As a leader, which of your habits yield the greatest productivity and efficiency for you and your organization?
In a previous post The Next Wave in Leadership Development, I mentioned how 80% of our results stems from only 20% of our efforts. Imagine how much more we could accomplish if we created positive habits that devoted more time and energy to those crucial 20 percent of our activities! For more, see the post How Tiny Habits Can Help You Refocus.
Knowing this, it makes sense to identify the 20 percent of your efforts that bring you 80 percent of your results. If you need help with this, consider working with a qualified executive coach. Then, identify three important behaviors you can turn into habits.
Identify Transforming Habits
In Tiny Habits (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2020), BJ Fogg, PhD shares a step-by-step process in behavior design to accomplish this:
Clarify your aspiration (or desired outcome).
Explore specific behavior options without censoring yourself. Consider those you might do once, those that would become a habit, and even habits you would stop.
Match with specific behaviors. Identify your “golden behaviors:” those that are effective (impact), desirable (motivation), and doable (ability).
Start tiny.
Find a good prompt (anchor).
Celebrate successes: emotions create habits. Positive emotions trigger that feel good reward of dopamine, so celebrate immediately: give yourself a pat on the back, a high-five in the mirror, bust a dance move, congratulate yourself, whatever works for you.
Troubleshoot, iterate, and expand.
Many of the leaders and managers I work with use this methodology (intuitively or intentionally) to innovate and manage change within their organization. They understand that by beginning with the smallest, simplest tasks they can build confidence and momentum. When they demonstrate how to turn small behaviors in to powerful habits, they can achieve the results they are looking for.
Questions for Leaders
Here are some things to discuss with your team members:
What are you paying attention to?
What are your biggest distractions?
What three habits would bring you quality results?
What do you think? What new habits will transform your leadership?
I’d love to hear from you! You can reach me at liz@tracypartnerships.com or learn more about my coaching practice at www.tracycoaching.com and on LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook.