The Simplest Algorithm

Since 1971, I’ve tried to transfer behavior management skills to supervisors, managers and leaders. Like my OBM practitioner colleagues, I attempted to impart principles and encourage managers to apply those principles to manage employee behavior.

I have no accurate data about how many managers actually used the principles and practices I strove so ardently to teach. Tens of thousands of managers were trained, but I would guess that less than 20% actually used the principles effectively—in spite of the fact that many received upwards of 3 full days of training.

I think I went about it the wrong way—it had nothing to do with the intelligence of the managers and supervisors I attempted to train. Granted, many were jaded by the many “motivational” programs their management had purchased and tried--programs that had failed for lack of support…or commitment…or because the methods were just too nonsensical to garner their respect.

Recently, I’ve been reflecting about the uselessness of trying to teach every manager or supervisor behavior analysis. I developed and taught a 5 day workshop called “Advanced Pinpointing and Measurement” to participants who had already taken a 3 day class in behavior analysis. At the end of that class, some people still could not discriminate between a behavior and a non-behavior. I'm not that bad an instructor...really.

All my peers did the same thing and I think that one reason ABA and OBM are generally unknown and overlooked is because of this fixation with “teaching the science.” One thing I heard over and over again from supervisors and managers was, “I don’t need to know why, just tell me what you want me to do.” My colleagues reported the same response.

Managers and supervisors don't want theory—they want tactics. Their attitude was, “provide me with an effective tactic and I will use it.” This line of thought led me to remember the approach we used to teach clinical associates to work with patients at the Georgia Regional Hospital in Atlanta.

In 1971, I worked at the Georgia Regional Hospital—a 500 bed psychiatric hospital run completely using behavior modification (behavior management, ABA). We had several units and worked with juveniles, geriatrics, psychotics, neurotics, long term and crisis intervention patients. There were a few psychologists, doctors, nurses, sociologist, chaplains, and legions of clinical associates.

The clinical associates were hourly workers—poorly paid. Some of us were working our way through college—others were high school kids—just doing a job. We were from every walk of life. There were men 50 years old men working alongside 18 year old kids (I was 26) making a dollar an hour. But, we successfully executed treatment plans and got patients back on the street—back in jobs and back into the community with their families and friends. We had the best recidivism rate in the state.

How did we teach high school kids making a dollar an hour how to change and manage behavior? Why were we so successful in the hospital; successful at communicating the message? Before we received any training, all of us could identify a behavior and knew what to do to increase the right behavior and decrease the wrong behavior. And, we worked for the state government, so nobody expected us to be effective in our jobs.

Here is the trick; we started out showing new employees the treatment plan; here is Mr. Jones token card. He is depressed and too anxious to hold down a job or socialize. The treatment plan includes the behaviors we need to reinforce him for—the behaviors we need to extinguish and the behaviors that he needs to become a productive person outside the hospital.

We would give a patient a token (put a check on their treatment card) if they exhibited a behavior on their treatment card. The behaviors were not secret; the patients saw their treatment cards and they knew which behaviors would earn them tokens. The tokens could be exchanged at the token store for cigarettes, candy, trips to the mall and so forth.

The behaviors on the card were customized for each patient. Everyone on staff participated in developing the treatment cards and changing them in accord with the patient’s progress.

Mr. Jones might have the following behaviors on his plan:

• Leave your room and sit in the living area (where patients assembled to chat and watch TV).
• Smile at another patient or staff
• Say something to another patient or staff
• Say several sentences to another patient or staff (working toward a conversation)
• Get up on time and come into the eating area to have breakfast
• Sit at the table with other patients
• Take your tray to the disposal area
• Arrive on time for your group therapy
• Clean and organize your room (could be broken down further)
• Make your bed
• Take a shower
• Attend recreational therapy
• Make a comment in your group therapy session

You get the idea. All the treatment plans were different, depending on the patient’s symptoms.

The important thing to note here is that we never had a problem with clinical associates not knowing how to recognize a behavior. “Mr. Jones, I saw you walk up to Mrs. Fielding and ask her how she was doing this morning. Hand me your treatment plan so I can check off this behavior. You have earned a token.”

Clinical associates that were high school drop outs could learn in a couple of hours how to identify a behavior and how to reinforce the right behavior and punish the wrong behavior (tokens could be taken away for rules infractions and disruptive behavior). They also learned very quickly how inappropriate behaviors were reinforced by the environment and how desired behaviors could be inadvertently punished—unless the environment was managed.

