By Marshall
(Published in Business
Strategy Review – London Business School,
spring 2003)
In my role as an
executive coach, I am asked to work with
extremely successful leaders who want to get
even better. They are key executives in
major corporations. They are very
intelligent, dedicated and persistent. They
are committed to the success of their
companies. They have high personal
integrity. Most are financially independent.
They are not working because they have to.
They are working because they want to.
Intellectually, they realize that the
leadership behavior that was associated with
yesterday’s results may not be the behavior
that is needed to achieve tomorrow’s
innovation.
While most of us can
easily see the need to change the behavior
of others, we often have great difficulty in
changing ourselves! As we become more
successful, it seems even harder to change.
As Charles Handy has pointed out, the
“paradox of success” occurs because we need
to change before we have to change. However,
when things are going well we often feel no
reason to change.
I have recently completed
a review of research related to the topic of
helping successful people change their
behavior. Most research on behavioral change
has focused on dysfunctional behavior with
clear physiological consequences (e.g.
alcoholism, drug addiction, eating disorders
or smoking). A substantial amount has been
written on why successful people succeed.
Not surprisingly, very little has been
written on the unique challenges involved in
helping successful people change. The entire
concept is somewhat counter-intuitive.
My assumption is that
you, the reader, are a successful person.
You may not be a key executive in a major
corporation. However, I would guess that you
are successful by most socio-economic
standards. My second assumption is that you
are working with other successful people.
Many of the people that you work with are
knowledge workers. They know more about what
they are doing than you do. In most cases
your most valued co-workers are also there
because they want to be, not because they
have to be. You have the challenge of
helping yourself and helping them make the
changes that will take your team to the
“next level”.
What have I learned about
helping people like you and your colleagues
change?
In almost all cases, even
the most successful leaders can increase
their effectiveness by changing certain
elements of their behavior. (The same is
true for us as spouses, partners, friends,
parents and children.) By becoming aware of
how we can improve, involving respected
colleagues and following-up, we can almost
always get better at the behavior we choose
as perceived by the people we choose. I have
also learned that the key beliefs that can
help us succeed can become challenges when
it is time for us to change.
Four Key Beliefs of
Successful People:
Their Implications for Behavioral Change
There are a variety of
reasons why successful people succeed. Some
factors can be changed and some cannot.
Every person does not have the potential to
succeed in every activity. For example, a
poor athlete may become better through
practice. However, physical limitations may
prohibit this person’s chance of ever
becoming a professional. As Harvard’s Howard
Gardner has pointed out, different
individuals have different “intelligences”
that can dramatically impact their potential
in different fields.
My review of research
focused on the beliefs that tend to
differentiate more successful people from
their peers (who may have similar potential
to achieve). Successful people tend to have
four underlying beliefs:
-
I choose to succeed.
-
I can succeed.
-
I will succeed.
-
I have succeeded.
Each of these beliefs can
be labeled differently (self-determination,
self-efficacy, optimism, etc.). Each belief
increases our likelihood of achieving
success. All of the beliefs are
inter-related and positively correlated with
each other. Each belief will be discussed in
terms of why it generally leads to success
and how it can inhibit change.
I choose to
succeed.
Successful people believe
that they are doing what they choose to do,
because they choose to do it.
Successful people have a
high need for self-determination. The more
successful a person is, the more likely this
is to be true. Successful people have a
unique distaste for feeling controlled or
manipulated. In my work, I have “made peace”
with the fact that I cannot “make”
executives change. I can only help them get
better at what they choose to change. One of
the great challenges of coaching (or
teaching or parenting) is to realize that
the ultimate motivation for change has to
come from the person being coached - not the
coach.
Having the belief, “I
choose to succeed” does not imply that
successful people are selfish. Obviously,
many successful people are great team
players. It does mean that successful people
need to feel a personal commitment to what
they are doing. They need a sense of
ownership. When leaders have a personal
commitment to the mission, they will be much
more likely to achieve results. They will
lead with their hearts as well as their
minds. They will also be effective in
attracting and developing fellow “believers”
who want to get the job done.
“I choose to succeed” is
a belief that is highly correlated with
achievement. Adding “and I choose to change”
can be a very difficult transition.
