A behaviour is simply something you do. In an organisation, it’s often used to describe the way that people get their jobs done. This is why behaviour change is so important. If you want your training to have a meaningful impact on your organisation, then it needs to change the way your people do things. This enables them to do it better!
What Needs To Happen In The Brain To Change Behaviour?
Employee behaviour change is much easier said than done. You can’t simply screw your eyes shut and will a new behaviour into being. Instead, behaviour change is about what’s going on in your brain. Psychologist Dean Ware, Ph.D. puts it like this:
When brain cells communicate frequently, the connection between them strengthens and the messages that travel the same pathway in the brain over and over begin to transmit faster and faster. With enough repetition, these behaviours become automatic. Reading, driving, and riding a bike are examples of complicated behaviours that we do automatically because neural pathways have formed.
This means that behaviour change requires the creation of new neural pathways in the brain. You then need to strengthen them until the behaviour becomes second nature!
Why Is Employee Behaviour Change Important?
Employee behaviour affects everything inside and outside the workplace (in fact, it just affects everything!). It affects how employees fit in with company culture, it affects employee engagement and it affects motivation levels. James P. Carse wrote, “Only that which can change will continue.” Nowhere is this more applicable than in the world of business. If an organisation is unable to change the behaviour of its people it will be on very unsteady ground. On the other hand, if you foster a culture that’s open to change and willing to work at it, there’s absolutely nothing that can stop your organisation from achieving its goals!
