Values guide work behaviors and habits.Selecting values specific to the organization, matching these values with the values of the individual and value promotion efforts constitute the roadmap for human change.It is an individual and social expectation that change is positive and beneficial.This article focuses on habits among the factors that play a role in activating change.
It is an individual and societal expectation that change will be positive and beneficial. In this article, we will focus on habits as one of the factors that play a role in mobilizing change. However, we cannot pass without mentioning the values and personality that surround it. Personality is a set of innate traits, shaped in the early years of life, and is a fairly fixed set of emotions and behaviors. Values determine the attitude towards life for individuals as well as for organizations. They are invisible to the eye, but they reflect the culture and climate of the individual and the community. Crises are the times when values are at their sharpest. Organizational strategies are based on values. All decisions are based on values. Habit draws its strength from and supports these two. It defines almost automatic behaviors and has an important place in the routine of life.
Habits are patterns that make life easier in all areas of life and save mental energy. Experience overlaps to form patterns embedded in a specific region of the brain (the basal ganglia)1. The process that automates a series of actions and turns them into a routine is the accumulated data from these repetitions. Once these encodings are established, the search for new pathways and re-decision-making in repetitive situations disappears. The cells that make up the gray matter of the brain relax and deactivate. Experience means that the information needed for a task is highly stereotyped, i.e. stored in the basal ganglia. The command to do something different is then a challenging stimulus for the brain that requires energy and motivation. Unless the brain consciously struggles and makes a new effort, the old pattern repeats itself automatically.
Do Habits Change?
If we pay a little attention, we can see that many habits are part of our lives every day. Are these habits that we want to maintain or abandon? The answer to this question leads us to the question of “how to succeed if one wants to change habits”. Habits can be reinforced or changed by creating a “want/desire” for stimulus and reward.
It can take time for the brain to decide when to transfer behavior into a controlled habit. The indispensable triadic pattern of a habitual pattern is the stimulus, the routine (an action that is safe to repeat) and the rewardachieved through this routine. The leading pair here is the stimulus and the reward2. If the stimulus, which is the initiator, and the reward to be obtained as a result are not liked, the habit will not form. The stimulus that triggers the habit and the resulting reward are shaped by individual and social preferences. The “reward” that provides a sense of satisfaction, happiness and meaning may be different for individuals. For some, feeling that they are good at a job, for others the meaning they attribute to their work, for others the group they are in is the reward.
It takes energy and motivation for the brain to form a new habit or behavior. Personality traits, values, some competencies and the social environment help to release this energy easily, while others make it difficult to generate and focus energy. By getting to know oneself, a person can define what they expect and what they are looking for in their work. This isa period of discovery. The person who finds the meaningful connection between his/her work and himself/herself moves into the attachment period. When habits are brought to a level that ensures endorphin discharge, it creates an attachment or even addiction that is difficult to give up. The person directs his/her cognitive, emotional and physical powers towards work. He expresses himself through what he does and what he achieves. Attachment allows the work to be integrated with life and the person to express themselves through their work. As these individuals reach satisfaction, they enter a state of flow. Flow state is the state of being at the peak in terms of satisfaction by experiencing cognitive and emotional integration with work.
Adopting new habits for change is the dynamic of today’s business life. Change managers today question what the new routine will look like. This is the unblocking of brain gray matter activity. The search for the new stimulus and reward has begun. Innovative culture is the product of this search. This opens the doors to creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation. For entrepreneurship and innovation, when stimulus and reward are intertwined, a strong expectation, a fierce desire emerges. The genius manager is the one who discovers what the customer wants or can make him want. If this discovery happens, innovative work supports it.
Conclusion
Values guide work behaviors and habits. Selecting values specific to the organization, matching these values with the values of the individual and value promotion activities constitute the road map for human change. Habit patterns are expected to improve human health and productivity in terms of private life / work life.
Sources:
Neal, D. T., Wood, W., Quinn, J. M. Habits-A repeat performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2006, 15:4, 198-202.
Yin, H. H., Knowlton, B . J. The role of the basal ganglia in habit formation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2006, 7: 464-476.
Prof. Dr. Zuhal Baltaş
Article: https://kaynakbaltas.com/inovasyon/aliskanliklar-ve-degisim/