I think this is the way we need to begin with managers and supervisors—with frontline employees who are participating in our OBM implementation process; get everyone involved immediately in executing a behavior management plan. Identify behaviors that will help achieve improvement goals; identify behaviors that are problematic. Identify consequences that are interfering with performance objectives. You can teach them their ABCs later; they may never need to know about compound-complex schedules of reinforcement.

Teach them theory and principle later—if and when appropriate. Train them as they encounter real world problems; expose them to principles and practices that will help them over hurdles. Start the OBM implementation with consulting and coaching not training. Get people involved; make it relevant to them. Create a context in which they ask for more understanding—more tools to help them.

We don’t need to train behavior analysts; we need to coach people in how to manage behavior in their world.

Organizational Behavior Managment: A Glacial Phenomenon

After 30 years of applying behavioral principles and concepts to business and industry, I want to make some recommendations to anyone willing to listen. Granted, the origin of these suggestions is distributed between my personal experiences and information sharing with my colleagues and not “researched-based,” meaning I don’t have hard data to support some of my assertions. The comments made here are general in nature and I readily acknowledge there are some notable exceptions to them.

These observations directly relate to the rate that organizational behavior management (OBM) and behavior analysis are being assimilated into the cultural framework (operating beliefs, values, and assumptions) of our society. At this moment in history, I think the behavioral movement (OBM particularly) is only inching along, and popular books on rewards and recognition have managed to trivialize the notion of positive reinforcement. Recent books written on the subject, available at local bookstores, could be mistaken for texts written 25 years ago. It presents a well-known and ineffective methodology that is largely and deservedly ignored.

In Search of Credibility
Because of such texts, senior executives often dismiss OBM as a gimmick that is deployed opportunistically. The rule-driven approach, espoused and practiced by many OBM practitioners, encourages that perception. The impact of this rules-driven approach manifests itself in the devaluation of the individual employee and results in patronizing conversations in which “things” (reinforcers) are seen as drivers for the performance of employees. The practice evokes manipulative connotations, particularly to senior management who summarily categorize behavioral solution as “programs” for the lower echelon.

OBM consultants lose credibility in the “one-size-fits-all” application of OBM. $1,000,000 a year executives are asked to “shape the behavior” of their subordinates who are making $600,000 a year. Or, they are asked to do a performance improvement plan on each improvement opportunity for each subordinate. “I ain’t got the words,” as Wyatt Earp, said in Tombstone to express the riot of negative thoughts and emotions that hard-driven, exacting executives experience when they are encouraged to micromanage the company’s leadership. This is one of many dogma-driven tactics that encourages top executives to view OBM as simplistic, not to mention irrelevant to their problems.

Similarly, positive reinforcement has been neutralized through the “Lets teach them every detail of the science” approach. Here, I can speak with authority because I’ve taught over 50,000 managers and supervisors using the same formula. In the real world of work, this approach is usually ignored by upper management and detested by supervisors. Having to keep a “Reinforcement Log,” for example, to count the number of times one “recognizes an employee’s efforts,” adds to managerial angst and contributes to their avoidance of the consultant, and if at all possible, the technology as well.


In Search of Value
Another corroborating piece of information: In my 30 plus years in the business, I have direct or indirect knowledge of over 500 OBM implementations using the popular consulting model referred to here, and you can count on one hand the number of companies that are still doing it systematically--if at all. Yet, the formulaic, anachronistic model from the 70s is still doggedly being promoted with no data to support its long-range efficacy, and despite an overwhelming amount of data to suggest that it only has a short-term impact. Additionally, of the 10,000 plus senior executives exposed to the model, almost none have maintained the process as part of their corporate values or management systems.

Billions of dollars are spent on consulting in the U.S every year, and less than 1/1000 of 1 percent of those dollars are spent on OBM consulting. In short, we are not players in the big game. In fact, our profile is so low that we would have to raise ourselves up two notches to be categorized as non-existent. Cognitive psychologists are the players. They have translated their knowledge base into tools and language that can be understood and is therefore more easily marketed and sold.

Deconstruct the Old Model
Part of the solution is to unbundle behavioral methodology into its key component parts (behavioral tools) and delineate the applications and value of their respective contributions. Clarifying organizational performance language by operationalizing descriptors is a potential market that remains unexplored. For example, senior executives need coaching around the effects of their verbal behavior on employee emotions and job performance.

