Making positive changes to inefficient work practices

We do what we do and behave as we behave. Sometimes that works well. Sometimes we need to change, but that's easier said than done. Here's a case in point: it may not focus on your particular issues, but the principles
are transferable.

A year into his role as managing partner, Jason was already finding that he woke up on Monday mornings with a sigh. His work profile was some way from his expectations. He came into the role looking forward to being a proactive leader, but in practice he felt more like a reactive firefighter. Jason seemed to spend his day answering questions and dealing with other people's problems (alongside the small amount of fee-earning work which he now retained). Consequently, he was feeling unfulfilled and unhappy in the knowledge that there was, so far, little to show for all his hard work.

Chatting this through with a confidante, Georgina, Jason explained that these frequent interruptions were stopping him from making progress on his own projects. When asked about the cause of the problem, Jason was quick to list some regular offenders, commenting "some days, they have blown me off course by 10.30am!" Georgina was unconvinced and asked whether they "blew him off course" or he "sailed off course".

This was not particularly the sympathetic response that Jason was expecting. But, he was willing to explore whether perhaps the problem and, conceivably, the solution lay with him
rather than everyone else.

Scheduling time

Jason could see his colleagues needed his input. Their questions and requests were perfectly sensible, just untimely. So Jason decided to make a change. He would start allocating and diarising times in the day when he would make himself available. Georgina nodded approvingly. "That's
half the battle," she said.

Jason was curious. How was it a
battle? And why only half? He soon found out. He kept forgetting to designate 'open office' time and found it too much effort to do so, even when he did remember. It was not a practice that he had ever adopted in the past.

Clearly, best intentions to make a change are not always sufficient. Two
other ingredients come into play.

1. Build the 'will'. Jason needed to build his motivation. He needed a higher level of drive to implement the new regime and to persevere in making it happen. It is useful to retain a focus on the end game and the benefits that the new work practice can deliver - for Jason, time to be the proactive leader that he wanted to be. But, the 'will' is often not enough to guarantee implementation of a new practice with any reliability.

2. Support the 'will'. Will power is a finite resource and readily exhausted. It is also important to make the new work practice the easy thing to do so that the reasons to resist it are reduced.¹

So, Jason cleverly asked his PA to come into his office every morning (without waiting to be asked) for a five-minute diary session. Eventually, scheduling time to deal with other's queries became the norm and
Jason became less reliant on his PA to
make it happen.

Improving behaviours

Meeting Jason some weeks later, Georgina asked how things were going. Jason said he was still failing to make headway. He explained that he now had time slots to respond to colleagues, but he was still being interrupted at other times. And, he could hardly send people away - he had always prided himself on being responsive.

Said Georgina: "that's the other half
of the battle!"

Jason realised that he also needed to change or at least modify an ingrained behavioural habit. He needed to replace "yes, how can I help?" with "happy to
help - can we discuss this at 3pm?"

Research suggests one factor here comes into its own: really believing that the change can be made, despite the pressures.² Jason needed to believe for himself that the new response was legitimate and acceptable.

The challenge

As is often the case, Jason's problem was a combination of inefficient work practice (failing to allocate designated time for colleagues) and inefficient behavioural habits (being conditioned to help everyone whenever required). Jason needed to address both in order to resolve his problem.

This is often the case when we want to make a change. In order to implement a desired new work practice, we must address the associated behavioural
habits that might support or undermine
that practice.

It can be done. Don't underestimate
the challenge, but find ways to make
the new practice easier to implement
and believe in your ability to change
the relevant behaviours alongside it. The support of a confidante can be invaluable.

Colin Dworkin is a former corporate
lawyer and now business psychology consultant at Talaspect Talent Development
(https://talaspect.com). He gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Dr Karen Lindall (karen.lindall@roodlane.co.uk) to this article.

References

1. See The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work, Shawn Achor, Virgin Books, 2011

2. See The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Charles Duhigg, Random House, 2012