Hughs Blog

What comes first? The chicken or the belief?

I just finished presenting a version of my ReClaiming the Clock workshop at the annual Shoppers Drug Mart conference in Montreal. This is a very impressive three day event with over 2,000 franchisee owners and managers coming together to celebrate what is truly a sterling example of corporate success.

There were a couple of remarkable sides to my experience: one was that I delivered the same workshop seven times in two days(!) and I was again reminded how much managers are willing to sacrifice in their job. In preparation for the event I had done my interviews of some managers, visited their stores and interviewed some top brass. But when got the store managers in the conference room for my seminar on how to better manage their time and their people assets I was surprised how many were unhappy with their work/life balance and personal care habits at work.

Here is a quick rundown of some popular complaints I heard:
• I’m tired of eating lunch in front of my computer.
• I don’t eat lunch at work.
• I rarely have breakfast.
• I don’t have time to plan/you can’t plan beyond today when you work in retail
• I can’t turn work off, staff are always calling me even though I’m at home
• I don’t delegate enough because I (a) don’t think it will get done as well I can I can do it, or (b) they’re already busy, I can’t ask them to do more, or (c) they’ll just complain that they’re already too busy!
• I’m always available at work because we have an “open door policy”

(any of these sound familiar?)
But here’s the rub: if any one of these hard working folks were consulting to a friend they would never recommend these habits, so why are they keeping them?

When we believe something is a certain way, like ‘I’ve got so much to do that I can’t possibly take time for myself’ we automatically start to notice evidence to support that belief. This self-fulfilling prophecy has been documented in every psychology 101 text book and motivational book ever written. And, yet, what isn’t often mentioned is the cool flip side: when you create a better belief, like ‘when I take a break I have more to give to others’ then you start to notice evidence to support that new belief.

So, what comes first, the new behaviour or the belief? The answer is: the belief always. When JF Kennedy announced the race to put a man on the moon in the 1960’s he was instilling a belief in the American people (not to mention the staff and management at NASA). Once the belief is firmly installed and matched with conviction (an emotional attachment to the outcome) and new behaviour you are building a new way of being.

My challenge to the Shoppers Drug Mart store managers was to find one simple change that they each wanted, to be convinced that this was relevant and valuable for them (that’s the belief change), and to practice it for 30 days without exceptions.

So, what would be the new belief for you?

Tags: culver