Job dissatisfaction and turnover are more often linked to manager-employee relations more than any other variable. The basis of that relationship is management’s verbal behavior. Managers who are disliked and resented by their subordinates are not going to solve performance problems by individual acts of positive reinforcement. Hence the normative and rule-driven fix being mechanistically installed in business and industry by OBM consultants is both ineffective and unethical. It is unethical, because in most cases, OBM is applied to employee behavior change within a process in which the employee is not a fully informed participant.
We need to present different models for OBM implementation and modify our verbal behavior to present our methodology in the current business vernacular. We need to communicate to our customers in a language that they can understand.


Create a New Persona
Several years ago, Dr. Phil McGraw, of Oprah Winfrey fame, came out with a best-selling book, Life Strategies. At the time, I pointed out to my colleagues that he had translated behavioral theory into a language that connected with the average person. He talked about arranging the environment so that you did the things that were in support of your life goals. Just one example: If you drink too much and want to become a non-drinker, you must stay away from bars and social events where drinking is the focus of activity. Remove alcohol from your house. And change your friends, unless they support (read reinforce) your abstinence.

Today, he continues to talk about antecedents and consequences without using those exact words. Had the OBM community been diligent about marketing its technology at a universal level, had we created a cohesive business development strategy, then we could have recruited Dr. Phil to speak supportively, openly and directly about Behavior Analysis as the foundation of his popularized message.

One of the best executive coaches in America begins by telling his clients, “If you don’t want to be perceived by your subordinates as an asshole, don’t act like one. Change what you say and do tomorrow, and they will slowly change their perception of you.” In short, you are your behavior. Who you are is a function of what you do…how you act. You are in charge of your life’s destiny. You want to be a better person? Then act like a better person. We need to start cultivating those individuals who will step up to the plate and translate the behavioral position into The 7 Behaviors of Successful Executives, or How to Behave Your Way to Success.

Among behavior analysts, this suggestion immediately brings up issues of determinism and individual responsibility --endless point and counterpoint. As the character Alfie said in the movie of the same name, “H’it puts me off me provender.” And the same is true of most of the audience of OBM methodology, which turns en masse to listen to a cognitive psychologist who can enrich their understanding about why men act like men and women act like women.

Behaviorists are uncomfortable creating descriptors that reference patterns or classes of behavior; that provide metaphors and analogues that make the behavioral perspective accessible to the market. However, if the descriptors are carefully selected, they can create excitement and interest. Men Behave Like They Are from Mars and Women Behave Like They Are from Venus…another opportunity missed.

Develop a New Strategy
I believe it is in the best interest of OBM and the larger community of behavior analysts that a task group be formed composed of practitioners and academics. Their mission would be to popularize the systematic analysis of behavior in organizational settings. To do this will require the marketing of behaviorism, an effort that may require its initial deconstruction and reinvention complete with an attractive lexicon for purposes of cultural transmission. This marketing effort would create a new vernacular that describes the problems and solutions to organizational performance problems in a compelling and thought provoking manner, one in which no one mentions therapy, rats or pigeons.

I suggest that we create more structure and strategy behind the promotion of Behavior Analysis and establish it’s branding as an important component in understanding and solving business problems. We must untangle boilerplate methodology into behavioral tools like operationalizing, behavior measurement, behavioral feedback and positive reinforcement and use them selectively on an as-needed basis. For example, behavior-based safety (BBS) emerged as a product 15 years ago. Thousands of companies worldwide have implemented BBS, providing mountains of data supporting its efficiency. Corporations have spent hundreds of millions of dollars implementing and maintaining this process, and it has introduced the word behavior into the vocabulary of business and industry.

A behavior-based safety process does not attempt to teach the organization about the science of Behavior Analysis. It simply incorporates a few of its components within a well-structured process that integrates features of continuous improvement and employee involvement. This process and its widespread acceptance have opened a window of opportunity to market and sell OBM. History shows that we may survive at status quo, but in order to thrive behaviorism must be sold.

The Next Step
It’s time to pull together the many OBM consultants and Behavior Analysts and reach an accord on the future. The academic community must reach out to OBM practitioners and marketeers and collaboratively re-present the relevance and functionality of behavioral solutions to the marketplace.

