Mistake #8: Focusing on abstract goals more than concrete behaviors

We come up with abstract goals for our teams, such as “Improve the guest experience!” or “Sell more high-margin items!”

Examples of concrete behaviors are:

• Ask every party if they would like an appetizer.
• Have at least one interaction with everyone on your team, every day.
• Spend 30 minutes talking with guests in the lobby every day.

If you’re serious about it, break it into concrete, measurable, achievable goals.

The Key: Abstract: Get in shape. Concrete: Walk 15 min. today

Mistake #9: Seeking to change a behavior forever, not for a short time

Let’s face it: forever is a long time.

Start by defining a time window for the behavior you want to change. Set a goal to do something everyday for a week. If it works, continue. If not, reevaluate.

It can be hard to start something knowing it will go on indefinitely. A short, intense trial period helps us focus our energy.

The Key: A fixed period works better than “forever”

Mistake #10: Assuming that behavior change is difficult

As long as you have a willingness to use the techniques shared here, you’ll be well on your way to changing your own behavior, and that of your teams.

To Recap:

1. Imagine willpower doesn’t exist.
2. Seek tiny successes, one after the other.
3. Pay attention to environment.
4. Focus on action (new behaviors), not ending old ones.
5. Make behaviors easier to do (overcome motivation issues!)
6. Use triggers.
7. Understand that information does NOT lead to action.
8. Keep it concrete, not abstract.
9. Work within a fixed period of time.

The Key: Behavior change is not so hard when you have the right process

Mistake #6: Underestimating the power of triggers

We all rely on triggers for our habitual behaviors. For example, I always floss right after brushing. (Yes, I know you’re supposed to do it before.) I don’t think to floss when I turn on the TV, or when I hear the microwave beep.

If you want your team to begin practicing a new behavior, find a place for it within a current, established process.

Otherwise they’ll forget…and so would you.

The Key: No behavior happens without a trigger.

Mistake #7: Believing information leads to action

From Clotaire Rapaille (The Culture Code):

Years ago, Tufts University invited me to lecture during a symposium on obesity…

Lecturer after lecturer offered solutions for America’s obesity problem, all of which revolved around education. Americans would be thinner if only they knew about good nutrition and the benefits of exercise, they told us. Slimming down the entire country was possible through an aggressive public awareness campaign…

When it was my turn to speak, I couldn’t help beginning with an observation.

“I think it is fascinating that the other speakers today have suggested that education is the answer to our country’s obesity problem,” I said. I slowly gestured around the room. “If education is the answer, then why hasn’t it helped more of you?”

There were audible gasps in the auditorium when I said this, quite a few snickers, and five times as many sneers.

Unsurprisingly, Tufts never invited me to lecture again.

As this series is suggesting…there is a lot that goes into behavior change, and information is only one piece.

The Key: We humans aren’t so rational.

Mistake #4: Trying to stop old behaviors instead of creating new ones

This may sound familiar: “Can I get you guys anything to drink?”

Phrases like, “you guys” or “no problem” or “yep” need to go. The same goes for greeting a guest by saying “Checking-in?” These are simply bad habits.

If a manager tells the server to stop saying “you guys”, she’s sure to continue using it. A better solution is to give her something to say instead. For example, “Would anyone like to get started with a drink?”

Always replace an undesirable behavior with a desirable one.

The Key: Focus on action, not avoidance.

Mistake #5. Blaming failures of lack of motivation

We like to blame motivation. A friend told me once, “I’m not motivated enough to pack a lunch in the morning.”

I asked her what part was the motivation killer. It was time. She wasn’t motivated to get out of bed 10 minutes earlier to pack her lunch.

I suggested that she pack it the night before, while making dinner. Make it part of her dinner routine, and everything would be ready to go the next morning

We need to make behaviors so easy to do that motivation isn’t even a factor.

Here is the lesson: don’t put a big project or new process in front of your team tomorrow. Introduce the new process piece by piece. Make each incremental piece so easy…so simple…that it takes minimal effort.

Before you know it, the new process is implemented…and nobody noticed.

The Key: Make the behavior easier to do.

Behavior change is hard, in part because we go at it incorrectly. BJ Fogg and his group at Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab put together a list of  common mistakes in behavior change.

Over the next few posts, I’ll discuss the relevance of each point to the service industry.

Let’s begin…

Mistake #1. Relying on willpower for long-term change 
We all like to think that if we (or someone else) would just “try harder”…care more…put in more effort…we could change. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. It especially doesn’t work when a manager is trying to get someone else to change his behavior.

Willpower is not sustainable in long-term behavior change.

The Key: Imagine willpower doesn’t exist.

Mistake #2. Attempting big leaps instead of baby steps

If you want your training program to fail, unveil it all at once. Or have a consultant come in and do it in a day. Nothing worth sustaining over time can follow the “one and done” approach.

Start small. First, get your whole team to smile at each guest. Then get them good at the “welcome”. Then get them good at the “farewell.”

Figure out the end goal, and then break down the intermediate steps necessary to get there. Seriously. Don’t go for it all at once. It won’t stick.

The Key: Seek tiny successes, one after another.

Mistake #3. Ignoring how environment shapes behaviors

Our behavior is impacted by our environment. Read this:

“We put candies either on their desks, or six feet from their desks, in either a clear or an opaque bowl, and every day we refilled the candy dishes. And we found that a typical secretary on a typical day would eat about nine Hershey’s Kisses–which is about 225 calories–if they were sitting on her desk.

But if we moved the candy dish six feet away, they ate only four candies–or about 125 fewer calories a day. Over the course of a year, that would translate into 11 to 12 pounds of extra weight they would gain by having the candy on the desk instead of six feet away.

We asked the secretaries if six feet was just too far to walk, but they said, “No, it’s just that the six feet gave me pause to think, ‘Am I really that hungry?’” And half the time, they said no.” Source

It wasn’t about willpower…it was about environment.

What can you change about the work environment to encourage (or discourage) certain behaviors?

The Key: Change your life and change your context

More to come next week…

Look at the chart below:

In a low-stress environment, we grow lazy and begin to fall asleep.

In a high-stress environment, we become flustered.

We all have an optimum level of stress that leads to our best performance. Three truths:

• The appropriate level of stress is different for each person.
• The appropriate level of stress changes as we gain more experience.
• The appropriate level of stress changes when performing different tasks.

As a leader, your job is to make sure each member of your team is functioning somewhere between boredom and anxiety.

When a team member is bored, you can:

• Give them more responsibility.
• Give them coaching and feedback on skills they need to improve.
• Promote them.
• Challenge them.

When a team member is experiencing anxiety, you can:

• Give them coaching and feedback on skills they need to improve.
• Allocate additional resources to their area and rethink staffing.
• Evaluate processes that lead to anxiety.

There’s no one-size-fits-all formula. But that’s not an excuse to ignore it.