Why Mindset is Overrated in Behavior Change

When it comes to changing behaviors in organizations – leaders often speak about changing the underlying beliefs and mindsets of people. It’s become so fashionable today to talk about the role of mindsets in changing behaviors that people seem to have forgotten completely the simple formula - Behavior is a function of Personality and Environment – articulated by Kurt Lewin decades ago. Further, personality itself is shaped by environment. And hence, environment is too important in driving behavior to be ignored.

I believe this obsession with mindsets exists because the mindset theory of behaviors is very coherent and apparently logical. The theory says something like this, “Your brain is like a computer with a hardcoded program – your beliefs, values, assumptions, etc. The computer does what the program tells it to do. If you want to change the output, change the program.” While the theory itself is not entirely wrong, accepting it as the ultimate explanation of human behavior is taking the analogy a bit too far. It also makes it so easy to blame people’s mindset for their behavior – while absolving the leaders of their own role in setting the cultural tone of the organization.

“Focus on changing mindsets; behaviors will change automatically” – A well-known HR leader shared on Linkedin. Hundreds liked the status.

“How can you change, if your mindset has not changed. It would all be so fake and superficial” – HR Head of a well known MNC mused in a workshop. Everyone nodded in agreement.

“It’s the mindset that drives the behavior. If you want to change behaviors, work on changing mindsets.”- Authors of a best-seller said. Millions bought the book.

Two years ago, my family shifted to a new apartment. And - anybody who has ever shifted homes would empathize - on quite a number of occasions I took the route to my old apartment. I knew where I had to go. I had intention to go to the new place. I knew the route to the new place. Yet, I took the wrong turn. The reason is a no-brainer: Habits take time to change. My brain was making me repeat the old routine unconsciously.

What would you think about someone who might try to attribute this to my wrong intentions or wrong beliefs or to say wrong mindset?

Well, let’s take another example.

My daughter suddenly started performing poorly at mathematics. We met the new teacher. She told us that our daughter wasn’t attentive in the class and that she lacked interest in mathematics. We met the principal and shared our concern. Don’t know if our little talk with the Principal was effective or it was happenstance – the teacher left the school in a couple of months. A new math teacher was appointed. My daughter told us that the new teacher was very kind and good towards the students. She started liking the subject again and her performance improved. Pygmalion in classroom is a well-established effect. Students come up to the expectations of their teachers.

What would you think about someone who might try to tell me that my daughter had an attitude issue or that she had a wrong mindset?

Ok, one more!

An IT company has been working on improving ownership among the staff. The management thinks that the staff have a mindset problem. They don’t want to put in discretionary effort. It was apparent to the company management that the staff wanted to do just enough to get by. A few years ago, the company had faced a downturn and in order to cut costs, the management had laid off quite a few employees. Do I even need to specify the reason for the disengagement of the staff? 

What do you think of management’s judgement in this case that the problem is with the mindset of their employees?

Behaviors are outcome of so many things not related to mindsets or beliefs. In fact, people do act in ways that fly in the face of their own beliefs and values.

1. Norms: Asch’s conformity experiments in 1950’s showed how people conform to group norms despite their better judgments.
2. Authority and Powerful Positions: Stanford Prison Experiments showed how perfectly sane individuals may end up torturing other people when they are put in the position of authority.
3. Coercion and Deference: Many of us will empathize with a subordinate who acts on decisions taken by his manager, while not agreeing with her on the principle followed. Milgram's Obedience Experiments also showed how people follow those in authority. Coercion and deference to authority determine our behaviors significantly.
4. Rules, Laws, Processes: Law of land, explicit rules in organizations, and written down processes determine our behaviors on a day-to-day basis
5. Habits: Habits affect our behaviors despite our willingness to change. We behave today in a way, we behaved yesterday. You’d find that people tend to occupy same seats around a meeting table year after year
6. Attitudes of Other People: Pygmalion Effect, Self-fulfilling Prophecy, Stereotyping etc.
7. Lack of Competency or Skills: Adoption rate of new technology, new processes etc.

Also, when we focus single-mindedly on mindsets for changing behaviors, we are being unfair to the individual who’s at the focus of this change. I have objection to the use of the term mindset itself. It sounds so fatalistic and deterministic. It’s like, people’s minds are set in stone and they are doomed to repeat the same old behaviors in perpetuity – unless somebody enlightens them or they happen to find enlightenment for themselves. Mindsets – assumptions, beliefs, mental models – are subject to change as a person experiments with new behaviors, when exposed to new experiences. Mindsets change due to change in our behaviors. It’s hardly vice-versa. You can’t change mindset like it’s a piece of software. Mindset is like momentum – it exists because of past behaviors and experiences and it changes because of new behaviors and experiences.

Oh yes, despite all the above, there are people who act exceptionally in difficult situations – breaking norms, leaving bad habits etc. You may say they have the right mindset or something like that. But, organizations are not necessarily built of all exceptional people. Most of us are ordinary, fallible human beings, who are genuinely trying to do the best that we could in our lives. Those driving change should keep that in mind. Look beyond mindsets when driving change.