Have you ever wondered why despite the check-ins, coaching and corrective action – including the most severe – some employees end up never improve or change their behavior?
How many employees do you have riding your attendance policy, waiting for one occurrence to drop off before incurring another absence or tardy? How many are just going from coaching/verbal, to informal to formal and so forth?
You had the conversation with them – they understood the expectations, you see a temporary improvement, but then they go right back to where they were….
Have you ever considered that this is the way they are “programmed?” Behavior is tied to internal paradigms – which are a compositive beliefs that include how employees view themselves, view the world and view themselves in the world.
When we consider that 96%-98% of our behavior is habitual, it is easy to understand that paradigms control our behavior since they control our habits or subconscious behavior. We see this in people who always show up early at a meeting, in people who invariably arrive a few minutes late, etc… It is a pattern, it is engrained in them, it’s the way they operate. It does not really matter if you tell them to arrive on time, their automatic behavior will always prevail or resurface unless you change the employee’s paradigm.
If you truly want to change employee behavior for the long-term (not a temporary improvement through sheer will), the employee’s paradigms need to change.
How do you do that you may ask?
By replacing the old paradigm with a new one – through constant spaced repetition of a new paradigm. This can be accomplished through the use of auto-suggestion where an individual consciously works to reprogram their subconscious by affirming statements over and over, affirming a new self-image that corresponds to the goal they wish to achieve while changing one or two habits at a time.
I encourage every organization to work with their low-performers so they can see themselves as a high-performers. Help them redefine their paradigm, redefine who they are and want to be. Encourage them and support them in doing this paradigm shift – which will lead to a change in behavior and performance.
Managers - Help your employee define their goal and the corresponding self-image, help them realize the non-productive habits they possess that are not aligned with their desired goal and self-image – you are much more likely to see a permanent change.
When you help your employee get to the root cause of their unproductive behavior – doing so will be worth your investment and you will be certain to see increased engagement and productivity.
Invest in your people, invest in growth and be ready for a change.
Lu Tandazo is a Proctor Gallagher Consultant – Success coach dedicated to assist businesses in reaching their fullest potential and achieving quantum leaps. Lu focuses on increasing employee productivity and employee engagement through paradigm shifts (mindset and attitude approach) to reach business goals. Lu has over 10 years of experience in Human Resources and brings a new approach to employee engagement focusing on the root cause of employee behavior.
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