Successful people’s
personal commitment can make it hard for
them to change.
The more we believe that
our behavior is a result of our own choices
and commitments, the less likely we are to
want to change our behavior.
One of the
best-researched principles in psychology is
called cognitive dissonance. The underlying
theory is simple. The more we are committed
to believing that something is true, the
less likely we are to be willing to change
our beliefs (even in the face of clear
evidence that shows we are wrong). Cognitive
dissonance works in favor of successful
people in most situations. Their commitment
encourages them to “stay the course” and to
not “give up” when “the going gets tough”.
This same principle can work against
successful people when they should “change
course”.
A macro-level example of
this phenomenon has occurred in Japan. In
the 1980s, Japanese managers were widely
praised as role models for leadership
behavior. The country’s economic growth was
one of the greatest success stories in the
history of business. Books were written and
“benchmarking trips” were organized so that
leaders from around the world could learn
from their success. This success had a deep
impact on many leaders. Business success
went beyond financial results and was
transformed into national pride about
“Japanese management”. Leaders were not just
proud of what they had achieved, they were
proud of how they achieved it.
Unfortunately, the style
that worked in the 1980s did not work in the
1990s. Rapid changes in technology, the
economy, the role of manufacturing and the
workforce made the “Japanese management”
approach far less desirable. It has taken
two decades for many leaders in Japan to
admit that their previous approach was no
longer working. Many leaders “denied the
numbers” for years, before accepting the
fact that change was needed. The same
commitment that had brought a huge success
in the 1980s, led to a huge challenge at the
turn of the century. The leaders who have
had the wisdom and courage to “let go” of
the past are the ones who are succeeding in
the new Japanese economy.
I can succeed.
Successful people
believe that they have the internal capacity
to make desirable things happen.
This is the definition of
self-efficacy. It is perhaps the most
central belief shown to drive individual
success. People who believe they can succeed
see opportunities where others see threats.
This comfort with ambiguity leads people
with high self-efficacy to take greater
risks and achieve greater returns. To put it
simply - they try more different things!
Successful people tend to
have a high “internal locus of control”. In
other words they do not feel like victims of
fate. They believe that they have the
motivation and ability to change their
world. They see success for themselves and
others as largely a function of motivation
and ability, not luck, random chance or
external factors.
(This explains why the
state-run lottery has been proven to be a
“regressive tax”. People who buy significant
numbers of lottery tickets are people who
believe that success comes from random
chance. These same people tend to be less
economically successful.)
There is a very positive
(and not surprising) relationship between
“need for self-determination” and “internal
locus of control”. If people believe that
the world is largely out of their control
and that they are merely “cogs in the wheel
of life”, they will not feel as bad about
being controlled or manipulated. (After all,
that’s just the “way it is.”) If people feel
that they can change their world and make it
better, they will find external control and
manipulation much more distasteful.
While, the “I can
succeed” belief is generally associated with
success, it can (when combined with
optimism) lead to what is called
“superstitious behavior”. This
“superstition” can lead to difficulty in
changing behavior even when others see this
behavior as obviously dysfunctional.
Successful people
often confuse correlation with causality.
They often do not realize that they are
successful “because of” some behaviors and
“in spite of” others.
Any human (in fact, any
animal) will tend to repeat behavior that is
followed by positive reinforcement. The more
successful people are (by definition), the
more positive reinforcement they tend to
receive. One of the greatest mistakes of
successful people is the assumption, “I am
successful. I behave this way. Therefore, I
must be successful because I behave this
way!”
“Superstitious behavior”
is merely the confusion of correlation and
causality. Many leaders get positive
reinforcement for the results that occur.
They then assume that their behavior is what
helped lead to these results. Just as
successful athletes believe in “lucky”
numbers or perform “rituals” before a
contest, successful business leaders tend to
repeat behaviors that are followed by
rewards. They may fear that changing any
behavior will break their “string of
success”.
One financial services
CEO was viewed as an outstanding leader, but
was seen as incredibly weak in the area of
providing coaching to his direct reports.
(This is fairly common for top executives.)
