A good friend of mine, Clyde Horner, always tells me that beliefs create behaviors and behaviors create results.
You want to change the results you are getting, you need to look at the beliefs that are driving the behaviors.
So, what causes us to believe in certain ways? Why do we behave the way we do? Why does it matter?
As a leader, it is my responsibility to deliver results. I am responsible for guiding the team and providing the results through my team. If I don’t like the results I am getting, I need change the way we go about delivering the results. I need to change the behaviors to get different results.
We can force changes to behaviors, but that only works if we are present. As soon as we leave the room, people go back to the way they behaved before. That is because they have a belief that causes them to behave the way they do.
We cannot force a change in belief.
If you need to get different results, you need to look at what beliefs are driving your team’s behaviors. What is causing them to behave the way they do? If you can figure that out, you can start to guide them to believing differently. But you cannot start by trying to change their beliefs. Even if you provide substantial data that shows their assumption, or belief, is incorrect, people will still believe their version is the truth.
Beliefs are something that we, as individuals or as a society, form based on our experiences. We believe something based upon our interaction with a certain experience. Beliefs are usually driven by a strong emotional experience, either good or bad. Unfortunately, more of our beliefs are driven by bad experiences, mostly caused by fear. Or we make assumptions about something that we don’t know for a fact and that assumptions turns into a belief.
Unfortunately, most of our assumptions are wrong.
When we are afraid of change and we do not know what will come, we make assumptions about what the future will hold for us. Our assumptions are based on our past experiences and we decide that since it happened once before it will continue to happen again and again, even if the circumstances are completely different.
When the belief is based on fear, we usually get bad results.
So how do we change people’s beliefs if they hold them so hard? You start by creating experiences that give them a different perspective that will then give them something new to believe in. You continually provide them with experiences that change their perspectives.
As an example, if people are always late to meetings, you create an atmosphere that makes tardiness unacceptable. Reward those who are on time with praise and pull people aside and let them know they let you down if they are late. You change the perspective from it is okay to be late to meetings, to it is no longer going to be tolerated.
Continue to reinforce good behavior and address bad behaviors constantly and quickly. Eventually you can change the culture by creating the experiences you want that reinforce a belief that creates positive behaviors.
When people have a belief based on good experiences, we usually get good results.
The other thing you need to look at is how strong does someone hold onto their belief. How attached are they to that belief? The stronger the attachment, it is likely the belief was created by a strong emotional experience. Try to figure out what that experience was so that you can chip away at that with corresponding experiences if you need to change the belief.
As a leader you need to get results. To change the results slightly you only need to change the behaviors slightly. The get vastly different results, you need to change the core beliefs. That change comes from the experiences you, as the leader, create. Some call that culture, but how you behave, how you address the results, how you talk and interact with your team will determine your results. To get the results you want, you need to set the right tone.
Everyone wants something to believe in. As a leader, you need to get them to believe in what you are doing so they can get behind you. You give the team a purpose they can get behind. You do that by showing up the way you want them to behave. That’s how you create the experiences you need to form the right beliefs.
So, if you are interested in getting better results, start looking at how people behave and then figure out what beliefs drive them to behave the way they do. If you do, you may be onto something here.
Allyn Vaughn
Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash