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7 Apr 2023

System vs Behaviour Led Environments

There are 4 major components, or areas of focus, within an environment, in any activity, be it social, sport or work related, and they are:

  • System: how everything links together and what the outputs/outcomes are (For instance we are a football club, we play football, we are a bank we look after people’s money, we are an I.T. department we look after I.T. etc.)
  • Resources/Tools/Components: the physical things needed so we can deliver. (People, footballs, stadiums, computers, office space etc.)
  • Process: the way things should be done to ensure desired outputs/outcomes are delivered. (Game Plans, SOP’s etc.)
  • Behaviour: setting the drivers of the behaviour we need to display to achieve what we all want to deliver. Tying us all together. (Vision, Mission, Focus, Belief and Values)

Current Picture

In most environments the system takes priority. If you were asked what job you did, you’d probably say your role, wouldn’t you? If you were asked what your company does you’d probably say the function, wouldn’t you? This starts to shine a light on how we all relate to our areas of work.

Is this wrong?

Absolutely not, it is the way everything is configured currently. We go to school we take subjects. Those subjects may align to what we want to do later in life, or they may not and we are just doing them because of a set curriculum.

We are all being aligned to system thinking the moment we go into an environment without the clear focus on purpose and driving a truly emotional connection and strong belief between those participating and those hoping to drive a performance.

Is this a bad thing?

Not directly for all, but for some of us a resounding absolutely. For those who need to feel emotional connection and believe in what they do, 100% yes. For a lot of us if we begin to see things as pointless we become disengaged and start to drift. Does that sound like something you have ever seen at school? And what does it feel like having disengaged people around us?

The sad thing is that all the individuals finding it tough to engage, indirectly can affect us all. The lack of passion, drive and positivity can drag us all down, and what’s more it can create vast levels of disengagement and disruption, not to mention the detrimental effect on growth

So what’s the answer?

Understand and accept the essential nature of believing in everything we do and creating environments facilitating high belief all of the time. Sound easy? It might not sound it, but it is when you start working at it.

The funny thing is we all believe in what we do all of the time even to the very smallest extent, we just sometimes allow the drivers to be the least motivating. For instance, “I work to survive” vs “I work to thrive”. In the simplest of contrary sentiment it already drives such a chasm of disconnect between individuals and performance. Those who work to survive almost resent the idea of working to thrive and would claim “I’m not here to enjoy work, I’m here because I have to be here”, sound familiar? The disconnect between a person in this mindset and someone looking to thrive is all too apparent, can you see that? The next space in focus is that the performance of those working to thrive is at least 100% above those simply working to survive, does that sound fair to you? You can almost feel it, can’t you? The proactivity, the keenness to find solutions rather than problems. And this all comes from a switch in focus from the idea of I’m working here to pay the bills or I’m here to build something great. This is the world of behaviour, setting a vision everyone believes in and defining the Mission, Focus, Belief and Values which build towards it.

Does this all make sense so far? If not, do reach out to team@tribe365.co

If you are happy so far, what’s the way forward?

The important thing is facilitating belief in any environment you exist in by focusing on why anything and everything you do is important, explore it with others involved, start moulding it into a shared vision. Again may sound hard, but it isn’t, and we are always heer to ping an email and ask for any free guidance.

So, hopefully now you can see how important the space of behaviour is, can you?

Is behaviour led more important than system led?

No, but it may feel that way. Right now most environments are system led so a shift in focus towards more behaviour led may feel like behaviour led is more important, so it may feel like it gains from a superior focus. But it shouldn’t, never prioritise behaviour above system and vice versa, they are both equally important. behaviour dictates proactivity, sustainability and creativity, whilst system control the consistency of things. Does that make sense?

Currently most models in organisations look like the below:

system behaviour

To understand if this is your model ask yourself if in your environment:

  • Is there a focus on data supporting the standardisation of producing quality and maintaining results as individuals, teams and an organisation?
  • Is there a focus on data supporting the positive behaviour within each individual, within teams and within the organisation as a whole?
  • Does it feel like there is equal focus on both?

This is merely a gauge of where you might be. Where do you think you are? Are you more System focused or Behaviour focused?

If you want to truly smash this, both system and behaviour is a daily focus and individuals, teams and organisations are constantly reflecting and growing at pace, keeping equal focus on both spaces. Everyone’s model should look like the below schematic and have data to support where things are all of the time, does that sound fair?

system focus or behaviour focus

Conclusion

Behaviour is often a secondary “something has gone wrong” focus in places of pressure which, let’s face it, in business is a constant. If you really want proactivity, creativity and sustainability for growth then there is no compromise to be had, the focus on behaviours is essential and a daily focus at that, can you see that?

Getting behaviours into focus isn’t hard, it can start with mood faces allowing team members to reflect on a daily basis where they feel they are and encouraging them to offload if ever in a bad space. This starts the journey of individuals taking responsibility for talking the moment things are off, of course it relies on having an environment that supports and promotes that too

Getting behaviours right can be whittled down to 5 areas of focus:

  • Belief: Does everyone believe in what we are doing?
  • Honesty: Is everyone able to offload the moment things are off?
  • Agile Structure: Does everyone believe in the way forwards? Is everyone contributing to its evolution?
  • Balance: Is everyone prioritising themselves and promoting it in each other?
  • Inclusiveness: Is everyone valuing everyone and everything around them to build the best way forwards?

At Tribe365® we have all the plug in solutions to bring behaviours into focus 24/7 without any disruption but also delivering maximum positive impact resulting in proactive, creative and sustainable teams. Do reach out to team@tribe365.co for any support, we are more than happy to give free guidance where needed.

Interested in finding out more?
Book a meeting in with the Tribe team
today on +44 (0) 1913 080 356 or at
team@tribe365.co

Written By Oliver Randall

Oliver is one of the Tribe365 ® founding members and has forged a career on finding passion in everything he does. Until the work with Tribe365 ® he never really understood it, and has found his real passion is unlocking the true passion and enjoyment in everyone around him.

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