
Many people believe that improving your performance at work involves attending a training course such as ‘Communicate with More Impact’ and hey presto, they will change!
To really improve our performance, we need to address the whole person, not just one behavioural part of it. For example, you cannot effectively change a behaviour if you have a belief that contradicts it. If I want to be great at connecting with people but have a belief that nobody can be trusted, then I will find it very difficult to achieve my goal.
So let’s look at this ‘whole person’ that is you. You can be seen on five different but related levels. At the top is your identity, which asks the question ‘Who am I?’. This is where you determine your role in a particular context, and decide your mission. If you are unclear about your purpose in life or in a particular situation, then you will find it difficult to motivate yourself and to focus on the right action to take.
Second on the hierarchy is your belief system. Your identity and mission will naturally affect your beliefs and values. Change your identity, and you will have to change some beliefs. These beliefs and values determine what you do and how you do it. You can have beliefs which open up great opportunities for you, but you can also have beliefs which severely limit your performance and achievements.
Third on the hierarchy is your capabilities, which give you the skills and knowledge you need to achieve your purpose and fulfill your role in life. They form the level of competence you need to perform at the level you want in order to achieve your goals.
Your capabilities help to determine your actual minute-by-minute behaviour or actions that you take in order to move you towards your goal and achieve your purpose. So your behaviour is fourth on the hierarchy. It is often assumed that our behaviour is something we can change through learning or willpower, but as you can see from this holistic picture, our behaviour is determined by what we are capable of doing, which is determined by our belief system, which is determined by our sense of identity and mission. To be really effective at the level of behaviour, you want to make sure that what you are doing is in alignment with your capabilities, beliefs and values, and identity or role. When these are in alignment, then you are congruent, and you feel strong and confident.
Last but not least is the environment, the fifth level in the hierarchy. We often say ‘I was just in the right place at the right time’, which emphasizes the importance of context for success. You can have the right behaviour, skills, beliefs and sense of purpose, but if your environment does not support these higher levels, then you are unlikely to succeed. And you can have some control over your environment. This writer spent many years working in an industry that just didn’t suit his temperament or talents, and try hard as he might, he didn’t achieve success until he entered a new industry.
So pay attention to yourself. Listen to your still voice which suggests a purpose for you. Change a belief if it was useful when you were small but serves you no purpose other than to hold you back today. Look at your skills and competencies. Are they going to be the right ones or enough to help you achieve your purpose? And become conscious of your behaviour. Get out of auto pilot mode and function as if on manual pilot, with greater self awareness and attention to what you are doing all day long. And finally, make sure you are in the right place for you, or that your arrange your environment to support you rather than work against you.
For more information see Self Management & Relationship Management.
James Irvine, Team Egyii, Singapore