If OBM were my business, I would look at the last 30 years and acknowledge a dissatisfactory growth curve. I would consider it a failed business and pull together the resources to reconceptualize and transform the business and its future.

The situation requires a can-do attitude with action-oriented support. OBM should be considered one notch higher on the business solutions scale than Six Sigma. Yet currently, OBM is not even in the game, much less on the playing field. I propose that we organize to confront that challenge and move forward decisively to transform the image and branding of OBM. After all, if we insist on intellectual exclusivity, then we must ultimately settle for obscurity.

Positive Feedback: Just the Facts

I have to admit that I am one of those people who becomes uncomfortable when someone says positive things about my work. Of course I do want to get feedback to know how I’ve done and I prefer positive feedback over the alternative. For me, I like to hear someone say something specific about the work rather than some comment about me.

For instance I prefer: “I really liked the idea you had for implementing OBM as a participative initiative rather than a management-driven process.”

This is not as good for me: “The idea for implementing OBM as a participative rather than a management-driven initiative was brilliant. You’re very creative.”

You’re probably thinking I’m a quibbler and that I should not be looking a gift horse in the mouth. I should take all the positives I can get and shut up. That is probably good advice, but I can’t change my emotional response to flattery, praise, or compliments; they make me squirm.

I prefer positive feedback—a comment about the behavior and its effect, or somebody quoting the numbers. Nobody has to add anything personal or gushy to make me feel good. The behavior speaks for itself.

For instance: “That analogy you used in the first paragraph really helps the reader connect with your point.”

Instead of: “You’re a great writer—so eloquent.”

Describing the behavior and the effect is a particularly good approach if you are not sure whether the person you are providing the feedback likes you or not. Or, if you are sure they don’t like you. If you have a real good relationship with someone, then you have larger margin for error.

The context of positive feedback is very important; your relationship history with the person to whom you’re providing feedback creates the context (a history of interactions that creates expectations). Arguments, disagreements, and a history of verbal squabbles assure that anything you say to that individual is going to be doubtfully received; they are expecting something negative—they are sensitized to every phrase, gesture, tone, and inflection.

Some other examples of positive feedback that are acceptable to employees with whom you have marginal relationships include:

“When you apologized to the customers waiting in line for their inconvenience and thanked them for their patience, two of them came over and told me how much that meant to them.”

“The ladies in purchasing told me that you were the first IT person who treated them like customers. They said you were the first guy from IT who didn’t make them feel dumb.”

“That recommendation you made about purchasing the new torque wrench hit the boss’s hot button. You know, he used to do your job and he always hated those old ones.”

“Your new PowerPoint created a buzz after the meeting. The new VP says that is the first PowerPoint presentation that hasn’t put him to sleep.”

“That walk through the plant you made yesterday really created some positive gossip. You are the first VP of Operations who has made herself accessible—who has taken the time to talk to people.”

“I saw you in here this morning when I got in at 8:00 AM; I guess I can quit worrying about whether we will get that audit in on schedule.”

Maybe You Should Give Them the Finger?
Another technique that is successful requires not talking—that’s right, you can provide positive feedback to anyone without saying a word. You have to see them doing the behavior—that is the only requirement.

If you have followed my advice and make rewards and recognition a participated process, or if you have implemented a Participative OBM initiative, this technique will work extremely well. You begin by deciding on a symbol to use as a positive cue—a sign you can make to anyone that says, “Way to go.”

We are all familiar with the peace sign or the OK circle, signals that are used in for positive communication. Once when I was talking to a supervisor about how he reinforced his employees he said, “I don’t reinforce them, I just give them the facts—except for one guy, and I give him the finger.”

In spite of the immediate conclusion that this must create some problems for the supervisor, I said, “And he likes that.” “He loves it.”

Noticing the look of disbelief on my face the supervisor added, “He’s can't hear, so when he is doing something that I know is good, I just hold up my first finger (of course I had envisioned the middle finger). He gets the message.”

A symbol can be chosen within any business unit and used in the same way. It does not take the place of verbal or written feedback—it is a useful addition to one’s tools for identifying value added activity—quickly.

I know that these tactics seems too simple; what about celebrations, awards, banquets, mugs, t-shirts, announcements in the company newsletter, letters home to their family, and gleeful expressions of emotional gratitude presented in heartfelt and touching ways? Try my technique first. It is inexpensive, personal, relevant, factual, and repeatable.