He had developed an elaborate
rationalization as to: 1) why coaching “at
my level” was not important, 2) why coaching
was a waste of his time, 3) how he had “made
it this far” without providing coaching, and
4) how he had never received much coaching
and it obviously did not hurt his career!
Fortunately, this
executive had some highly respected direct
reports who were both courageous and
assertive. He decided to honor their wishes
and “give coaching a try”. After achieving
very positive success, he finally admitted
that this had been a personal weakness for
years. He realized he had been successful in
spite of his lack of coaching, not because
of it.
I will succeed.
An unflappable sense
of optimism is one of the most important
characteristics of successful people.
Successful people not
only believe that they can achieve, they
believe that they will achieve. This belief
goes beyond any one task. Successful leaders
tend to communicate with an overall sense of
self-confidence. In a recent study with
Accenture involving over 200 high-potential
leaders (from 120 companies around the
world), self-confidence ranked as one of the
“top 10” elements of effective leadership
for leaders in the past, the present and the
future.
Successful leaders not
only believe that they will achieve, they
assume that the people they respect will
achieve. As was stated earlier, they see
success as a function of people’s motivation
and ability. If they believe that their
people have the motivation and ability, they
communicate this contagious sense of
optimism and self-confidence to others.
Successful people tend to
pursue opportunities. If they set a goal,
write the goal down and publicly announce
the goal, they will tend to do “whatever it
takes” to achieve the goal.
While this sense of
optimism is generally associated with
success, it can easily lead to “overload” if
it is not controlled.
Successful people tend
to be extremely busy and face the danger of
over-commitment.
It can be difficult for
an ambitious person, with an “I will succeed
attitude, to say “no” to desirable
opportunities. As of this writing, the huge
majority of executives that I work with feel
as busy (or busier) today than they have
ever felt in their lives. In North America,
this perception was consistent for the last
four years of the ’90s, a decade which
featured one of the longest economic
expansions in our history. Most of these
executives were not over-committed because
they were trying to “save a sinking ship”.
They were over-committed because they were
“drowning in a sea of opportunity”.
Successful people achieve
a lot, and they often believe that they can
do more than they can. My favorite European
“volunteer” client was the Executive
Director of one of the world’s leading human
services organizations. His mission was to
help the world’s most vulnerable people.
Unfortunately (for all of us), his business
was booming. His biggest challenge as a
leader, by far, was avoiding
over-commitment. (By the way, this is very
common for the top human services leaders.)
Without externally imposed discipline, he
had a tendency to promise even more than the
most dedicated staff could deliver.
Unchecked, this “we will succeed” attitude
could lead to staff “burn out”, high
turnover and ultimately less capability to
help those in need.
One of my clients
recently completed a study of the graduates
of their executive development program. As
part of the program each graduate was
expected to focus on behavioral change. They
were all instructed in a simple process to
help them achieve this change. At the end of
the class over 95% of the participants said
that they would follow the steps in the
process (in a confidential survey). One year
later about 70% followed the process. This
group showed huge improvement in effectively
changing behavior. Approximately 30% did
nothing. This group showed no more
improvement than a control group.
When asked, “Why didn’t
you implement the behavioral change plan
that you said you would?” “I was
over-committed and just did not get to it!”
was by far the most common response.
I have succeeded.
Successful people tend
to have a positive interpretation of their
past performance.
High achievers not only
believe that they have achieved results;
they tend to believe that they were
instrumental in helping the results get
achieved. This tends to be true even if the
positive outcomes were caused by external
events that they did not control.
In a positive way,
successful people are “delusional”. They
tend to see their previous history as a
validation of who they are and what they
have done. This positive interpretation of
the past leads to increased optimism towards
the future and increases the likelihood of
future success.
While the belief, “I have
been successful” has many positive benefits;
it can cause difficulty when it is time to
change behavior.
Successful people’s
positive view of their performance can make
it hard to hear disconfirming information
from others.
Successful people
consistently over-rate their performance
relative to their professional peers. I have
personally asked over fifty thousand
successful professionals to “rate yourself”
relative to your professional peers. Close
to 85% of all successful professionals rated
themselves in the “top 20%” of their peer
group (who were, by the way the exercise was
defined, statistically as successful as they
were). Professions with higher perceived
social status (e.g. physicians, pilots,
investment bankers) tend to have even higher
self-assessments relative to their (equally
prestigious) peers.
