‘Lead by example.’
‘The lowest standards you set are the highest standards you can expect from your people.’
‘It’s what you do every single day that counts.’
These three quotes on leadership basically say the same thing. It’s not what you say; it is what you do that counts. It is how you behave that sets you apart as a leader.
The moment you walk into the office, you are being judged on how you behave – and it is how you behave that reflects what you believe to be important.
When I worked in the nuclear industry, the MD started every meeting with a ‘safety moment’. We’d discuss something that was relevant to safety. For example – when was the last time everyone checked your smoke detector batteries?
This helped to embed the safety culture that is so important to the nuclear industry.
Initially, I associated safety with being risk adverse. This was a hangover from my career in the military where I was expected and encouraged to take physical risk to get the mission done. This represented a significant cultural change for me.
Culture is how people behave when they don’t think that they’re being watched.
It is a direct reflection of the leadership and values of an organisation.
So if individual behaviour = culture
How do you change individual behaviour which leads to culture change?
I believe that if we can crack this – we can make an enormous positive impact. Imagine how much money we’d save on the NHS if people started to look after themselves – exercising and eating a healthy diet? Imagine how many lives we’d save on the roads if people followed the Highway Code to the letter?
These are examples of how people’s behaviour – their daily decisions – have an impact on society. Understanding how and why people behave is the first step towards trying to change culture.
Decisions based on facts – not feelings
One of the first steps towards changing behaviour is to develop data based decision-making. Many people behave in accordance with how they feel – rather than what they need to do in order to achieve what they want.
We all do this. We lie to ourselves to support what we want to do. We use food and alcohol as a means of treating ourselves when we’ve had a long day or smashed through a hard workout. Psychologically it makes us feel better and there is nothing wrong with that.
But using food and alcohol as a method of reward isn’t a good idea as these short-term rewards have a long-term negative impact if used too frequently. Exercise does not make up for a poor diet.
This is where technology has the potential to provide us with solutions that support data-based decision-making, by making performance visible. For example, recent innovations such as the Fitbit or the Apple Watch make it clear how many steps we’ve taken and what our resting heart rate is. This is a step in the right direction – using factual data to clarify performance. These devices aren’t perfect but they are a step in the right direction.
Once you’re clear on what your performance looks like – you can use it to stimulate change.
This is what lots of diet programmes on TV do. They put a typically weekly shop on a table and make it clear what the person consumes over the course of a week. They then contrast this with a healthy diet of what people should be eating to highlight the differences.
Again, this is simply making it clear what current performance looks like and then contrasting it with ideal performance.
When it is hard to measure performance – performance is typically low.
When our feelings impact how we behave, performance is also typically low.
This is one of the first steps in Lean Manufacturing – making performance visible. Make it clear how you are performing today.
For example, if you are trying to lose weight – what do you weigh now?
What do you want to weigh and by when? This is the starting point for a ‘Vision’ – also a critical step in developing a Lean culture.
Challenge yourself by asking – ‘If I keep performing like this, where will it take me?’ How is this different from where I want to be?
This creates a gap between the current and future state. Once you’ve defined the future state, you can move towards making the small behavioural changes that will take you there.
Create a Burning Platform
Humans are not good at responding to subtle changes in our environment. We need shock events to grab our attention. When it comes to weight loss, people often talk about a moment when they understood that their current behaviour was going to unsustainable in the long-term. A photo of themselves on holiday, running out of breath whilst climbing the stairs – whatever it is, it has to be individual and powerful enough to make you stop and think about your current state.
Imagine being told by your Dr that you are at serious risk of Type 2 diabetes? That might have an impact. Imagine if the Dr told you that you’d be unlikely to see your grandchildren grow up – that might have a more significant impact. It’s dependent upon the individual and what they believe is important.
A ‘burning platform’ is a situation that forces people to change. It is the moment that they realise that what they are doing is not sustainable in the long-term. It is a sharp reality check that forces people to do something differently.
Educate yourself
What do good habits look like? What do successful people do? Where can I find stories of people who have successfully made this change?
This information will help you build a plan for where you want to go. Even if you just start reading advice on what you should be eating, it is a step in the right direction. Tim Ferriss is great at deconstructing what experts do and why so that you can apply it to your lifestyle.
Once you’ve educated yourself, you can build a plan to take you to where you want to go.
Make current performance clear.
Create a burning platform.
Educate yourself so that you can build a plan.
If you can change your behaviour first, you’ll be leading by example. This will probably have an impact on those that you’re leading. You can even use your own experiences to help coach and mentor them in their challenges.
But it starts with you.
Large cultural change programmes may sound appealing but they are not as effective as many small individual change programmes led by the leaders in your organisation.
Loosing weight, improving health. These are positive steps in the right direction. If you can crack these and make them sustainable, you’ll be able to support your people and lead change by example.
If you’ve enjoyed this article and found it useful – please like and share, you’ll be doing me a huge favour!
If you’d like to have a conversation about anything I’ve mentioned here or you’re interested in changing your culture/behaviour, please feel free to get in touch via the contact page.
Leadership Forces provide leadership training that takes the principles of high performance from the Royal Marines, elite sport and the nuclear sector. We believe that great cultures are the reflection of great leadership. We work in partnership with organisations to develop their leaders.