Avoid describing the person; avoid telling them how thankful you are or how happy this makes you or what a wonderful person they are or how much you appreciate them. Stay away from describing the person and focus on describing the valued-added behavior and its effect.

After you master the art of telling your direct reports, boss, or coworker what they did and what effect it had, then you can try more risky, complex ways to positively reinforce others.

Instead of, “When you told Jim to put on his respirator before he went into that tank, you probably saved his lungs. We didn’t know that gauge was broken,” you might graduate to, “I appreciate you taking the time to tell Jim to put on his respirator before he went into that tank, you probably saved his lungs. We didn’t know that gauge was broken,”

I’m not being facetious. The first statement works well, perhaps the second adds a touch; but, I’m interested in making sure high performers, people trying to improve, and anyone adding value get notified.

When employees ask for recognition, this is what they want—to be acknowledged, to know that the company is aware of their contribution or even more important—their efforts to overcome the limitations of their equipment, unforeseen problems, outdated systems and processes.

How about, “Gloria, I don’t know how you got that monthly report in on time in spite of the fact that you had to cover for Sheila.” Or, “The coaching you’ve given the new guy Steve has brought him up to speed real quick. I know it puts you behind in your job, but you seem to get it done anyway.”

Most employees resent their supervisor for one or both of two things: first, having to work for a supervisor who doesn’t know how to talk to people effectively, and second, having to work your ass off to get around poor performing coworkers, bad systems and other problems and knowing that no one knows or cares.

When you describe what they did and what they had to overcome, you defuse all the pent up frustration.

So, that is the big epiphany; the big insight; the wisdom of the industrial era—if you use my recommendations, I guarantee employee surveys will have positive responses about management and supervision. In addition, attrition will go down and performance will go up.

The Simpliest Way to Improve Human Performance by 20%

I’m going to share a secret process with you—a system for improving your company, plant, department, work group, or teams performance by 20%--minimum. You may see 50% performance improvement if you follow my advice.

First, read this blog. It will prepare you to implement 90% of my secret process. It works…it’s proven…I’ve done it dozens of times with Fortune 500 companies. If I can do it you will have no problems—I guarantee.

First

Baseline all of your important performance variables—all the numbers that tell you how well you are doing. That could be sales, productivity, waste, throughput, off-quality, customer service, errors, and new ideas…whatever. If you have the numbers by work group, team, or department, then you are ready to start. If you have seasonal variation, take that into account. If you have just changed equipment, systems, reengineered, added a new incentive system, then take that into account. You are just trying to establish a starting point so that you can demonstrate that what you are about to do really caused the improvement you are going to see; you want to show yourself and others that this is not a fluke.

Second

Tell your employees what you are trying to do. Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed; they know that performance improvement is a legitimate objective and it’s not a foreign concept. Explain to them what a behavior is and ask them to create a list of precise, explicit behaviors—things they can do to improve their individual, work group, and department performance numbers. This works great! They know things. They may say, “We can improve the numbers, but first you have to remove this barrier, or eliminate this problem.”

Don’t get angry. This is good input. Performance in U.S. companies would improve exponentially if barriers to employee performance were removed. There is so much waste, redundancy and bureaucracy built into organizational systems, that many employees give up on improvement. It is a good idea to listen to your employees and start removing the barriers.

Third

Post and track the performance variables you are trying to improve—put readable graphs up in the work areas so that people can see the numbers. Post the behaviors that your employees identified so that they can see them. Posting them persuades everyone that you are serious about increasing the frequency of employee behaviors that are linked to improvement and profitability.

Leaders, managers, and supervisors must post fresh numbers daily or weekly and talk about improvement as it occurs. When the numbers don’t go up for a few days, don’t panic; human performance is like that—it cycles up—it seldom goes straight up.

Fourth

Talk about the numbers and the behaviors with your employees. Don’t lecture; have a dialog. If the numbers are going, up ask them why. If the numbers are going down—ask them if there is something you need to do; have they learned anything that would help? Remember, they are driving the numbers with their work behavior; they are the ones who can help you continue to improve them.

When they are successful, talk about it. In meetings, when you are walking around the work place—anytime it is appropriate. You should be pleased; show it. When you see the numbers go up—when it is justified, celebrate correspondingly. Bring in some pizza. I know they may be tired of pizza (can you ever get too much pizza?), but the food is not the point—your acknowledgment of their achievement is the point.

