Focus on the Person or the Environment?

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on the frustration some leaders can experience in operational settings. You can find it linked in the comments below.

In it I referred to Lewin’s Equation - behaviours (less of the frustrating kind) are a function of the person and their environment.

I am a believer in principle that leaders should focus their efforts on being curious and improving the environment not least because its scalable, and kinder to experiment with than people to achieve a positive outcome.

After writing that article, serendipity as it does connected me with a good friend Claire Jackson, founder of The Wee Consultancy who specialises (amongst other things) in helping people and teams to design and develop strong habits - check them out.

Now I am curious. The work she does is evidence based, she has great testimonials, and this focus on the person resonates with me when normally I am heavily in the ‘improve the environment’ camp?

At first, I thought the two approaches together were top-down, bottom up, but as with most stuff, that is a tad too simplistic. If you were introducing this as a leader, you are still exercising your authority to decide to introduce this opportunity for your people.

I think what I really like about it, is maybe it’s a micro level example of Lewin’s equation in play. Equipping people with the capability to develop the habits of their choosing, is a small version of enabling them to curate or cue their environmental (in a systemic sense) triggers for the behavioural outcome they are seeking. What’s pretty cool about what the Wee Consultancy offers is that its scalable and offers agency to your people to take control of the habits they are seeking to develop.

Thanks for making it this far, and I’d encourage you to check out Claire’s program offerings https://lnkd.in/gKDEyBen .
If you of course want to talk about your role as a leader and making sense of the things that matter, feel free to reach out directly