Atomic Transformation - Small Habits, Big Impact

Welcome to another episode of Transformation professionals, sponsored by CxO Transform, crafted to enhance the strategic acumen of ambitious managers, leaders and consultants. We hope you enjoy this episode about Atomic Transformation Small Habits, Big Impact here's Rob Llewellyn.

While inexperienced transformation managers and leaders need to be mindful, deliberate, and conscious at their jobs, those those that are true masters of transformation have moved beyond that and they do the right things simply from habit. They no longer need to be mindful, deliberate, and conscious because the right behaviors have become habit. If habits account for around 40% of our behaviors on any given day, and systems also help define how we work, leaders should consider doing what's necessary to ensure their people go about their work with the right behaviors and systems to achieve the objectives required to reach the company's transformation goals. In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear refers to four stages of habit, which he describes a habit loop and this habit loop is continually scanning the environment, predicting what will happen next, trying out different responses and learning from the results. A cue for a habit triggers a craving which motivates a response which provides a reward which satisfies the craving and ultimately becomes associated with the cue. James then refers to four laws that provide a framework that can help bring about new habits. The first law of behavior change is to make something obvious. This law is connected to the cue, which is the first step of the habit loop. A cue is anything that gets the attention of your employees or customers and suggests what to do next. The most obvious cue is often the one that captures someone's attention, and the cue that gets their attention is the one that can initiate a habit. The second law of behavior change is to make it attractive. This is connected to the craving, which is the second step of the habit loop. So often in companies, people are told what to do without there being any incentive for them to do it. Unless you can make the desired habit attractive, it's probably not going to become a habit, which means you're going to have to constantly remind people to be mindful to deliberate and conscious at their job, while the effective leader and manager will have freed themselves from such monotony and have a team of people that have adopted the right habits. The third law of behavior change is to make it easy. This law is associated with the response, which is the actual behavior or habit you perform. Behaviors are more likely to be performed when they can be accomplished with ease. Business is an ongoing journey to deliver the same or better results in an easier way. The idea is to make every phase of the process as convenient as possible the fourth law of behavior change is to make it satisfying. The final stage of the habit loop is the reward. If there's a reward associated with a behavior, meaning it feels good and has a satisfying ending, then then we have a reason to repeat it in the future. In transformation, we could say that by offering attractive rewards for participating in our innovation process, people are encouraged to keep trying to come up with disruptive new concepts. Or you could say that making your product or service so satisfying you increase the odds that customers will keep coming back. The speed of the reward is a crucial factor in the fourth law of behavior change. Employees and customers need to feel immediately successful, even if it's just in a small way. Behaviors that make the workforce and customers feel good are followed by an immediate sense of satisfaction, pride, praise, encouragement, or pleasure. These are the types of behaviors you want to repeat in the future. But remember that work habits need to be learned from, felt and practiced as second nature. They shouldn't be imposed from the top. Most companies have some master motivators who are able to achieve exceptional performance with their teams by enabling them to adopt the right habits. But these people are not the majority. They're the special minority that any organization is fortunate to have. They use their emotional intelligence to bring about powerful change within their people. These managers and leaders are different from those limited to a specific skill set such as technology, strategy, marketing, or data. While good managers and leaders set clear direction and create momentum by focusing on results, the best of them create momentum for results that become self reinforcing. They focus on the behaviors required for results as well as the results themselves. They empower people to be the best they can be by adopting the right habits. These are the leaders who orchestrate successful transformation. The leaders who recognize that transformation is so much more than setting strategy and executing technology projects to bring our exploration of transformational habits to a close. Remember this the mastery of change isn't an end goal, but a perpetual process. It's about ingraining the right actions that become automatic responses. A symphony of habits that underpin every successful transformation story. As managers and leader, fostering a culture where positive habits are second nature and systems support your strategic objectives is paramount. It ensures that everyone in the organization, including you, can seamlessly contribute to your shared transformation goals. And in the grander scheme, it's not just about being transformation savvy within the four walls of your organization. It's about setting a transformational tone that resonates industry wide, becoming a beacon for others to follow. It's about equipping yourself with the mindset and tools to thrive in the evolving landscape of business, where agility, responsiveness, and the ability to adapt are not just admired, but expected. So, as we sign off from this session, let's commit to not just adopting new habits, but becoming the architects of our transformation journey.

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