How organisations breed good habits
Earlier this year, I ran a 100-mile race. On foot, crossing mountain ranges and rivers, fighting off sleep deprivation and hallucinations, ignoring the burning soles of my blistered feet to cross the finish line 31 hours later with a smile and indescribable elation.
Suffice it to say that it was an incredible experience.
The biggest lesson: Achieving ambitious goals is impossible without healthy habits.
What many people don’t know is that I ran every single day for more than 400 days leading up to the race. My body adapted as the behaviour of running became habitual, instinctual, and automatic.
James Clear and Charles Duhigg, amongst others, have done an incredible job in disseminating the vast body of research on habits in a consumable format through their books. One of our favourite quotes from James Clear:
“You don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems.”
It’s easy to set ambitious goals, but performance doesn’t rise to the level of the goal. Performance is based on the systems, habits, rituals or rhythms that are in place. Through consistently increasing the level of discipline, performance increases which allows us to meet our goals.
Goals are necessary for direction. Or, as Alice in Wonderland would say, if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. We need goals – to run a 100-miles, to start a business, to open a new office.
But once goals are set, we need the habits in place to back them up.
The habit loop
The habit loop states that an automatic, habitual behaviour is preceded by a cue (such as a craving), which initiates a routine, which is then reinforced by a reward.
The idea of the habit loop creates the notion that we can craft our environment to guide our behaviours. (See Lewin’s behaviour equation.)
Work on the CUE and the REWARD, and you will change the ROUTINE.
This is incredibly powerful for an organisation because you can craft an environment that will guide the behaviours of the team.
5 steps to creating organisational habits
If an organisation can get CUEs and REWARDs right, it will create the habit. But CUEs and REWARDs are part of a larger process, that looks like this:
1. Set the goal
Goals are still crucial for direction, ensuring team members all know where we’re going. This consists of long-term ambitions, short-term targets, and anything in between.
Depending on the timeframe, there are many different names for it – BHAGs, moonshots, vision statements, OKRs. The point is that you need some form of an ambitious goal that you’re moving towards.
2. Determine the parts
The challenge with a goal is that it’s one-dimensional. It’s never as easy as “Open an office in East Africa”, “Find product-market fit”, or “Double YoY revenue”. While you’re trying to open a new office, the business needs to keep running, clients need to stay happy and people need to stay satisfied.
Before you dig into CUEs and REWARDs, determine the parts required that will lead to holistic success. Here’s one way to break it down:
- Team health (is our team and culture in a place to contribute to the goals?)
- Financial health (can we set resources aside to work towards the goals?)
- Strategic health (are these goals moving us in the right direction?)
- Execution health (are we executing on agreed-upon actions and solving issues?)
You want to arrive at a ROUTINE to check in on all of the above. This is the crux of the habit loop.
3. Create the CUE
To arrive at the ROUTINE, you need a CUE. In a business, the CUE is a meeting.
According to the theory, the CUE needs to be obvious, attractive and easy.
Make it obvious: Meet at the same time every week (every second week isn’t as obvious).
Make it attractive: Use the meeting to build the culture. Engage with the team, provide snacks, pose a fun question, create learning opportunities. What “attractive” means will depend on your culture.
Make it easy: Don’t push for long, complex meetings. Remove friction, keep it short, and provide a transparent agenda to create clarity.
4. Clarify the REWARD
Time inconsistency is the concept that people prioritise immediate gratification over long-term benefits. To reach ambitious goals, we need to circumvent this behaviour and create short-term rewards.
My reward was not only the finish line at the 100-miler; it was the weekly distance goals, or shorter races done in preparation, or weekend running road-trips.
Theory states that rewards need to be satisfying.
Make it satisfying: Set appropriate short-term goals to show that we’re making progress towards the long-term ambition. And then stop to celebrate those achievements, recognise the contributors and incentivise the team.
5. Continue the momentum
Habits are formed after about 66 iterations.
And automatic behaviour isn’t compromised if you miss one iteration.
Push through the discomfort, and don’t worry if you miss a week. Keep going!
Habits outlive goals
Goal achievement is fleeting – it’s the moment you cross the finish line or meet the revenue goal (which is to be celebrated!). But the medal gets lost in the bottom of a drawer or the revenue is just a line item on an income statement, and it’s onto the next one.
The incentive of meeting the goal will start the habit.
The identity that’s been crafted during the habit formation will sustain that habit.
And those good habits will lead to more goals.
Happy habit tracking,
Paul
If you have questions, we’re always keen for coffee.
Get in touch so that we can brainstorm a few solutions together!
