Mindsets & Behaviours for ‘Always on’ Change Capabilities
People’s mindsets play a key role in change.
Whilst the technical side of an Improvement program is defined by the initiatives, and the process side is covered by the underlying change processes you have in your organization to manage change, the people side is equally important (if not more so).
Improvement will not happen unless your organization’s people are behind the change at all steps including embracing the need for change, defining and implementing the supporting initiatives and adopting the new practices defined in those initiatives.
In this guide, we will cover:
- The ‘iceberg’ model including defining what mindset actually means
- Two mindsets that are invaluable in any improvement program
- A useful tool to use when thinking about changing mindsets
Hopefully this guide will both give you a better understanding of what a mindset entails, two useful mindsets for any improvement model and tool to help change mindsets in your organization.
Iceberg model
The ‘iceberg’ model is commonly used to illustrate observable ‘behaviours’ and the underlying ‘mindset’.
The iceberg model is credited to academic research in the 1970s by Selfridge and Sokolik in 1975 and French and Bell in 1979.
In the ‘iceberg’ model, the observable behaviours are what you actually see people doing in the workplace and are represented by the observable part of an iceberg above the water level.
Beneath the iceberg are people’s mindsets.
A person’s mindset is set by their values, assumptions and beliefs which are hidden from view – in the same way as the body of an iceberg below the water.
That doesn’t mean a person’s mindset is any less real than their behaviours – it’s just that we can’t directly observe their mindset or values, assumptions and beliefs – we can only observe their behaviours.
In the iceberg model, the main premise is that people’s mindsets drive their behaviours and that changing behaviours needs to start at what drives their mindset, including their beliefs, values and thoughts about the world.
Ownership mindset
A great mindset to have in any improvement program is the ‘ownership’ mindset.
To illustrate the ownership mindset, here is a short story that you have seen or heard elsewhere.
It’s the story of four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody and its titled appropriately “Whose Job Is It, Anyway?”
This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.
The story may be a little confusing but the underlying theme is clear: no one took responsibility so nothing was accomplished.
In an ‘ownership’ mindset the employee perceives they directly own part of the business. Whether they actually have share ownership or not, they are committed to the business and feel ownership.
Behaviours associated with an ownership mindset include:
– move fast and eliminate waste from the system (as if it was your own money being wasted);
– don’t allow bureaucracy and processes to delay action;
– allocate resources efficiently both in terms of time and dollars;
And,
– take responsibility for outcomes – it’s your business.
These are all great behaviours and definitely to be encouraged in improvement efforts.
Growth mindset
A second sought after mindset for improvement in an organisation is the ‘growth’ mindset. Observable behaviours from a growth mindset include:
- Constantly seek to improve;
- Accept and embrace challenge;
- Put effort into learning as a path to ‘mastery’;
- Use a fact base to make decisions – and use ‘Go-See’ where ever possible rather than making assumptions about the work front;
- Willingness to learn from others including actively looking for feedback;
And, lastly,
- Seek out help when needed;
As a leader, encouragement needs to be given to both these mindsets and also be aware that a leader’s behaviours can easily signal if these mindsets are either valued or not valued. For example, coming down hard on employees who make decisions ‘too fast’ or make mistakes can discourage these mindsets – so these behaviours need to be carefully coached. That is to say, there are good mistakes (fast mistakes with low risk and high likelihood of success) and bad mistakes (non-reversible with poor judgement or little assessment made of issues and risks) – so coach accordingly.
The shadow leadership casts, directly influences mindsets and consequently behaviours.
Changing mindsets and behaviours
A very useful tool for determining how to change mindsets and behaviors is the ‘Influence model’. The model can be used for overall organizational change and also for changes needed for specific initiatives.
The model is based on four major influencing factors on anyone’s behavior. These factors can be used as guidance to define steps to change mindsets and behaviors for an improvement program or specific initiative.
Each of the factors are equally weighted in the model.
- One factor is ‘role modelling’ and the influence of seeing someone else do something differently – particularly their leaders. For example, people rarely do something if their boss doesn’t do it – or worse openly disagrees with it. Few people are willing to ‘lead’ the change – but many are comfortable following the change, especially if ‘everyone else’ is doing it. Ideally you want opinion leaders – formal or informal leaders – to lead the change and role model the new behavior.
- A second factor is ‘fully understanding’ what is being asked and that it makes sense. Most people need to square away a request with their own internal thinking and are unlikely to do something they think is ‘wrong’ or ‘stupid’. A person might understand the request and perceive it makes sense for the majority – but if it doesn’t make sense for them individually – due to their personal circumstances – they will be unlikely to adopt the change.
- A third factor is to reinforce the desired behaviour with ‘formal mechanisms’ – these might be KPIs, reporting, or other underlying processes and systems. Ideally, to make a change stick, these formal mechanisms should make the new way of doing something ‘easier’ – or alternatively the old way of doing something ‘harder’.
- The last factor is to ensure the person can actually physically adopt the desired behavior – that is to say, it’s been explained to them how to do it and they have the opportunity and necessary training and skills. If someone doesn’t actually know how to make the change in behavior or its not been made clear to them exactly what steps are needed – then that person is unlikely to make the change.
The ‘Influence model’ gives valuable guidance on potential work plan steps needed in an initiative or transformation to get the desired behavior change.
No single one of these influences guarantees the behavior change but individually and collectively they increase the chances that some-one will change their behavior – ‘nudging’ them in the right direction.
As an example of how this framework can generate useful insights consider how to ‘ensure everyone starts work on time’.
The problem you might be having is that people are repeatedly coming in late and its impacting overall performance. How would you think about getting everyone to start on time ? What would it take for everyone to start on time ?
Lets run through each of the influences in the influence model:
- First – you might think about senior leaders – do they start on time or come in late ? Are any teams particularly bad at starting on time ? And who are the main influencers for those teams ?
- Second – is it actually bad to come in late ? are people working flexible hours and staying late if they come in late ? What’s the impact ? If there is an adverse impact – do people realise that ?
- Third – are late starts recorded ? and reported ? as an individual – is there any formal consequence of being late ? Do repeated poor attendances result in a pay reduction ?
- Last – is everyone able to start on time – would some people find it difficult to adopt ? even if someone saw everyone starting on time, understood the reasons why, knew their late starts were being recorded and reported and pay reduced accordingly – there might still be valid reasons why they find it difficult – for example travel logistics or family duties.
Enabling these people to start on time would require additional steps – and you would need to think differently about these people – you might need to allow them to start later – and finish correspondingly later – or even consider creche facilities at work.
As you can see from this example, the ‘Influence model’ can lead you to specific steps you can take to make a behaviour change – like ‘starting on time’.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you now have a much better appreciation of is meant by the term ‘mindset’, how mindsets impact people’s behaviours and two useful mindsets that are invaluable in any improvement program.
Lastly, we also discussed how you can influence and change people’s behaviours.
Read further for more information on Mindsets and Behaviors: