The Power of Cues

I have worked with hundreds of leaders to look at their habits, and the impact these have on teams around them.

Through this work we discuss ‘habit loops’ made up of a cue, routine and reward. Over time, I have become convinced that too often we focus on the wrong element of the habit loop – the routine.  Ask any leader to critically analyse how they performed in a meeting or carried out a complex piece of decision making, and they will jump straight to describing what they did, i.e. the routine they followed.  Working out why you ended up with the result you did requires a forensic review of the routine that was followed.  However, when a revised and improved routine has been established, the leader believes that success has been achieved, and in the future different results will follow.

The cue is the thing that triggers the new routine being followed and ensures that new commitments are carried out.

My contention is that the part of the habit loop that is most key to success is the cue.  The cue is the thing that triggers the new routine being followed and ensures that new commitments are carried out.  Aristotle said ‘we are what we repeatedly do’, he did not say ‘we are what we intend to repeatedly do!’  Even when the leader has the strongest belief that the new habit is key to success, it is easy for ‘real life’ to get in the way – a busy schedule, urgent tasks or just emergent events.  This is where the cue becomes critical – see it as a fail-safe to ensure that the new habit has a chance of becoming enacted, something that reminds you in the critical moment to ignore the path of least resistance and adopt the new routine.

To provide real examples of cues, I would suggest the place to start is often in one of five categories:

1. Time:  If you are going to commit to a daily ‘safety walk’ diarise it at the same time each morning and tell those around you that is your commitment.
2. Location:  It is a well understood theory that we assign habits to locations.  I know many C Suite Leaders who carry out predesigned patterns of behaviour to survive in their group head office!
3. Respond to Events:  Certain events for leaders can trigger dysfunctional behaviours, and through recognising this trigger they can train themselves to respond differently.
4. Stress and other Emotional States:  This is an all-too-common cue in senior leaders.  Recognising when we are in a stressed and irritable state is important to trigger whatever routine works to return to a rational state.
5. Other People:  I have worked with leaders who when surrounded by members of their team can be engaging and authentic, but become stiff and cold with their colleagues from other business units.

Like all other cues, the key is to recognise and understand this so that intentional and self-aware patterns of behaviour can be followed.  Although there are many examples of leaders who have worked this out alone or through feedback, working with a coach will significantly accelerate this process.