or perhaps his book. Our behaviours and habits provide a fascinating perspective through which to view our organisations.

P.S. I haven’t yet read his book or even purchased it—but I’m planning to.

James Clear , thank you for the insights and the parallels!

#OrganisationalChange, #OperationalExcellence, #ContinuousImprovement, #ProcessManagement, #SystemThinking, #QualityManagement, #BusinessOperations, #AtomicHabits, #HabitsForSuccess, #SmallHabitsBigImpact, #JamesClear, #LeadershipHabits, #MasterClass, #BusinessGrowth, #ProfessionalDevelopment, #InnovationInBusiness