During our end of year holidays, I spent some wonderful time playing Halo with my son on the X-Box (computer games are definitely in my son’s skill set and certainly not in mine!). For ten minutes, I went into a cycle of ‘play, panic, die, repeat’ to the great amusement of my son. Much of my time was spent with my character looking at the floor or ceiling, partly because the controls weren’t intuitive for me and partly because everything happened so fast. This time however, instead of continuing down the same path (or walking out and suggesting we play tennis instead) I asked if we could look at the settings of the game and how the controls worked for me. For the next few minutes, we adjusted the settings to suit me and changed the function of certain buttons (there are way too many!), including the up and down view for my character. (Remember when you first tried to scroll on a device like an iPad and it worked in the opposite way to what you expected?). Now I could play the game in a way that felt right for me (my character didn’t stare into the sky as much) and I stayed alive just a little longer. I certainly didn’t win and my son still laughed, yet my change of behaviour and how I approached the challenge produced a different result.
Where else could the concept of a ‘reset’ be useful for your business? As you look at your business and the actions you take within it – do you need to reset a function or behaviour? Would it be more useful to change tack or direction? Is staying the current course the best option?
More specifically, if you take a good look at your behaviours for the last FY, what patterns of behaviour would you would like to carry over to the second half of the year? Are there behaviours you would like to reset or change tack on?
We recently posed this question to several of our coaching clients and business leaders. If you could reset or change course on a particular behaviour that was impacting your business, what would it be? Responses focussed both on the functional and the interpersonal and included:
Functional
- I wouldn’t take my eyes off new client management
- I would push harder on a client to complete tasks within the timeframes I set
- I would reset a structured marketing campaign so I didn’t always feel behind
- I would feel more prepared and be organised for the start of the new FY
- I would have wrapped everything up before a holiday so I didn’t have to think about it while I was away
Interpersonal
- I would take back the argument I had with my colleague
- I would take back a conversation and frame it the way I intended
- I would reset how I communicate – I would set the vision more clearly
- I would show I cared about my team my clearly and in a way they recognised
- I would connect more with my team and not feel so distant
- I would have been honest with myself and my boss and not overextended what I could actually achieve
- I would reset the expectations for my team so they clearly knew what they had to do
- I would reset how I delegate to my people so that they didn’t take advantage of meI
- I would reset how I lead and feel confident in my decisions
What impact would hitting the reset button have on your business? Unfortunately, changing the behaviours that got you to where you are now is not as simple as hitting a reset button. Behaviours don’t quite work that way – they carry over from quarter to quarter, unless attention is put to them.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do you want to keep heading in the direction that you did for the last half of last year?
- What behaviour do you need to put some attention on to change the tack of your team or your business?
- Do you have the accompanying behaviours to match your new financial goals or strategic direction?
- Are your behaviours anchored in what you have done last year?
Our behaviours provide us with a wonderful opportunity to grow, develop and build – if we choose to. The old adage of ‘keep doing what you have been doing, and you keep getting what you get’ applies to behaviours. So does ‘what got me here won’t get me there’. One thing is certain though – only an action to change your behaviour will reset or change the course of your business.
What will yours be?