My favorite example of
this characteristic occurred with a group of
medical doctors. I told the group that I had
done extensive research, which had proven
that exactly half of all MDs had graduated
in the bottom half of their medical school
class. Two of the doctors insisted that this
was impossible!
In trying to help
successful people change behavior, it is
important to help them separate the
“message” from the “messenger”.
Successful people tend to
deny the importance of disconfirming input
for three common reasons: 1) the input is
being delivered by someone that they do not
see as an “equal” in terms of success
therefore it “doesn’t count”; 2) they assume
that input which is inconsistent with their
self-image is “incorrect” and the other
person is “confused” or 3) they agree with
the input, but assume that the behavior must
not be that important since they are
successful.
Helping Successful
People Change
In our work with leaders,
my firm focuses on helping successful people
achieve a positive, measurable, long-term
change in behavior. To measure impact, we
have completed “before-and-after” studies
with tens of thousands of participants. The
steps in the behavioral change process have
been developed to work with successful
executives. However, these steps can be used
to help any successful person change their
interpersonal behavior.
Have the successful
person receive input on important,
self-selected behaviors as perceived by
important, self-selected raters.
It is hard to measure
effectiveness in changing behavior unless
there is a clear agreement on what desired
behavior is. Successful people have a high
need for self-determination. Ultimately, the
ownership of the behavioral change process
will have to come from the people who are
changing their behavior, not from an
internal or external coach.
One reason that
successful people tend to deny the validity
of behavioral input is that they were not
involved in determining the desired behavior
for a person in their position. The more
they are involved in determining what this
desired behavior is, the more likely they
are to “buy-in” to the validity of
demonstrating this behavior. Successful
people are very responsive to help in
achieving goals that they have set. They
tend to resist changes that make them feel
“judged” or “manipulated”.
Successful people also
have a desire for internal consistency. If
leaders publicly state that certain behavior
is important, they will be more likely to
strive to be a positive role model in
demonstrating this behavior.
From my experience in
developing leadership profiles, I have found
that almost all executives will develop a
great profile of their “desired” behaviors.
In most cases, understanding what behaviors
are desired will not be their major
challenge. Their major challenge will be
demonstrating these behaviors.
An example of the value
of involving leaders in developing their own
profile occurred with a CEO client several
years ago. When he received feedback from
his co-workers (on his own behavior), he
looked skeptically at one of the lower
scoring items and asked, “Who was the person
that wanted to include that item?” I
replied, “You!” He then remembered why he
wanted to include the item. He also began to
face the fact that the real problem was his
own behavior, not the wording of an item.
The first reason that
people deny the validity of behavioral input
is “wrong behaviors”. The second reason is
“wrong raters”. If successful people select
the raters, they will be much more likely to
accept the validity of the ratings. Most
executives respect the opinion of almost all
of their key colleagues. By letting the
successful person pick the raters, you can
avoid the potential reaction, “Why should a
winner like me listen to a loser like him?”
One argument against
letting the people we coach pick their own
raters is that they will pick their
“friends” and the input will not be
representative. I have not found this to be
true for two reasons: 1) Almost all of the
executives I have met end up selecting
raters that are similar to the group I would
select anyway. The only time they do not
want to include someone is if the person is
about to leave the company or they have a
deep disrespect for this person. In my
experience, I have never had an executive
want to exclude more than two raters. 2)
When 360° feedback is used for developmental
purposes, the “items for improvement” that
emerge from self-selected raters are quite
similar to the items that come from
other-selected raters.
Bev Kaye, Ken Shelton and
I recently asked over 50 great thought
leaders and teachers to describe a time when
they learned something that made a key
difference in their lives. This led to our
book Learning Journeys. More than half of
the respondents described a situation in
which they had received feedback or a
challenge from someone that they deeply
respected. Interestingly enough most agreed
that the same message would not have had
much impact if a different person had
delivered it. This made us realize that the
source of feedback and suggestions can be as
important as the content of the feedback and
suggestions. If successful people respect
the source of information, they will be much
more likely to learn and change.
