Unlock Behavior, Unleash Profits: Developing Leadership Behavior That Drives Profitability in Your Organization

CHAPTER 1

Great Execution Depends on—Behavior

"I was CEO almost three years before I really had my arms around the role. I had been deluded into thinking I was doing a good job, because I was directing things. I had no role model for the ‘soft stuff’ that the CEO was supposed to do.

"The biggest challenges were much less about business and strategy—but rather about providing leadership in the right way; knowing what to get involved in and what not to; and understanding the implications of what I said and did. I grossly underestimated the importance of my own leadership behaviors, and of coaching and encouraging other leaders.

"It became clear that, if I kept doing the same stuff, I would get the same results. I needed to change, to do things differently. It’s hard to learn new behaviors when you have a big ego and a strong track record of success!

Four years ago, I would have called myself a good CEO, because back then, I didn’t know better. Today I know better—and can honestly say: I am a very good CEO.

—Chairman & CEO, Fortune 100 Company

LEADERS WANT TO BE SUCCESSFUL—not just through their own eyes, but in the eyes of others. And by definition, the success of leaders is determined by their ability to get things done through others. In the opening quote, what the leader learned that made him a very good CEO was that his behavior was the catalyst that could either switch off or turn on the right behaviors in his organization to achieve their key business goals.

If you’re like most leaders, you want to make a difference in this world and in your lifetime, and you are likely involved in a variety of important leadership roles where what you do and say really matters. I also imagine that experience has taught you the hard realities of the workplace: leaders do not always lead well. Good people do not always work hard. High performers do not always get paid more. Angry people do not always quit their jobs and go elsewhere. Great places to work may not be profitable and may not survive. And fairness seldom operates at work.

Reading this book and mastering its contents will help you understand why people do what they do—and how to unlock and dramatically change your own leadership behavior—to accelerate your progress to maximum effectiveness. This book will help demystify why others do what they do (or don’t do what they are supposed to). You will learn how to focus your own leadership behaviors and those of others.

WHY IS THIS LEADERSHIP BOOK UNIQUE?

There are thousands of leadership books out there. What makes this one different? Most leaders have never learned a practical approach to understanding why people do and say the things they do—and how to unlock their behaviors to bring out the best in everyone, which leads to superior performance—both individually and organizationally.

And in any organization, nothing can improve until people change their behavior. There is a science devoted to behavior, and that science underlies what is taught and described in this book. It will seem simple and it is easy to learn, but when put into practice it becomes a profound, life-changing approach to leadership.

THE SCIENCE OF BEHAVIOR—AND THE LINK TO RESULTS

The science of behavior relies on honest, direct, useful communication, based on objective observation. It is very much a teaching and coaching approach, in which the leader’s goal is the success of every employee. The science is easily learned and is replicable.

While many leaders may find the idea of soft people skills too squishy, the empirical nature of Behavioral Science provides the tools to cut through many soft factors, such as personality and motivation. For a so-called soft people skill, the science of behavior is really quite hard.

Part of the rigor of Behavioral Science is that it gives you an early indicator (leading indicator) of whether you are on target. When you select the right behaviors to measure, you gain the ability to predict—early—whether you will achieve results, and if not, Behavioral Science helps you correct the course.

When you implement an organizational change, you need measures of success. In business, the dominant measure is P&L, but P&L comes too late—you need the early indicator that behavioral measurement enables. The unlocking of specific behavior that is linked to end results clearly correlates to the unleashing of profits, as our company has shown in decades of client engagements.

The Science of Behavior...

explains behavior: why we do what we do, say what we say, or don’t act at all. Behavioral Science has the same properties as other natural sciences like chemistry and biology: careful observation, data collection, reliability of occurrence, replicability, measurability, laws, and rigor.

B. F. Skinner, Ph.D., has been the focal point for modern-day behavioral scientific philosophy and research, which began in the 1920s. Since his day, the science has matured through eight decades of research, and today we focus on its application in organizations.

The behavioral approach is now the most powerful and enduring way to achieve sustainable business results. Thus, we need its reliable, replicable technology for managing behavior and implementing change.

SO, WHY THE TITLE: UNLOCK BEHAVIOR, UNLEASH PROFITS?

In so many organizations, people’s behavior is locked. This means that their behavior is constrained by cultural norms and people systems. These constraints act to keep people doing their jobs at minimum acceptable levels of performance. People in such performance-constrained organizations—whether a team, a department, or the entire corporation—feel locked or stuck, and their performance is compromised as a result. Often, this minimum performance becomes acceptable and expected, and so the organization chugs along—adequately.

However, locked behavior becomes an insurmountable problem when the organization goes to implement a new strategy or to make a big change that requires people to alter how they work—to exhibit new behaviors to get new performance. These locked behaviors become big obstacles to implementation, keeping people from embracing the new way.

But there is good news: anyone who heeds the lessons in this book can become one of those great leaders who implements change well. You can help your people become completely engaged in new ways if you understand behavior, and care enough to lead your people well and coach others to