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The Belief: Behavior Connection: A New Look at Behavioral Management
August 19, 2009
By Deborah Mackin
Chandra has attendance problems on a periodic basis and produces sloppy work with careless mistakes. Her performance problems occur in spurts, often based on how things are going in her personal life. Her supervisor speaks with her each time about her slipping performance and things get better for awhile. Then it's back to the same old problems. Carlos, her supervisor, would like to fix the problem once and for all. Is there an alternative other than firing Chandra or writing her up again?
For years the standard performance management procedure has been to coach an individual at the first sign of performance difficulty and then progressively get more serious with formal, written warnings if the behavior doesn't fix itself. The focus is on behavior—identifying it, tracking its frequency, and communicating it to the employee. The expectation is that the employee, upon having the behavior clearly identified, will start to change or improve the behavior. While it sounds good, too often it simply doesn't work. The Belief: Behavior Connection (B: BC) has not been established.
Perhaps it's because focusing on behavior puts the emphasis on the symptom, not the root cause of the problem. The behaviors—whether sloppy work, absenteeism, missed deadlines, poor communication, or indifference—stem from a set of beliefs the employee has. Napoleon Hill, in the classic "Think and Grow Rich," stated, "Every man is what he is because of the dominating thought he permits to occupy his mind…which constitutes the motivating forces that direct and control his every movement, act and deed." If we focus on identifying and changing beliefs, rather than on stopping behavior, we will achieve far more success.
Let's discuss beliefs so we're clear about what we mean. Beliefs represent "an opinion or conviction; confidence in the existence of something" (Random House College Dictionary).
In the context of employment, an employee might accept being late to work by believing the employer should understand and accommodate for car failure, day-care problems, or sick kids. Another employee might believe too much work has been assigned and failure to meet the deadline is the supervisor's fault, not the employee's. Another might believe the company doesn't communicate well with the employee, so why should the employee communicate well with the customer? These are all opinions or convictions that will function as drivers of poor behavior.
One of the difficulties with beliefs is bringing them to the surface so they can be discussed. Typically, we don't openly discuss our beliefs about the organization or management, particularly if they are negative. Especially in the current economic climate, the beliefs stay undercover, only shared with close associates behind closed doors or after hours. Instead what we see, and what often gets talked about, is the behavior. But the behavior is just a manifestation of the underlying belief.
The Belief Discussion
Our first step is to create a connection in the employee's mind between behavior and his/her belief. However, it wouldn't work to ask Chandra what she believes because much of her belief is in her subconscious mind, not something she actively thinks about. So the first task is to generate a discussion in which the link between belief and behavior comes into the conscious mind and can be discussed.
The process begins by asking the employee to describe what's going on with a particular behavior and sharing how the behavior is having an impact on the customer, the organization, or the team. For example, we might say to Chandra, "Can we talk for a minute? I noticed the last two summaries you prepared had several errors in how the metrics were reported. Our customer noticed as well, and that's not good. What's going on with that?" It's important to end the introductory remarks with a question that invites the employee to provide an explanation.
As we hear the explanation provided, the key is not to focus on what the person is saying, but rather on what you think the person believes. For example, Chandra might reply, "Well, it can't be helped when we're getting the information last minute from accounting." It's important not to get sidetracked in a blame-game conversation, which simply creates a diversion from the important belief: behavior link that needs to be made.
Instead, listen for the belief Chandra is stating. It sounds like she believes she is the victim of the accounting department's delays and, therefore, should not be held accountable for the quality of the report. So we might respond to Chandra by saying, "It seems like you believe there is nothing you can do about the quality of our reports if accounting provides last-minute information. Is that right?" Again, it's important to end with a question that encourages Chandra to share how she framed that belief in her mind. She may have history with accounting that goes way back or a previous manager may have told her she needs to just take what accounting gives her without question. We're not going to change Chandra's belief until she can look at it objectively—outside herself—and see that the belief she has doesn't work in her best interest in the current situation.
