By Alex Wray

Improvement is at the top of every organization’s agenda. Collectively, organizations spend billions of dollars and enormous amounts of time on change. Unfortunately, the return on that investment is paltry compared to what it could be.

A study by leading strategy consultancy, McKinsey & Company, showed 70 per cent of all change efforts fail¹. Further analysis revealed a theme across the majority of failures.

The Achilles’ heel of virtually every change program? Old habits.

Old Habits and New Research
Despite living in a world offering an endless stream of remedies, we fail to change because we cannot shake old habits. We literally get in our own way. Despite genuinely wanting to change, we fail. The ultimate self-sabotage was revealed in a different study around heart patients who were told to change their lifestyle to avoid, well, death. Only 10 per cent were able to override their old habits to develop new ones. If people can’t change when their very lives are on the line, what hope do we have of changing when there is far less at stake?

The good news is research into habit change is exploding. The power of habit is drawing the attention of universities such as Harvard, Yale and Duke, as well as the investment of corporations like Google, Microsoft and Proctor & Gamble. As a result, we know far more about how habits are formed—and how to break them—than we did even a decade ago.

At Wray Group, we capitalize on the science of habit change to help people make the changes that matter most. We target the control centre of habits, the mindset. We teach clients how to identify the limiting beliefs that compel them to cling to old habits. We help them create change from the inside out.

An Anecdote of Change
To illustrate how, I’ll share the story of a client who learned to change some less-than-congenial ways of dealing with co-workers—habits that earned him the nickname “Powderkeg.”

It didn’t take much to set him off. As his nickname implied, Powderkeg had a reputation for a hair-trigger temper marked by sudden outbursts of “industrial language.” He was hotheaded, in your face, intimidating—and he was proud of it. He believed his way of dealing with people was necessary for success in a tough, industrial workplace. Moreover, he wasn’t the only one who thought so. The other managers all admired him because he got results. Then, one day, everything changed.

The executives at Powderkeg’s company announced it was time for a new management style—a new culture. Instead of imposing management’s agenda from above, their strategy was now to engage employees by “collaborating” with them and “empowering” them. The game had seriously changed.

But could Powderkeg? He was in his mid-50s. He had been a good soldier, defending the interests of management for 20 long years. He had the look of the grizzled veteran that ABC Sports loves to zoom in on during double-overtime in game seven of the NHL playoffs: piercing eyes, lined and leathered face, more salt than pepper in his hair. He was one of the old dogs— and now he needed to learn some new tricks. The habits that had made Powderkeg a success looked like they could now be his undoing.

Fortunately, his employer was as committed to him as he’d been to the company. His superiors were willing to help him change to fit the new corporate culture. However, he needed more than just a few adjustments—he needed a serious behavioral makeover. That’s how we came to know Powderkeg at Wray Group.

How to Defuse a Powderkeg
You can follow Powderkeg as he embarks on his journey to habit change by downloading the full story.

Alex Wray, Ed Kwan and Alex Adams are presenting at HRMA’s 2016 Conference + Tradeshow. Their session Leading Change from the Inside Out is on April 26. For more information on these and other sessions, please visit hrma.ca/conf2016.

Alex Wray has over 25 years of experience as a trusted advisor of top teams and leaders throughout North America and globally, from Singapore to Switzerland. He is an expert at coaching and developing leaders and teams, supporting them to make the changes that matter most. Whether he is supporting the execution of global strategies, unifying silos, or enhancing collaboration, his belief is the same: leaders are best developed, real-time, while delivering business results.

1. Beyond Performance: How Great Organizations Build Ultimate Competitive Advantage, Scott Keller, Colin Price, 2011