“The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”
What does this statement mean to you?
Please take a moment and in the comments area for this article place a few words. Would you agree we are all such creatures of habit?
Consider your daily routine for a moment. From the moment you rise up until you rest your body down at night. What are you routines or habits each day? Some may actually try and say they have none!
Seriously? Hogwash!
You will be let off fairly easy. Rather than delve into your deepest habits this soon – allow me to ask you this question?
When you put on your pants or leggings which foot and leg do you put in first?
My guess is whichever one it is – it is that same one every single time! Take a moment and write out on a pad of paper your daily routine each day of the week from Monday through Friday. How many items are habits, routines which you blindly follow each day without one second thought? In fact, if you were to consciously attempt to change a few of these habits/routines you might feel uncomfortable for the rest of your day or week.
Now write out in your work that you conduct each day, what habits or routines do you follow each and every day? Start with a few easy ones to record such as what you eat for lunch or where you go to have lunch? Maybe add in who you have lunch with each day?
This example may give you some comfort. A billionaire CEO, who I worked with for a number of years, ordered the same lunch whenever he was in the home office, every single day – Toasted Rye, tuna salad, lettuce, tomato and a half sour pickle.
Every single day it was delivered to his office just like that.
Every one of us are creatures of habit!
What would happen if someone asked you or even better imposed upon you to change these habits or routines? Write out how you would react? How would you feel?
Now what if you are the leader of this company or group, and to improve performance across the board, changes in many processes need to be put into place. How do you think these changes should be introduced and implemented?
Too often when change is brought into a unit or a group or an entire company it is put upon everyone as in shoved down their throat. A more effective approach would be to effectively communicate about the upcoming changes and even better, engage people beforehand for their input into the new process or changes in order to create the new way.
This should be actively requested and actively pursued not by sending out one email requesting input with zero followup or engagement.
Interested in having Mitch come in and speak to your team about Effectively Leading Change? Click here!
Mitch Tublin is a professional speaker, advanced certified coach and trainer based in Stamford, CT.
