When Habits Turn On You

While on vacation in California last week, I caught up on some podcasts while walking along the beach- my kind of vacation!

Hidden Brain with Shankar Vedantam had an episode on habituation. This is a core concept that I studied in lower-level psychology classes. Habituation describes how humans have a diminishing physiological or emotional response to frequently repeated stimuli such as noises, sounds, smells, communication, frequent wins, and even suffering. Put another way,?we can get used to anything.?

And despite the immense amount of research on this topic broadly socialized in traditional (non-psychology) media, and what seems like a common sense topic baked into language with phrases such as, “savor the moment” or “push through the difficult times,” we often forget these core concepts when we’re in the thick of a tough moment or the bliss of a happy experience.

Despite constant reminders to be grateful, we forget to practice gratitude. Instead, we grow accustomed to the thing that once was considered to be a stretch goal but has turned into a new baseline. Remember when you dreamed of owning a home, having the job you have, or being able to travel to the beach for vacation? Have you ever caught yourself diminishing these accomplishments, or taking them for granted??

Alternatively, we sulk when going through hard things. We start and stop getting deep into a project, forgetting that we have thrived after learning valuable lessons during hard times. Despite years of learning the hard way that we shouldn’t wait until the last minute to take the first step, be honest and say what’s on our mind, or think through a project plan, we often repeat these same habits. At work, when managing change, it’s tempting to skip these concepts and get right down to business creating communications and new org structures. We take for granted our amazing talent, forget to say thank you, skip praising a job well done, and forge on to the next project.

As HR professionals, we have an opportunity to take some of these basic psychological theories and apply them in our day-to-day work so we can create a better experience for our companies, employees, and ourselves. I’ve known companies to lay off a few employees, creating fear and uncertainty for those remaining, only to do another round of layoffs a few months later. Other companies get too comfortable after achieving success and don’t see the scrappy new competitor with a more innovative, efficient, creative product coming up behind them. I’m sure you’ve seen your share of habituation over your career; and I'd love to hear about if you're willing to share.?

Applying some basic pre- and post-mortems can be helpful to systematize learning from highs and lows, as well as create opportunities for team members to see around corners. Some of my favorite questions for a pre-mortem include:

·?????????What are you worried about that no one is talking about?

·?????????What are some early warning signs that would tell us something is going wrong?

·?????????What are the potential blind spots in our approach?

·?????????Let’s say we’re sitting here after launch. What could have happened that we didn’t anticipate?

I’ve got a challenge you: where can you practice a little more gratitude and savor the good times at work? And where can you push through the difficult times to get through and come out on the other side stronger for it??

As George Grombacher (and some others) like to say, “If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready!”