How focussing on habits can help your organisation succeed
The Transfer Gap
A pervasive issue that affects every organisation is the transfer gap between our intentions and our day to day behaviour at work.
I will give a simple example from my previous product manager role at realestate.com.au. In that role I wanted to become a better storyteller to better influence stakeholders. Unfortunately, I never developed the habit of regularly practicing storytelling. Because of this, my intention - as good as it was, never translated to reality. It was only later when I made storytelling an habitual part of my day that I started seeing myself as an effective workplace storyteller.
Where can we see the transfer gap?
This transfer gap plays out in many contexts within an organisation.
Organisational strategy
The transfer gap can be seen at the level of organisational strategy. Many organisations aim to become more customer-focused, innovative or fast-moving. Unfortunately those intentions often fail to translate to reality. The strategy may be right, but there is a transfer gap between the strategy and staff’s day to day behaviour. Often staff do not know, or forget to apply, the concrete behaviours that align with the strategy.
Team performance
The transfer gap can also be seen at the level of team performance. Shared intentions around improved ways working often fail to translate to reality. Again in the intention may be great, but staff may forget to apply new practice, skills or techniques in the right contexts.
Individual performance
The transfer gap can also be seen at the level of individual performance. Our Intentions around our own professional development often fails to transfer to the gains we wish for because we have not built have the right habits around constant learning and practicing those learnings and skills in our day to day roles.
A focus on habits is the key to solving the transfer gap
A focus on habits is built around the insight that high performance at work is not about one-off acts, it is about what we do day-in and day-out.
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
Aristotle
The science of habit formation
The exciting news is there is a mature science of habit formation.
Organisations can use to help build great workplace habits and solve the transfer gap.
Books like Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and Atomic Habits by James Clear have presented research from the field of Psychology that is easily understandable and applicable in the workplace.
Habits are reusable solutions to problems
Habits are reusable solutions to problems in our environment. They help us conserve energy by not having to evaluate every situation like they are new. We are creatures of habit both in our work and personal lives.
Habit loops
Habits are driven by neurological loops called habits loops, that consist of cues, routines and rewards. Over time our brains begin to associate the cue with the reward and perform the habit automatically.
Understanding how habits work can help us more easily form new positive habits and break bad ones.
Lasoo helps build great habits at work
Lasoo helps organisations to apply the science of habit formation by:
Inspiring staff to grow by trying new habits
Guiding staff through the principles that make habits stick
Rewarding staff for reaching their goals around ingraining habits
Lasoo gives organisations and teams a new lens in which to view performance and is customisable to your organisational, team and individual goals.
