The magic of micro-behaviours
In 1989 when Kim Grist founded GRIST, he talked about the "successive approximation to the goal." Today this has evolved into micro-behaviours.
Micro-whats?
Micro-behaviours are small actions that you 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, easy for leaders to coach, and most importantly, predictive of performance outcomes.
Incremental improvement
Micro-behaviours identify what needs to be done differently to improve and allows for an objective assessment of capability. They enable small incremental steps of development – a roadmap if you like – that underpins effective on-the-job learning and brings your organisation's vision to life. They are the small degrees of change that enable your organisation to achieve excellence.
What doesn't work
Imagine an organisation is committed to delivering a better customer experience by building greater rapport. While this is a noble aspiration, it is of little help to the customer-facing team and their leaders.
How could they observe rapport in action?
How would they assess whether the team member has built rapport?
How would a leader coach to this?
What change in behaviour would they expect to see?
Aspirational statements, dressed up as behaviours, don't provide the clarity that enables effective coaching conversations and self-directed learning,
What does work
Micro-behaviours provide leaders and team members with certainty on exactly what needs doing immediately, so they can take small steps towards bringing an aspiration like building rapport to life.
Skill - Build Rapport
Intent: To make the customer feel valued
| Micro-behaviour | Example |
| Use customer's name | "Thank you, is it ok if I call you Mike?" |
| Seek to engage | "Wow, a trip overseas, where are you going?" |
| Acknowledge customer effort | "You have certainly done your research before calling us." |
| Acknowledge relationship | "Wow, I can see you’ve been a member with us for over 10 years." |
Show me the money data
Having assessed over 70,000 customer-facing and leadership conversations through our Behavioural Analytics team, GRIST has unmatched data-driven insight into the correlation between specific sales and leadership micro-behaviours and successful sales, customer and coaching outcomes.
Read the case study: The missing piece of the puzzle