Successful people will
almost always respond constructively to
advice and input when they are involved in
selecting the behaviors and selecting the
advisors. By making the process confidential
(not identifying raters), people will tend
to focus on what they need to improve, not
who did the rating. It is hard to deny the
validity of items that we say are important
as evaluated by raters that we respect!
After receiving input,
have the person select 1-2 important areas
for behavioral improvement.
I used to suggest that
executives pick 1-3 areas for behavioral
change. After doing “before-and-after”
interviews (one year after receiving input),
most executives have let me know that three
is too many. Many of the successful people
that I meet are too busy now. As was
mentioned earlier, a main reason that people
do not “stick with” their change plan is
over-commitment. They don’t need another
“laundry list” of goals. I now suggest that
two should be the maximum number of
behaviors to change. Changing one
high-leverage behavior (that makes the most
impact) can create a very positive
difference.
Challenge the people you
are coaching to work on only the behaviors
that can make a real difference. I was asked
to review the 360° summary report of one of
the world’s most successful high-tech CEOs.
After receiving his confidential feedback,
he considered his lowest item (listening)
and asked himself, “If I become a better
listener, will this make our company a
better company? I am busy. Is working to
become a better listener the most effective
use of my time?” Before he began to work on
changing behavior, he “checked it out” with
the Board and with people he respected. He
then decided that this change was indeed
worth his effort. I was greatly impressed
with his thoughtfulness and maturity in
dealing with this type of information. He
had a clear mission and did not want to be
distracted by dealing with behavioral change
that was not relevant to the achievement of
the mission.
If successful people see
the connection between their behavioral
change goals and their personal goals, they
will be much more likely to change. They
need to understand the difference between
“because of” and “in spite of” behaviors.
Some interesting research indicates that the
desire to achieve the skills associated with
success is more highly correlated with
achievement than the desire for success
itself. If the successful people that you
are coaching see the connection between
changing behavior, achieving their vision
and living their values, they will be much
more committed to “do what it takes” to
achieve lasting change.
Have the person
involve respected colleagues in the
behavioral change process.
Ongoing involvement from
supportive colleagues is almost always
associated with positive behavioral change.
Colleagues are much more likely to help if
they feel that they are respected and that
their advice is requested (as opposed to
expected).
In involving key
colleagues, we teach successful leaders to
have brief conversations with each colleague
during which they:
-
Thank each colleague
for his/her feedback and express
gratitude for the positive recognition
that was received.
-
Let each colleague
know the 1-2 areas for improvement that
have been selected and why they are
important.
-
Ask each colleague to
help them by providing constructive,
future-oriented suggestions that may
help the leader achieve positive,
measurable change.
-
Recruit the respected
colleague to provide ongoing supportive
coaching to help them improve.
Findings on the
usefulness of this process are very clear.
When successful people write down goals,
announce these goals to respected colleagues
and involve the colleagues in helping them
improve (in a supportive way), positive
measurable change is much more likely to
occur.
Teach the successful
person’s colleagues to be helpful coaches,
not cynics, critics or judges.
Unlike some forms of
achievement (e.g. academic achievement),
behavioral change is dependent on an
interpersonal relationship that involves
more than one person. If successful people
feel that they are being encouraged and
supported by the people around them, they
will be much more likely to “stick with it”
and achieve positive, long-term behavioral
change. If they feel they are being judged
or manipulated, they will tend to become
hostile to the process and quit trying.
Years ago, I had an
experience of this “turn off” effect with
the CFO of a major computer company. He was
perceived as being “aloof” and “arrogant”.
He saw himself as introverted and somewhat
shy. (It is not uncommon that introverted
high-level executives are perceived as
arrogant.) One suggestion from employees was
that he “get off the top floor” and spend
more time with the finance staff. On his
first visit to practice “management by
walking around”, he was greeted with
sarcastic comments like, “What’s the matter,
is the air conditioning broken up there?”
and “What are you doing down here, slumming
it?” He found the experience negative and
embarrassing. I later discussed this with
one of his employees. While the employee
thought this was “funny”, he did not realize
that he was sabotaging his manager’s efforts
to meet his own request for behavioral
change.