Do not go around and say “Thank you,” or try to act all happy. Most of them would rather here you say something like, “we’re beginning to kick the crap out of our turnaround time,” with a straight face than here you try to gush over something they did. When they have improved the numbers by 10 or 20%, bring in the big boss. Let him ask how the hell they did that. Hearing a manager sincerely express wonder and disbelief is a positive event for employees.

Fifth

Let the employees tell you when they need to add or delete behaviors; when they identify systems and process changes that will help them get the job done faster, smarter, and with greater efficiency. Keep up the chatter about who’s doing what and how. Talk about their success, but keep it sensible. Don’t try to act like someone you are not. Just help them and acknowledge their improvement.

Conclusion

There are a lot of people—behavioral experts—who can work with you to do this. If you email me, I will give you some names of people who have been doing it successfully; many of the top 100 companies in America are doing this in-house after learning the process from an outside adviser.

Key point: doing this is cheap. A behavioral expert can usually put this in place at a business unit where there are 200 people in a few days. I have seen companies spend $10,000 dollars on setting this process up and then get a return of $500,000. This is the least expensive performance improvement process you will ever implement and it compliments any initiative you are currently using.

Every corporation should be interested in critical performance behaviors; they are sitting there—untapped opportunity…easy pickings…low hanging fruit. For many companies, they will remain unknown behaviors. Many leaders and managers just don’t believe that employees know ways to change the numbers that the leaders and managers don’t know. The price that American has paid and is still paying for failing to engage our employees in helping make us successful is immeasurable. This is the easiest way. No games. No program. It’s the real deal.

You May Be One Behavior Away from Profitability

What is a “behavior analyst?” You probably think you know; you don’t. Behavior analysts are psychologists who specialize in arranging (designing) environments to elicit useful, productive, value-added human behavior(s). Behavior analysts are experts in changing human behavior. When I use the word behavior, I am referring to something a human says (verbal behavior) or does (non-verbal, physical behavior), and behavior analysts work with fine grained, very specific behaviors when the situation requires them to do so.

In business and industry, behavior analysts help organizations improve human performance. The core purpose of quality initiatives and management development efforts is to change employee behaviors. U.S. corporations spend billions of dollars trying to encourage their employees to do things differently (change their behavior)—to come up with new ideas, work more safely, improve interpersonal effectiveness (talk to employees in a manner that encourages engagement and commitment to the companies performance goals), and do things to eliminate waste.

The efficacy of performance improvement initiatives, training, and management development are drastically constrained by the fact that behavior change principles are not incorporated (designed) into the initiatives. Most corporate improvement initiatives are full of waste (to use the “Lean” vernacular for emphasis); they leave out critical behavior change tools that could accelerate both the rate of behavior change and the effectiveness of the change process. The most expensive problem in U.S. organizations is that leadership does not recognize what they don’t know about human behavior change.

For example, when you were working your way up the career ladder, did anyone in authority ever say to you that you needed to “develop” a “sense of urgency?” Or perhaps, your supervisor, parent, teacher or coach told you that you needed “to become,” or “to be,” one of the following:

• Ambitious
• Organized
• Committed
• Dedicated
• Energetic
• Self-starter
• Dependable
• Responsible
• Team player
• Problem solver
• Focused
• Sense of urgency
• People person

Did it irritate you? Make you mad? Confuse you? Overwhelm you? Did you take it personally—cause you to become emotional, defensive? Make you feel bad about yourself? Cause you to dislike your supervisor or manager? Using sloppy, imprecise words in performance coaching elicits emotionalism, defensiveness and resistance to change. Managers who do not understand how to break down words that describe traits into words that describe behaviors—something employees can change—are doomed to frustration.

If you responded emotionally to sloppy verbal coaching, it was not because you are oversensitive; when your manager says you “need to develop a sense of urgency,” it sounds like a criticism about “who we are,” when we should be getting feedback on “what we have done or not done,”—your behavior. Leaders, managers, and supervisors do not have experience in breaking down tasks into the subsets of behaviors, then breaking down the subsets into finer grained, more precise individual behaviors that are linked together to culminate into a performance result.

