Why We Behave the Way We Do

A fundamental principle, what one might call a natural law, is that people choose to act and behave based on what they believe to be true about how they see the world around them. Neuroscience research substantiates this claim. The human brain functions in a pattern recognition system. Patterning is phenomenally strong and we create a “confirmation bias” to accept outside inferences and influences that match the patterns we have created for how we choose to see the world in which we live. As a result, your brain works very hard to defend your current habits, even toxic and destructive ones.

Behind our thoughts are our assumptions, the source for the way we think and act. We have acquired these assumptions throughout our lifetime, and as we collect them and file them away, we rarely bring them back to the surface level of our consciousness. This is fundamentally why leaders can have little, direct effect on the performance of their team members. Leaders must influence positive neuronal connections with the brains of their people so accountability systems that include self-awareness, self-management, and behaviour-based expectations of individual performance can drive achievement of organizational objectives and results.

Imposing outward controls to change individual behaviour provides only a short-term “quick fix” that is not linked to how the brains of people actually function. Once the force of the external constraint, whether negative consequence or positive incentive, loses its effectiveness, individuals will revert to behaviour driven by the assumptions of the internal drivers, mental models, focus frames, cognitive, confirmation biases and the hard-wiring of pre-existing neuronal pathways. Consequently, to be truly effective in our responsibility to those we lead, we must:
• clearly establish the standards and desired results we expect in behaviour;
• identify clearly for struggling employees why their behaviour does not meet those standards and expectations;
• hold these employees accountable and get them to acknowledge their need to change; and
• if they fail to change, remove them from the organization.

This is the most challenging aspect of the coaching and counseling process. To adequately acknowledge the need to change my behaviour, I must be compelled to search for, examine and question those unconscious assumptions I have buried deep in the recesses of my mind. I must challenge the prevailing patterns I have acquired and formed over time and life experiences and replace them with more positive, effective and productive neuronal connections also referred to as “habit loop” patterns. This neuroscience truth about how the human brain functions explains why so much coaching and counseling is ineffective in bringing about internal and lasting change to employees with performance and behaviour problems.

At this stage of the process, most employees will say whatever they think is necessary to get out of the counseling session and do whatever is necessary to keep their jobs. They modify their behaviour to your expectation until doing so becomes too much of a burden. This stress is caused when their modified, external behaviour is not in alignment with their internal understanding of how they choose to act and how they choose to see the world around them. Once that burden becomes too hard to bear, they revert back to following their internal drivers (old patterns) and their toxic behaviour and poor performance returns to the workplace. This cycle of inner dissonance is also a primary cause of performance burnout manifested with the failure to achieve the primary motivational drivers of
the person.

When this pattern emerges with an employee, the only question remaining is how long you will continue to invest time in someone who is disruptive to your work place culture. Firing often isn’t necessary: Our practical work experience suggests that when struggling employees get the sense that you are serious about accountability, they will exercise their freedom of choice and decide they do not want to work for an organization where they are held accountable for their behaviour. The other alternative is you discover highly talented people who are underperforming because the current state of their brain is in self-preservation mode related to undisclosed fear. These people can recover higher brain function leading to higher levels of performance with adequate coaching and become a valued asset to your organization.

Not Making the Choice to Change
Change – whether personal or organizational – is not easy. It is a journey that takes many years and involves many people, but as the Chinese proverb states, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.”

Despite the clear and compelling reasons demonstrated and validated in research, behaviour change is still a distinct challenge for many leaders. It is not a decision to which they make a commitment immediately. In fact, some leaders do not even see the need for behaviour change. They are convinced that other people are the problem, as if these leaders can manage (let alone lead) without other people.

The truth is that none of us, regardless of how high performing and high achieving we are currently, is immune to poor behaviour and poorer judgment. It is easy to give in to toxic behaviours because we are inundated by them every day, but it is hard to erase their effects on our reputation and on the neuronal connections we have with others that either creates an environment of commitment and engagement or detracts from it.

Once you make the choice to change your behaviour, do not get discouraged. Use as many tools as
possible to help you, and conduct a self-examination before, during, and after your transformation. Deliberately develop your skill of Positive Presence, an innovative thought model connecting workplace behaviour to human energy and easily learned through a systematic, programmatic methodology for equipping leaders with the knowledge and understanding necessary for developing and sustaining the behaviour skills needed for influential leadership.

The good news is that you are most likely already practicing many of the approaches discussed here. Now all you need to do is hone your approach every day to build even stronger connections. This is not rocket science but it is brain science and that is worth thinking about today.