Belief Discussion + Belief Discrepancy
The second step—once the belief has been surfaced—is to create a discrepancy in the employee's mind about the belief. Up until this point, the employee strongly believed the behavior was justified or correct. Chandra, for example, has convinced herself the mistakes are not her fault and she shouldn't be held accountable, especially if nothing has been said to accounting. Until there is a crack in the belief system—what we'll call discrepancy or inconsistency—Chandra will not be able to even hear the problem as you see it. She will hear it through the filter of her own belief system.
The challenge for you is to figure out how to create the discrepancy. Let's imagine Chandra tells you a former manager instructed her not to surface the issues with accounting's delays. At this point you could come alongside her with a statement such as this: "I bet even when your former manager suggested that to you that you thought it was a bad idea, huh?" Allow her to think about what you've said, to mull it over in her mind. If she accepts her former manager was wrong, then her current belief is wrong, as well —and you've created the all-important discrepancy.
Chandra could link the problem to her belief that mistakes are inevitable when others are late delivering what she needs. Again let's try to create discrepancy here. "It sounds like you believe that being late to the customer is OK. Is that right?" She'd probably reply, "Well, no, but it's not my fault. You should talk to accounting." Again, surface the belief and try to create discrepancy. "I hear you suggesting that I should have spoken to accounting even though you never informed me of a problem with accounting. Somewhat difficult to do, don't you think?"
As Chandra is getting confused now about what she does, in fact, believe, she is in need of help and most likely, will be open to hearing a new and different belief.
Belief Discussion + Belief Discrepancy + Belief Change Leads to Change in Problem Behavior
Now it's important to state the belief you want the individual to have. For example, with Chandra, we might say, "I believe we do have a right to expect accounting to deliver accurate, timely information for our report and that our reports need to be of high quality. Is that something you can believe, as well?" I then might add, "I also believe you have a right as a customer of accounting to discuss the problems you are experiencing and ask them to fix the problems."
It's important when establishing the new belief to articulate it clearly and to hold to the belief consistently in all situations. If you are a leader who holds strongly to ideals and standards, the employee will find it easier to shift to the new belief required. If a leader is known for adjusting beliefs based on situational ethics, then the employee will be slower to change direction.
I recently had the opportunity to use this tool when a manager had a laptop open and was viewing e-mails during a training session. There were approximately 40 participants in the session and no one else had brought a laptop. During an activity, I went to the individual privately and surfaced the problem with the laptop. She replied that she needed it to get e-mails. I responded by saying, "It sounds like you believe it would be OK for any participants in the room who needed to get e-mails to bring their laptops and do it during training. I'm not sure how we would be able to do the training if that was happening. Can you suggest how we might be able to do it, because I can't see it?" She replied, "I didn't think of it that way; I'll put the laptop away."
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "A man is what he thinks about all day long." When we apply the B: BC model, we understand better that our thoughts are our beliefs. Those beliefs program our subconscious mind, which then goes about executing the belief in the form of behavior. Our success with addressing and changing problem behavior comes when we are able to disrupt the prevailing thought (belief) and invite the person to consider a new, more productive belief. The next time you see a problem behavior, ask yourself, "What might this person believe that is driving the behavior I see right now?"
When we focus on behavior, we are in a no-win situation, which puts us in the role of parent and the employee in the role of a difficult child. The more we press to get the behavior changed, the more the employee sees us as the problem. Instead, it is far more powerful to hold an adult conversation about beliefs—what are the strong convictions held by the employee that ultimately will cause the employee serious problems if not surfaced and addressed. You then become the coach and mentor the employee wants to have.
Deborah Mackin is the author of "The Team Building Tool Kit," 2nd Edition (Amacom, 2007). She is an international consultant and management trainer/coach and president and founder of her own company, New Directions Consulting, Inc. (www.newdirectionsconsulting.com).
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