Dakota Beerman

People revert to old habits over time.

How do you change behavior and thereby change results?

Ex. You start to work out, and at first, it’s amazing and you’re feeling good. You’re pumped. You’re gonna get in shape! A month later you start to fade. By month 2, you’re lucky to do it at all.

Ex. You or one of your team fail your client. You feel the pain / they feel the pain. They learn from it and for a month, 2 months, or even 3 months the mistake isn’t made. Then it happens again…

As an Integrator, I ask this question all the time.

How do I Implement a new process?

How do I get them to ____?

How do I get ____ mistake to go away?

People let habits die over time, what will you do to make those habits last?

They must be REINFORCED.

Reinforcement Idea’s

1. Verbal Reinforcement: You regularly tell the team / employee / person you’re wanting behavior change from.

• Measurement reinforcement: There is a scorecard of sorts that displays whether the behavior happened or not.

• Incentive / Consequence: There is a reward for good behavior and a consequence for bad.

• Positive reinforcement: You see them do it and you tell them, “Great Job!”

Benjamin Franklin helped bring the phrase to life “Old habits die hard” in a letter to the London chronicle in 1758. He spoke about the spending habits of the rich and poor and how difficult it can be to change. He offered a few solutions that would change the environment for citizens, including higher taxes and saving money from an abundance of produce. We might not be able to charge taxes to our staff, but what can we do to get the results we need……?