We have long been a proponent of using continuous diminimous
awards within BBS as positive reinforcement to change safe performance into
habits. Following is a post on Aubrey Daniels International by Tim
Nolan, Ph.D., a trusted advisor to business and
organizational leaders. This post gives you some
reasons from a psychological perspective of we feel that BBS awards can be so
effective. We hope you find it
informative.
The Truth About Building Habits: No You Don't Have to Do This Forever
Many times in the course of working with clients, they hit a
point of realization about using a scientific approach to behavior on the job,
and it sometimes sounds like this: “You mean I have to do THIS for EVERY
behavior?” The short answer is yes and no. Let me explain.
The answer is yes in
that using a scientific approach to manage behavior is simply a more precise
way of doing what most leaders spend their time doing anyway. As long as
any of us are in the business of dealing with the behavior of others (which is most
people in the workplace today), then we will be doing some version of THIS. Applying behavioral tools like
pinpointing, shaping, feedback and positive reinforcement are simply more
precise and deliberate ways of doing what leaders, managers, teachers, coaches,
parents, etc., are doing in the course of their everyday interactions.
The answer is also no in
the sense that not every behavior requires the same level of attention and even
the ones that do, don’t require that attention forever. The value of pinpointing
is that it helps narrow the vast universe of behaviors that are occurring all
the time, down to a few that are mission-critical for some result or outcome we
are trying achieve.
Even when focused on just a few key behaviors, it’s not
necessary to stay focused on them forever. The intent in focusing on those
behaviors is to turn them into habits that reliably occur with little or no
additional attention from anyone. Once those habits have formed, they are
maintained by naturally occurring prompts, reminders and consequences in
the workplace or in your environment. Those behaviors become part of the
culture or just how we do things
here.
In a more technical sense, when we target a few pinpointed
behaviors we are arranging planned antecedents and consequences to initiate and
maintain a desired frequency for each behavior. As that behavior reaches a
desired, reliable frequency or specificity, other naturally occurring
antecedents and consequences begin to take hold and maintain that behavior. When
that happens we tend to say that a habit has formed.
A simple example is wearing a seatbelt while driving or riding
in a car. The first few times in a car, the act of fastening a seat belt
isn’t natural or particularly comfortable. But antecedents or prompts
(e.g., seat belt chime from car, reminders from other people), will result in
people fastening it. The feel of the belt on the body, the sound of the
click as it fastens, the termination of the chime function—are all forms of
consequences. Over time, this pattern of antecedents and consequences
becomes fairly routine, to the point where driving or riding in a car without a
seatbelt feels awkward or uncomfortable. The bottom line: seatbelt wearing
has become a habit that no longer relies on instructions, laws, public service
announcements, etc., to be maintained.
The important thing about habits is that they tend to stick with
almost no additional effort on anyone’s part. They simply become how you do things. So in that
sense the answer is no, you don’t have to do this forever. You
only have to do this until you have turned pinpoints into habits.
For more
information on AwardSafety products or services or other white papers please
contact us at awardsafetyinfo@cox.net
