Top 5 ways to change employee behaviour

How to make a measurable and lasting impact on your employees' behaviour

How can I encourage my employees to act in the ways that I want them to, is the $64,000 question! If only you could get them to work more efficiently, innovate more, be a great ambassador for the company brand and be motivated to stay with the company for longer. Most of your problems would be solved! Here we look at the top 5 ways, outside of pay and bonus incentives, in which we believe you really can have a measurable and lasting impact on your employees' behaviour.  

1. Focus and measurability

Don't try and change everything overnight. People won't respond to a long list of requests for changed behaviours, so focus on just one key change objective at a time and give enough time for that to be fully adopted before moving on to the next. Make the request clear and measurable, so employees fully understand how to successfully instigate the desired change;  e.g. "listen to customers better so you don't make mistakes by misunderstanding them" would be better as "ensure you repeat back to each customer the request they've made, to confirm the detail, before actioning it".   

2. Clarity of message

Much change in the workplace, at home or in politics is driven by a "this is where we are now, this is where we want to be" message. By creating a clear picture of what is wrong with now, and what things could be like if we change, we buy into the need for change more and become emotionally engaged. Try using visual aids, emotional connections or practical examples for maximum effect.

3. Educate

Most new behaviours in a company will have some level of skill or knowledge necessary to fulfil them, so ensuring that employees have the necessary support is key to ensuring they can perform those new behaviours effectively. Undertake comprehensive training to develop the necessary skills, and also to show that you place value on the change thereby encouraging their buy-in too.  

4. User peer pressure

Theories and our own experiences, consistently confirm that we look to our peer group to determine what is and isn't an acceptable behaviour. For this reason, it's important that the key influencers (sometimes known as "early adopters" and initial "safe followers") in an organisation are engaged early, to ensure that others (later "safe followers" and "latecomers") buy into the desired behaviour change. The balance won't tip until enough of the earlier groups make the change and encourage followers to do the same, so focus on training and converting key players first.   

5. Think outside the box

Supermarkets have long used the trick of putting essential items that we all need to buy in the far corners of their stores to make sure we walk past as many other products as possible en route, hoping that they'll maximise sales. Google placed the salad bar in its staff canteen at the front, purely so that they saw it first and therefore, to encourage employees to eat healthier options. In both cases people were free to do as they pleased, but by changing the situation around them, it influenced their behaviour.

Consider changing the environment, employees themselves, or equipment to encourage different behaviour. Would providing better facilities for employees to spend lunchtimes away from their desks, for example, encourage more productive work in the afternoon?

 

The key is to use all these techniques to reinforce a desired change in behaviour from all sides. We'd love to help you with practical advice on how to put these techniques into practice in your organisation; please call 0333 305 6516 or email for an informal chat. 

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