Changing Culture – What’s Your Keystone Habit?

If your business spends more time on big strategy decisions than it does on organisational habits, it might be time to – well – rethink that strategy.  In fact, learning to identify keystone habits and addressing a strategy to change habits might just make or break your business.  According to an interesting interview we read on the Harvard Business Review blog, research shows us that, “a huge amount of whether a company succeeds or fails is based not on the big strategy decisions that people make, but on the habits that emerge within the organisation.”The data found in the research on organisational habits can be applied directly to the success of a business initiative.  In that light, your success does not depend solely on the strategic decision to implement an IT solution.  Instead, it also relies on the new habits required by your staff to ensure the system is used in the way it is intended.

Here’s an example to drive this point home.  A governmental payroll department of 100 staff are tasked to implement a shared service payroll function.  These individuals are downtrodden, without significant leadership and are often referred to as the “black hole” because an enquiry that went in was often lost forever.

This staff felt unsupported and overworked with many being reduced to taking sick leave.  In turn, a business decision was made to implement a new IT system which captured data, streamlined processes, ensured accurate payment of staff and efficient turnaround of customer enquiries.  If leadership does not focus on changing the organisational habits of its staff, this new IT system will not deliver the best results possible.

So how do you identify keystone habits in your organisation and how do you change them?  First, let’s take a quick look at habits in general and then define keystone habits.  Organisational habits are not much different than the habits of individuals.  Habits have a cue (trigger), a routine (the habit itself) and a reward.  They have both physical and emotional elements.  While these smaller habits are critical to address, an organisation can change its culture more efficiently by addressing keystone habits.

A keystone habit is important because it is a habit that creates a trickle down effect and changes many other habits.  Keystone habits lead to transformational change within an organisation.  So as an organisation looking to make substantial, company-wide changes, it is important to identify and address keystone habits first.

In the second part of our blog post on changing culture by identifying our keystone habits, we will look at a real-world example of how to implement this organisational change strategy.  We will break down the steps needed to change an organisational habit and show you how to identify a keystone habit.

Until then, can you think of any business initiatives implemented by your company that would have shown more success and sustainability if you also included a strategy to support changing of organisational habits?  Please share your stories, thoughts and comments on keystone habits below.