How to Sustain Behavioral Change in the Workplace

Note: This post originally appeared on my Optimize Business Results blog on July 29, 2010.

Given the dynamic environment in which we live, it should come as no surprise that some behaviors that worked in the past become ineffective over time. As a result, managers not only must persuade employees to adopt new behaviors, they also must ensure that workers sustain the desired changes over time. So what’s a manager to do? When asked to answer this question, I came up with over three dozen effective tools that help individuals sustain behavioral change! Here are five of them:

1. Identify and focus on what’s in it (i.e., the behavioral change) for ME. The best motivator I know is enlightened self-interest. However, the key to success is focusing on individual interests, not on those of the team or the organization or the family.

2. Create a very clear and compelling picture of the outcome, and explain how the desired behavior supports it. People who see the connection between behaviors and outcomes are much more willing to embrace the desired change and sustain it over time.

3. Leaders must identify and demonstrate clearly the desired behavior. It’s not enough to say “Don’t do X.” You must go further and demonstrate (not just verbalize) the desired behavior, Y. People need a “picture” of the behavior you are requesting, something to replace the one that represents the current behavior. Otherwise they will revert quickly to what they know.

4. Reinforce the desired behaviors. Make sure the infrastructure (e.g., performance management and reward systems) supports the desired behaviors.

5. Celebrate successes along the way, not just final outcomes. This keeps the focus on the achievement of the desired behavior in the short-term as well as in the long-term.

The good news is that these tools work outside the workplace as well! To learn about three suggestions for how to sustain personal behavioral changes, I invite you to take a look at my article Promises, Promises: Three Ways to Achieve Lasting Behavioral Change in Your Personal Life. And let me know how YOU create and sustain lasting behavioral change!

© 2012 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.