We believe that workplace behaviour change training can be the secret to a happy and productive team - but what exactly is it, and how does it work?

We all want our workplaces to be harmonious, productive, and effortlessly working like a well-oiled machine with minimal input. However, real life is often far from this ideal.

Office politics, mismatched skills, demotivated staff, feelings of being “stuck in a rut”, miscommunication between teams, and animosity between employees or departments can all lead to a toxic work environment. This can be an awful position to put your staff in - and it’s probably not great for your bottom line either.

Your staff may well have all of the skills and knowledge to carry out their jobs, but sometimes a team may not quite be working to their best potential. This is where behaviour change training comes in. 

What is behaviour change training?

Behaviour change workshops use coaching techniques and neuro-linguistic programming experience to give workplaces more “emotional intelligence”. It addresses unproductive behaviours and the mindsets behind them - training teams to be more mindful about how they communicate with others, and providing a crystal-clear impression of the empowering things that are within their control rather than stressing over the things that aren’t. This leaves employees with a confident outlook on their own abilities, a strong sense of their place within the organisation, a more empowered mindset, and flexible interpersonal skills that they can use to diplomatically communicate with others. The goal here is to leave the recipients of the training with a more positive, empowered and cohesive workplace. 

When everyone in a team is equipped with a good mindset, confidence in their skills, and interpersonal aptitude; employees will want to be there. And when people want to be at work, they’re generally more productive, and better for the whole organisation. 

Why do companies generally take on behaviour change training?

There are many reasons that a company might want to enrol their teams in behaviour and mindset workshops; but they’re generally tied to underlying motivation and employee engagement issues. If a team is starting to feel stagnant, unchallenged, and simply “going through the motions”, mindset and behaviour change work can help to bring a team’s spark back. 

If there is conflict between two teams, this may be resolved with improved focus on interpersonal skills; longstanding animosity may simply stem from a lack of knowledge of another team’s role and the parts that each department plays within the organisation. Not knowing what things are like from another perspective or simply conversing with someone in the wrong way can be a surprising source of bad blood. 

Behaviour change workshops can also be crucial if a company has recently gone through a huge change like a merger or a significant reshuffle. Staff can often find themselves in totally different roles almost overnight; which might lead to feelings of not knowing where they stand, and a sense that their whole professional lives are in flux, and therefore completely out of their control. This can understandably lead to a lot of demotivated thinking patterns. These kinds of reshuffles may be good for the company as a whole, but sometimes that sentiment takes a while to trickle down to the staff - if it does at all! 

We all need a reminder that we’re skilled and valued from time to time. Our behaviour change programmes use a mix of neuro-linguistic programming and mindset coaching to help teams realise the empowering things that are in their control, both large and small. 

Different companies may choose to embark on behaviour change training for a wide variety of reasons, and as such our workshops are always totally bespoke to each company’s individual challenges and needs. 

How does behaviour change training work?

There are three major ways in which our mindset and behaviour programmes work to improve the working environment: 

• Mindfulness and Communication: An awareness of oneself and of others is an important part of working life for any employee, regardless of their place within the organisation. It’s important to be aware of our own thoughts and feelings, and how they affect our behaviours - especially towards others. By making yourself aware of the challenges facing other employees and teams, you can empathise better and therefore more effectively communicate with these parties.

• Re-energised Mindset: A sense of demotivation and helplessness often stems from feelings of a lack of control in working life and also sometimes a lack of confidence. Using confidence-boosting coaching tactics, our training helps your teams focus on what positive changes they can enact within their own working lives, and equips them with the confidence to follow up on these innovations with positive and assertive action. In turn, this results in an improved outlook with a strong focus on opportunities - leaving your staff more keen and raring to go.

• Less Judgement, More Opportunity: The world is a complicated place, and as such our brains tend to delete (forget outright), distort (misremember), or generalise (simplify or make assumptions about) a huge amount of the information that we take in. This is one of the core concepts of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming). Though it’s an essential mental process to keep us from being overwhelmed by day-to-day living, it can cause us to miss important hidden details that present unmissable benefits and opportunities. By being a little more aware of how our brains can distort information, we can start to spot opportunities in things that we might otherwise sweep under the mental rug. 

Each of these factors are crucial to creating a positive working outlook. The ways you think and feel about a situation (your mindset) have a profound impact on your behaviours. Behaviour change programmes help to transform negative mindsets into positive ones - in turn leading to positive and productive behaviour. 

What holds companies back from taking on behaviour change programmes?

When they sense that something isn’t working, many organisations assume that more job-relevant skills are required, and invest in knowledge-based training. However, chances are that your team already knows full well how to do their jobs, and needs something more of a confidence and inspirational boost. The assumption that a team’s skills aren’t good enough - when in truth they know their jobs inside out - can be incredibly damaging to morale. In our experience, “softer” skills like interpersonal communication and confidence building are just as important as knowledge-building... if not more so!

Behaviour change training helps to turn around teams who are stuck in a rut, communicating poorly, feel demotivated, or are generally caught up in a whirlwind of office politics. But when your team get a mindset boost alongside communication strategies that allow them to skilfully and confidently get their message across, this generally leads to a happier and more empowered workplace.

If you’re looking to transform your employees into the best version of themselves - get in touch with Chilli Pepper Development today! Our carefully tailored behaviour and mindset workshops receive stellar feedback from both managers and employees alike. Call us on 0333 305 6516 or drop us a line at [email protected] to take the first step towards a more positive and fruitful workplace.