In our coaching process,
we work not only with the executive; we work
with the people around the executive. We do
not get paid unless positive, measurable
change occurs (after at least one year). The
executive does not define whether he or she
achieved positive, measurable change; the
people around the executive determine it. We
help these co-workers help the executive by
doing the following:
- “Letting go” of the
past and focusing on the future.
Successful people are
much more likely to change by envisioning a
positive future than by reliving a
humiliating past. Proving that a successful
person was “wrong” is often a
counter-productive waste of time. Successful
people respond well to getting ideas and
suggestions for the future that are aimed at
helping them achieve their goals. The
analogy used by racecar drivers is, “Focus
on the road, not on the wall!” The executive
should not be expected to do everything that
their colleagues suggest. Leadership is not
a popularity contest. However, well-intended
and constructive suggestions for the future
are almost always useful.
- Being a supportive
coach, not a cynic, critic or judge.
Successful people
attribute more validity to the sincere
recognition of progress than to the sincere
acknowledgement of failure. Behavioral
change is almost always “non-linear”. Almost
all adults will have “set backs” when
attempting to change behavior. Co-workers
need to realize that this is a natural part
of the process and not “give up” on the
executive. We all have a tendency to revert
back to behaviors that were correlated with
success in the past. The more successful we
are, the easier it is to rationalize this
return to past behavior. If the executive is
encouraged to move beyond set backs and the
colleagues do not dwell on these set backs,
the odds for long-term change greatly
improve. The colleague’s goal should be to
help the executive feel like a “winner” as
they participate in the process of change.
- Develop a follow-up
process that provides an opportunity for
ongoing dialogue on selected behaviors with
selected colleagues.
Our research on follow-up
has clearly shown that leaders are much more
likely to achieve a positive, measurable
change in behavior if they consistently
involve selected colleagues (through
follow-up dialogues) in the change process.
These follow-up dialogues are very focused
and need take only a few minutes. They can
be done by phone or in-person. In one study
(involving 8,000 respondents in a “Fortune
100” corporation), only 18% of all leaders
who received 360° input, but did no
follow-up, were rated as a “+2 or +3” on
increased effectiveness in one year (on a
“-3 to +3” scale). This was no better than a
control group who had received no training
and no input. On the other hand, 86% of
leaders who did consistent (or periodic)
follow-up received top ratings on increased
effectiveness.
When co-workers are
trained to be supportive coaches, the
follow-up process provides an ongoing
opportunity for constructive suggestions and
recognition. It reinforces the individual’s
public commitment to change. Ongoing
dialogue creates a process in which both
parties are focused on improving the
relationship, not on judging each other.
Mini-surveys can be a
simple and efficient way to measure
behavioral change. Mini-surveys are usually
very short and focus only on the behaviors
that have been selected by the person being
coached. They are designed so that the
raters evaluate behavior that occurs only
during the coaching period. They focus on
the rater’s perception of improvement. If
the executive agrees upon the desired
behaviors for change, selects highly
respected co-workers as raters, takes the
process seriously and follows-up, positive
change will almost always occur. After
receiving the mini-survey results the
executive thanks the raters, involves them
in future change and continues the process.
This is almost always a positive experience
for the executive and for the co-workers.
In summary, helping
successful people change behavior is both an
opportunity and a challenge. Our
“before-and-after” research has taught us a
great lesson – successful people will not
change behavior because they go to a course.
They will get better because of their own
efforts and the efforts of their respected
colleagues. By understanding the unique
issues involved in helping successful people
change, organizations can get a huge return
on investment from their development
efforts. There is generally a “normal
distribution” curve for most types of
achievement. The marginal gain for helping a
highly successful person move from the “top
5%” to the “top 1%” may be greater (to the
organization) than the gain from helping the
average performer move from the “top 50%” to
the “top 20%.” This is especially true with
high-potential leaders who represent one of
the greatest sources of value for the
organization of the future. While much more
research needs to be done on this topic,
there is a clear body of knowledge that can
help make the best performers even better!
Post your comments at
amin@aiminlines.co.th
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