Behavior change, 5 tips on how to successfully become the best version of yourself.

There are bookshelves full of writings about behavioral change. Or in the case of organizations; cultural changes. (which I think only works through behavioral change.) Enough theories have been thought up about how you can do that successfully and why something did not work out. Billions spent on personal coaches, assistants, trainers, consultants, etc. Stacks of reports written about organizations, teams and people. And it is still an unruly phenomenon. Why is it that culture and/or behavior are so difficult to change? It is my firm belief that we think and talk too little about mission, vision, objectives and plans. We also don't put our finger on it enough real sore spot, we often show a lack of reflection and then treat the symptoms instead of tackling the causes. We also often overestimate the impact of our actions and underestimate the countercurrent. Motivation is an essential factor. And lastly, don't scrub the area.

An example: You are an adult man and consider yourself unhealthy. You have little energy, regular physical complaints, you exercise too little, you smoke and you eat too much, approximately 3500 kcal. per day. In addition, you sleep poorly, probably because you are a regular drinker and experience a lot of stress at work. You want to change and decide on January 1 as a good resolution to follow a diet of 2000 kcal per day. You now weigh 110 kilos, 1 kilo of fat is 7700 kcal, so if you eat (3500-2000=) 1500 kcal less per day you will have lost more than 1 kilos by April 17,5 and your problem will be solved.

Raise your hand and shout (YES!!) if you think we succeeded.

Nobody convinced? Yet I regularly come across these examples when I talk to people who believe that their commercial results could be improved. As a trainer, I am then asked to train a field service. The budget is limited, the time is too short, the expectations in advance are sky-high and the result had to be achieved yesterday. Oh yes, and the management team does not actually plan to invest any time in personal development this year. The problem lies in the field service, which needs to be trained.

Just like the unhealthy man, you cannot blame the entrepreneur for not understanding that it doesn't work that way. We are all often caught up in the issues of the day, have blind spots, suffer from cognitive dissonance, are judged on results, so we try something. There's nothing wrong with that in itself, because every little bit helps, you would say. It's just that we often fall back into old habits too quickly. 'Culture eats strategy for breakfast'; or 'habits eat resolutions for breakfast'. Psychologist Daniël Kahneman says: “We are largely controlled by fully automatic processes over which we have no control. And we don't realize that we function this way." Maybe you know it movie of the upside-down bicycle? If behavior is really ingrained, it is not so easy to change. But it is possible!

You may now be wondering how can I change? I'll give you 5 tips.

1. Start with mission, vision, plan and purpose. This is not just for organizations, just write to them for your BV. And don't set the bar too low, I've been joking for years that there is only one activity where you get better if you keep lowering the bar and that is limbo dancing. You may have heard of Jim Collins' BHAG (pronounced bie hek), the Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Dare to express ambition, what is your dream? Share that with each other and see where the similarities are. Make a plan, arrange support, identify saboteurs and stumbling blocks, provide a budget for implementation rounds 2 and 3. (or do you still believe that all the new things you come up with will go well the first time..) In short look before you start. If the unhealthy man had started doing this, his solution would have gone beyond diet.

2. Where is the problem really? I know someone who very regularly asks the question: “Is that true or do you think so?” People should ask themselves that question regularly. They should be aware of a high risk of cognitive dissonance and our natural urge to reduce it. In layman's terms, look more often in an honest mirror instead of the distorting mirror we usually look into. Gentle healers make stinking wounds. The entrepreneur who asks me to train a field service would do well to throw off the blinders and discuss the ailment, the symptoms, the possible causes with me, in short, a solid diagnosis.

3. If you want to know the effects of your approach, you will have to measure. So quantify your objectives, there is a reason why there is an M in SMART. If we do it based on feeling, we overestimate our effort and the impact that effort has. If you spend a whole day doing phone canvassing without writing down what you're doing, most salespeople estimate they've made about 80-100 calls. When they start calculating, they usually don't get to 50. We also often underestimate the countercurrent. Development goals often work better than performance goals for personal behavioral change. To measure = to know but also Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. The unhealthy man with good intentions probably overestimates the amount of calories burned during an hour-long walk and underestimates the impact of a bowl of nuts on the table in the evening. Counting calories (in and out) can help you. He could also write down a development goal: I want to explore at least three different ways in the coming month that will make my lifestyle healthier.

4. Personal result = knowledge + skill + talent x motivation. In this equation, motivation or drive is the biggest accelerator of results. It is not without reason that all my training programs in recent years have started with a day or part of the day dedicated to this. Intrinsic motivation among my participants is the greatest predictor of a successful trajectory. This also applies to behavioral change. If you don't want it, or even better, if you don't really want it, it's not going to change. Despite all good intentions, the bumps in the road are unbearable if your motivation is not good. Winners are not people who never do anything wrong, they are people who never give up. We can motivate the unhealthy man with his BHAG, we visualize his ambition, measure his progress, celebrate his success, regularly compliment him and reward him for his results.

5. And finally the environment. If we don't change the environment, the tendency to relapse increases. Recently there has been a wonderful opportunity for entrepreneurs to implement changes in employee behavior. Suppose you believe that more customer satisfaction research should be conducted. And you've tried that a few times with the office staff, but it still doesn't get off the ground. There is a good chance that you would have succeeded with the Corona crisis. Everyone was working from home, different environment, different dynamics, much greater chance of success. Changing the diet makes you eat. For example, the unhealthy man would do well to change supermarkets. Then you shop much more consciously.

These are my 5 most important tips for making behavior change successful. So we would have to spend a lot of time planning the change. Arranging and sorting out all kinds of things before we start. However, please realize that most changes did not happen because they were not actually started!! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. So start, start doing, experience, learn, implement again but now more fun, adjust, organize success, celebrate success, motivate, until you succeed. It is not without reason that our slogan has become “Success through action”. Because change is a skill and practice is essential. If knowledge and insight were enough, we would all be healthy, rich and at our ideal weight. It's all about doing!

Good luck with the sale.

Hans Roelfsema
h.roelfsema@kennethsmit.com
0651235193

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