Habits form part of our daily lives.
But building new ones – and breaking old ones – can be tricky.
And it can be easy for a new habit to be knocked off course.
So, how can you and your leaders build great habits that stick?
This was the subject of a recent episode of The Sound Leadership Podcast – our new podcast for L&D and HR professionals.
Our hosts – Dan Boniface and Darren Draper – shared great insight and advice. And we thought we should cover some of it in one of our leadership blogs.
They began by covering why forming good habits matters. And why existing habits may not be working.
“We have to look at everything we naturally do every week and the value we get from it,” Daren said.
“When I worked for a retail organisation, every shop had a Monday meeting, lasting about three hours, that talked about the past week – what went right, what went wrong, and what we are going to do going forward.
“People would bring their sales figures, meaning all they had done was print off a piece of paper. And they could have been seen online.
“But we did it because that was a habit of what gets done on a Monday in every shop.
“Businesses need to look at the habits they have created and ask whether they still need to do them. If an hour of that three-hour meeting is taken up with print-offs, people could go online and look at those figures.
“And then we need to move from the unconscious to the conscious of how you want your week to look. What habits do we need people to start doing in the workplace to create the most value at the end?
“When I was a new manager, I had a list, and the first thing on it was to say hello to everyone.
“That then creates the habit of doing it.
“Most people will just say hello back. But that one time someone adds something like ‘Can I just catch you?’, you start to make that emotional impact on others.”
He added that it is crucial for leaders to observe negative and positive habits among their team members.
He said: “If I’m working in the shop environment, and I see that every time a particular person walks past a certain colleague, they stop and have a conversation, that is a habit.
“How can I separate that so the interaction doesn’t happen, and the habit doesn’t kick in?
“It is about seeing where, unconsciously, people are doing stuff that positively or negatively impacts productivity.”
Dan believes that habits build consistency.
“If you say to people, ‘Are you a reader?’ a lot will say they don’t read often,” he said.
“But you can quickly become a reader. I read a page a day and often more than that, and I’m a consistent reader.
“How long does it take me? About two minutes. And I’m learning something new every day. Or it is refreshing my memory of something I had forgotten.
“Everyone can spare two minutes for a bit of personal development. You can guarantee they spend more than that on their phone.
“I have my books on my desk. And when I want to switch off from what I am doing or have a creative block, I pick up a book.”
It is a habit Darren shares. “Instead of having my phone within arm’s reach, I put my Kindle there”, he said.
“And when I’m looking for a distraction, I’ll pick that up and read a page or two."
So, how can you create new habits that stick?
Our experts say the four laws of behavioural change, proposed by James Cleary in his bestselling book Atomic Habits, are vital.
- Make it obvious
- Make it attractive
- Make it easy
- Make it satisfying
Darren said: “The first thing is about trying to make a habit obvious. For example, when I spoke about reading and the Kindle, it is right there next to me.
“The second one – and probably the key for me – is to make it attractive. Think about why you are creating that habit and are choosing to do it. You need to understand why you are doing it so you don’t give up after four months.
“And that links to the habit being easy. When I used to go to the gym, I had to drive for 15 to 20 minutes, get changed, then 30 to 45 minutes of exercise, and then the same journey home.
“I spent as long coming and going as I did in the gym. When I moved house, I put some fitness equipment in the garage, and now all I need to do is walk to the garage. The things stopping me from doing it have been pushed out of the way.
“The final part is making it satisfying. What is your reward?”
What else can make habits stick?
Darren believes self-awareness is vital.
“We don’t understand how much habits define our days,” he said.
“The day most people forget to clean their teeth is Christmas Day because their routine is slightly different, and brushing your teeth is just a habit.
“You already have habits - they are just unconscious.
“So, you need to gain that awareness that moves you towards choice.
“Are you happy with how you spend your day? Or would you like to change?”
Once you have made that choice, you can start making actions.
“It might be that you want to spend less time on your phone and more time reading,” Darren said. “Or it may be that you want to spend more time on your phone doing A,B,C.”
Patience is also essential.
“The hard bit is that you may not see any results straight away," Darren said. "If you join a gym, you may not notice any difference for a couple of months.
“With a new habit, you need to get over that 60 or 90-day hump before you start to see the benefit.
“We want results now, but they may come a little further in the future.”
Dan believes taking the “first next step” – something we often discuss during our business coaching courses - is also vital. “If you set out to read a whole book, that could feel like a big task.
“But if you start reading a page a day, before you know it, you will be reading more than that. It’s happened to me many times where I didn’t expect to get to the end of a book so early. I’ve read something in two weeks that I thought would take two months.
“Doing the little things and making the marginal gains helps you get to that big picture.”
Gamifying habits can also help.
Darren: “If you look at Duolingo, it says you have done 276 days on the trot. You get your end-of-year figures from Spotify, telling you how many hours you spend listening to music.
“So, some of the habits and behaviours we have are gamified. Businesses use it to pull you in more, but you can also use these techniques.
“For example, I habit track. I have 10 to 12 habits that I tick off each day. After about nine months, they come off my habit tracker, and they have either stuck or they haven’t.
“There are things that have been on there that I do every day now because they are so ingrained.
“With reading, I write down in a notepad every book I have read so I can count and say, 'I’ve read 65 books this year – can I do 66 next year?'. It reinforces the habit, makes it more attractive, and we start to get our rewards.
Dan added: “That creates reflection opportunities as well. You can look at how far you have come. One day you have a blank notebook, and at the end of the year you have 65 books written in it.”
What about habit stacking?
This is essentially a technique where you add a new habit to an existing, well-established one.
Dan said: “I was coaching someone, and they wanted to get more engagement with their team.
“Through the coaching, she came up with this idea that instead of saying hello to each team member in the morning, she would spend two minutes talking to each person.
“So, the first 20 minutes of a day were taken up with talking to her team. And the impact was huge. Suddenly, she was very approachable and visible and was there for her team.
“The knock-on impact is productivity has gone up, and she spends less time answering questions later in the day.
“It’s what we call habit stacking. The habit was saying hello each morning, and the stack on to that is spending time with each team member.”
Darren added: “Think about the habits you do now and what else you can do with them. If you are going around saying hello to people, maybe you could also do a safety audit at the same time."
He also believes it is crucial leaders do not underestimate the power of reflection in creating new habits.
“Give yourself time to reflect on the day and think about what went well and why it went well,” he said.
“If you do that thing that went well every day, it might put you in a positive mindset.
“You can also reflect on the habits you want to build to be the person you want to be.”
Our top three habit-building tips
Belief: With any habit, understand why you are doing it and the impact it will have.
Marginal gains: If you can make a one per cent difference each day, think about the impact that will have over a year.
Habit stack: What can you add to your habits to make them even more positive?
Click here to get the latest episode of The Sound Leadership Podcast on Spotify. And click here to listen to it on Apple Podcasts.
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