Eating the elephant one bite at a time
Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash
GRIST’s philosophy is that the best way to achieve change is by incremental improvements. Now 5 Ways to Wellbeing is applying the same philosophy to wellbeing. Together, these programs can help customer-facing teams and their leaders to succeed professionally and personally.
We’ve all heard that old joke:
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.
Like all good jokes, it’s funny because it’s true. The best way to achieve change is by incremental improvements. Taking one step at a time and achieving a small feeling of success motivates us to take the next step, creating another small success. This momentum motivates further behavioural change, leading to greater success and motivation.
Too often, change programs try to make sweeping changes across an entire organisation simultaneously. Like an over-ambitious new year’s resolution, biting off more than we can chew is doomed to fail.
At GRIST we say: pick one small behavioural change and master it. Then pick the next small change. And then the next. Something as simple as remembering to use a customer’s name can help improve conversations with your customers. Just do that until it becomes a habit, then do the next small change until it becomes a habit. Before you know it, you’ve made a handful of small changes that have significantly improved your customer conversations.
By all means, have the big-picture vision of what you’re working towards. But make it happen one bite at a time. GRIST calls this Excellence by Degrees° and it’s the essence of GRIST’s micro-behavioural approach.
Micro-behaviours are small actions that we can SEE and HEAR someone DO. They are definable, observable, assessable (was the behaviour demonstrated or not?) and 100% within the control of the individual. Micro-behaviours are easy for people to understand and do and easy for leaders to coach. A good framework of micro-behaviours helps leaders to diagnose what needs to change and work with their teams to coach effectively. Most importantly, the right micro-behaviours are predictive of performance outcomes and lead to sustainable change.
We know this approach works and that’s why GRIST has formed an exciting new partnership with The Royal Melbourne Hospital’s 5 Ways to Wellbeing initiative. The 5 Ways to Wellbeing framework functions in a similar way to GRIST’s micro-behavioural approach. Each of the 5 “ways” describes a different approach to wellbeing that is supported by a range of simple behaviours that anyone can do:
The 5 “ways” are
Connect with people around you: family, friends, neighbours and people you meet.
Be Active – keep your mind and body active. Step outside, go for a walk, play a sport, dance.
Keep Learning – try something new, read a book, learn to sew, take a course.
Be Aware of the world around you. Notice the sights, smells and sounds.
Help Others – do something kind for a friend or stranger. Thank someone, smile or say hello.
Some of the behaviours that fall under Connect are:
Organise regular catch-ups with a friend.
Have dinner with your family.
Phone or email a friend who you don’t see often.
Walk in nature.
Spend time with pets and animals.
GRIST’s new partnership with 5 Ways to Wellbeing means that wellbeing content can be built into any existing or new GRIST program. This will equip leaders and teams with a new set of tools to foster wellbeing in the workplace by adopting practical micro-behaviours that can be used daily.
Contact us today to discuss how we can build 5 Ways to Wellbeing into a GRIST program for your organisation.
