At work, and at home, it’s easy to get comfortable with your processes, tools and routines. We often perceive this “autopilot” as being an efficient way to deal with the more mundane tasks of life. Yet, if we think about what we are doing, and tweak some of these habits, the results can be astounding. We can see things in a different way and identify new opportunities to improve or gain efficiencies. Sometimes, a series of tiny changes can make a big difference over the course of a few weeks or months.
Does Your Autopilot Need a Reality Check?
A recent event helped me to solidify this theory. I’m a jogger, and not that long ago I went out for my regular run. This is a routine task, so I don’t think about it too much: I just put on my shoes and run. Basically, I’m on autopilot. During this particular jog, I wasn’t that far along and I noticed my feet didn’t feel quite the same. They weren’t in pain, but something just wasn’t right. About 1 km passed until I finally took the time to look down at my left foot. Sure enough, I had put my old sneaker on that foot! I laughed to myself for putting on my old pair of runners, which did look similar to my new pair. I kept on running and then 500m later, I realized that something was definitely wrong because I clearly remembered putting my newer shoes on. Finally, I stopped and looked at both shoes at the same time. Here was my reality check: I had put a new running shoe on my right foot and an old running shoe on the left. Incredible! At that point I had to decide: do I continue or go back (or just hide somewhere)?
This event made me realize how we let our brain go on autopilot to address common, repetitive tasks. As a result, we end up paying little attention to the task at hand. We just “do” without thinking about the impact. At work, this translates into running your meetings using the same old format, communicating messages in just one particular way, or interacting with people using the same old style. Often, the status quo isn’t just an old habit, it’s more like a series of old habits from days gone by which have evolved into the company culture. Ironically, many of these habits are highly ineffective yet continue unquestioned—everyone doesn’t think, they just do.
Leaders Must Challenge the Status Quo
Constantly challenging the status quo at your workplace can be very beneficial to your company. Right now, I’m working with a client who has a strong operational culture, known for its quality products and customer service. Although this is a great reputation to have, this culture is so strong that it structures the sales force to become an extension of operations. Sales representatives no longer develop business, they take care of customer service issues and quality control in the field. When I began working with them, sales people spent 70-90% of their efforts reacting to client demand, post sales. You can imagine the company’s challenge to keep its market share and expand the business when their sales force is busy with non-sales related activities. Yet this is a behaviour that’s been ingrained over many years and plays a core role within their culture. The good news is that the organization has finally assessed the situation and is now moving to correct it. As a result of our work together, the incremental changes have seen sales volume growth and better market intelligence. And they have only started to make changes!
It takes courage and strength to look at yourself in the mirror and realize the status quo is NOT working and you need to do something about it. When jogging with two different shoes on, it took me some time to finally address the situation, even though I KNEW something was wrong long before I stopped. How long does it take you to stop and make a clear assessment of the situation when something doesn’t feel right? Are you actually aware that you are wearing two different shoes and not operating as efficiently as you could be? Is it time for your reality check?
Old habits are hard to break and working in autopilot is so much easier in the short term. It’s important that leaders like you spend some time every week—even if it’s just five minutes—to assess the value of these habits and culturally accepted norms. You can assess this personally, or get feedback from others. Either way, it’s likely that you’ll discover something that leads to greater productivity.
Oh, and by the way, I did decide to complete my run with two different shoes. I figured that I was almost 2km into it and didn’t want to go back. But I can assure you, I now double check my shoes so I can run efficiently—and proudly—again!
Until then… Be amazing!
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Denis Levesque is owner of Ottawa-based Big Dashan, a high-performance executive coaching, training and speaking firm. His ARC of Leadership methodology helps leaders go from good to great.
Denis Levesque: executive coach, trainer + speaker 