Make it obvious

James Clear crafted a very efficient framework for building good habits and breaking bad habits. In this 4-part series, we will focus mainly on the good-habits section.

To be honest, there is nothing called bad habits. We just have effective habits which serve us in times of need. These habits satisfy some needs of our brain. However, the cost of habit is what differentiates them. For example, the cost of having junk food surfaces much later in life but gives good pleasure in the immediate present. On the other hand, the cost of having a 10 min exercise routine is immediate strain and hard work which gives satisfying results in future. The placement of inputs and outputs defines what kind of a habit is.

The same applies in the context of building a listening organization. An organization that listens to its people daily is a listening organization whereas someone who listens annually is also a listening organization. The differentiating factor is the placement of Inputs and Outputs on the timeline.

The very first rule of building a good habit is “Making it obvious”.

Remember the “Airtel” phone ringtone in the “3 idiots” movie climax segment? Or 30 mins Pizza joke from Priyadarshan’s Phir Hera Pheri?

Anything that goes into the subconscious brain becomes a habit. The entertainment industry uses the art called subtle marketing. The ads or punch lines of brands are planted into the movie script and that gets embedded into our subconscious brain directly. Once a brand name goes into the subconscious, the customer or user will go to the brand without even thinking (this is one of the efficient marketing techniques and many techniques like this are deployed to get significant outcomes).

After knowing this, I would read “Making something obvious” as “Embed something into the subconscious”. In the context of workplace culture, anything that is practised for a month or so gets embedded into the subconscious. Organizations generally launch policies on probation and during this time, evaluation and assessment of policies happen consciously. Once approved, the policy becomes part of the rule book. Similarly, organizations that wish to listen to their people can make systems and processes which promote speaking.

To make something obvious, we need to forget it from consciousness and feed it into sub-consciousness

What is a listening-first workplace culture? Whenever an employee wants to share something, the employee should be able to speak loudly about it. The thoughts are not bottled up or get lost in covert gossip channels. This can be achieved by some traditional options like doing a daily 10 min connect with the entire team or deploying real-time listening solutions like Lissen.io

To ingrain a listening culture, the listening has to happen at the “ Moment of truth”, when the “ transaction” happens and when the “ impact is highest”. Certainly, this cannot be achieved through annual employee surveys. To capture employee thoughts in real-time requires setting high-speed bus kind of systems which can be used easily by the employee and which relays the captured information to business leaders in an effective manner.

Just setting up continuous feedback systems won’t be all that has to be done to create a listening-first culture. There’s more to this which we will cover in the next part. Until then….

Note: Views expressed are personal.

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.