The process of dissecting tasks, accomplishments, results, and achievements into the specific behaviors that compose their architecture is a form of behavioral root cause analysis. Telling a supervisor that he or she needs to be “a people person,” is the same as telling an employee working in a factory to “avoid getting hurt;” neither admonition will be effective. The employee needs more guidance—more specificity around exactly what he or she needs to do or not do that leads them to improve interpersonal skills in the first example and to work safely in the second example. The error in each of these instances is one of not being precise—not specifically identifying the behavior you want from the performer.

If you listen closely to leaders, managers, and supervisors you will hear them use ambiguous descriptive terms like those above in performance evaluations and work discussions. Each of these words collectively summarizes many behaviors. The problem with using these words in reference to human performance is that they are connotative; “they have the power of implying or suggesting something in addition to what is explicit,” they convey and elicit emotion.

There is an ethos surrounding specificity that inveighs against its practice; often leaders assume that it is codling employees to precisely pinpoint the behavior that will lead them to succeed. Generally, managers and leaders seem to find it distasteful to coach others about precise responses (behaviors). It is as if an employee can only demonstrate their worth or earn their pay if they “figure out” what behavior is necessary to be successful.

Many leaders are self-motivate, highly intelligent, work-oriented, obsessive types; maybe most are. They rise to the top by pushing themselves past barriers and pushing themselves to perform better—to be the best. It is understandable that they would find micro-level behavioral coaching distasteful. The feeling that “others should do what I did,” is pervasive. When we pay a price for what we have, we hate to see others being handed the answers—being spoon fed with the “right behavior.”

If you ask your best salesperson, customer service agents, IT personnel, and HR representatives to describe 2 things that they say or do that causes them to perform better than their peers, you will find that their success is most often a product of something they “do” differently—a behavior, rather than some innate trait or talent they were born with. In the company you are currently working in, is there anyone who is identifying the differentiating behaviors—the behaviors of excellence for every job description, work unit, team, department, and business unit?

My experience in interviewing leaders and employees at every organizational level and function tells me that sometimes one behavior can make the difference between the mediocrity and the exemplary. In customer service, one sentence spoken in the right tone can defuse a problem and create a life long customer. The best salesperson usually does one or two things that the average salesperson does not do. Every behavior that can build a stronger organization, team, customer base, or sales force that is unidentified is lost profit and opportunity.

Client Example

One of my clients experienced performance success by using behavioral investigation to resolve what appeared to be a resistant quality problem. They were in the business of producing sterile egg embryos that were later used to create a vaccine that prevented a certain disease in chickens. If the embryos were not perfectly sterile, the vaccine was useless. They were achieving about a 91 percent success rate in producing the quality embryos.

Several managers were in my training class learning about the value of being able to identify specific job behaviors that were critical to performance. One manager had a flash of brilliance−“Why don’t I ask the employees in the lab if they know what specific behaviors would improve quality?” This seems like an obvious tactic, but it is not available to managers, supervisors, or employees who do not know how to break performance tasks down into specific behaviors and analyze the impact of those behaviors.

The manager was so excited about the potential of this approach that he went out during the next break and phoned the lab. He spoke with the lab supervisor and asked, “Iris, could you and your team come up with three or four things you could do that would reduce the number of off-quality embryos we are making?” He proceeded to give her enough information to understand that by “to do,” he was talking about specific behaviors that would reduce off-quality embryos.

Iris said, “Sure!” When he called her back an hour later the lab team had produced a list of five key behaviors that would reduce off-quality embryos. They were going to track them for a few days until the behaviors became habit. Within one week, quality embryos had risen from 91 percent to 98 percent; the only change had been the identification of key behaviors related to solving a problem.

One of the largest hospital systems in America reduced its billing cycle time by 50+ days. All they did was ask employees to identify behaviors—things they could do—to reduce the cycle time. Over a period of 12 months, employees identified behaviors that saved the hospital over $200,000,000.

There is a big return for identifying success behavior.

Bottom Line:

• People can change what they say or what they do—they can change behavior
• Business results are compilations of individual, discrete behaviors linked to an important result; they can be identified and modified
• Every organization is experiencing waste and diminished profits because they do not know how to coach their employees to discover value-added behaviors—best practices, creative shortcuts, discretionary practices—that would lead to enhanced performance
• Dormant value-added behaviors represent the largest untapped equity in American business and industry
• Any leader, manager, supervisor, professional, technical, or frontline employee can identify several behaviors--things they can do to increase the companies profitability—in less than an hour.
• Untapped improvement behavior represents a source of organizational profitability; it is there for the taking—I mean identifying.