As leaders we are often trying to change the behaviours of those around us without fully understanding how and why those behaviours arise. What makes it even trickier is that the members of our team that we are coaching, mentoring and supporting can also be unaware of why those behaviours are arising for them as they are determined by what is going on at a subconscious level.
There are so many wonderful training programs out there based around leadership and personal development that can help create the change, but they do not always tend to have long term affects. You may see your team members change for a while and the light at the end of the tunnel seems to get brighter only to find that over time they revert back to the unhelpful behaviours that were being targeted in the first place.
Why is this?
Most of our thoughts, emotions and behaviours arise from subconscious patterns or belief systems. Over time we have developed behaviours that initially served us well so became embedded as our natural ‘go to’ when faced with similar situations. An easy way to explain this looks at the drive to work. We tend to drive the same way day in day out until it comes embedded in our subconscious. So much so, that there are times when we are driving to other locations, and we start following the work route program. If we don’t catch ourselves, we find ourselves taking the roads that lead to our workplace rather than the destination we had planned to go to.
This also showcases itself in our everyday behaviours and reactions to situations. We know how we are supposed to be behaving or responding but without even realising it (or sometimes we do), our subconscious programming can be enacted and we find ourselves going back to the old patterns that are no longer serving us.
How do we combat this?
Behavioural training, coaching and mentoring are all wonderful ways to create awareness of what people should be doing but the subconscious programming has been embedded in through years of reinforcement. So, it may be effective short term, when we are still on a high and focused on the information we have absorbed, but unless it is constantly reinforced (just like our subconscious programming) people slowly slip back into their previous behavioural patterns. This constant reinforcement takes up a lot of time, money and energy as the techniques need to continually be delivered over a long period of time to be able to create the real change that we are looking for.
A more effective alternative is finding out how and why the subconscious programming was developed in the first place. By looking at events, times and places that have reinforced particular subconscious behaviours and reactions, we are better able to find solutions that deal with the root cause rather than just the presenting problem. If someone has an injury on their arm that continues to switch between being healed and flaring up, we will eventually want to find out why it keeps flaring up, even if the cream we are applying provides relief for a period of time.
Is it difficult to find the root cause?
Yes and no, it really depends on the approach you are using. If you are looking for subconscious root causes from a conscious state of awareness you may get your breakthrough, but it can take many months or even years of constant focused attention. The key is to facilitate awareness programs that are designed to spark curiosity within someone at the subconscious level to then create lasting change in just a fraction of the time.
How do you spark curiosity at the subconscious level?
Many people have developed tools and techniques to connect subconsciously with people, but at Get Up and Grow Consulting, we fully endorse Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) for creating change at an individual level. Our founder, Niomi Hurley, is a RTT Practitioner and Clinical Hypnotherapist and has seen phenomenal long-lasting and life changing results in clients in as little as 1 to 3 sessions.
In the corporate space, we turn to an Organisational Psychologist approach and couple traditional psychological theories with the foundation concepts used in RTT. The following 5 step process is used by our consultants to develop programs that are designed to create long lasting change within individuals and teams in a corporate setting.
- Liaise – Connect with key players in the business to find out what the pain points are and how they would like things to be different in the future. Pain points can be issues with employee behaviours, productivity, engagement, retention, safety or team cohesion.
- Evaluate – Meet with the designated individuals/teams and use the information gathered to evaluate and identify how current behaviours are being subconsciously driven. Create a gap analysis on where they are currently in comparison to where they could be.
- Act – Develop materials that will be useful in shifting subconscious belief systems while monitoring and measuring the progress along the way.
- Deliver – Deliver results to the individual / team / organisation by using tools that connect subconsciously with participants so that they are learning why and what is contributing to their current behaviours. Then, help them reframe and redefine how things will look for them moving forward.
- Support – Provide ongoing support along the way (we all have bad days) and report on future actions that they can undertake to continue moving forward.
How do I learn more about creating lasting change within myself and/or within my team?
Reach out to one of our friendly team at admin@getupandgrowconsulting.com.au to schedule a face-to-face appointment or book in for a discovery call where we can chat over the phone and find out if working with the Get Up and Grow Consulting Team is the right path for you and your team.
