Staff Development Essentials Issue 12

If you’ve ever resolved to exercise more, eat less, start flossing, or stop smoking…

And if you’ve ever found yourself a month (or honestly, a week) later having failed…

One thing may explain that past failure and guarantee your future success: a keystone habit.

In his great book, The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg introduced the idea of keystone habits—things that trigger other desired behaviors. Keystone habits have an application in our personal lives but (less obviously) they also have a powerful application in our organizations. After all, every initiative, reorg, and new idea is really an attempt to reset our collective habits.

A few years ago,

Andy led his leadership team and then our entire staff through a discussion of our organizational keystone habits. What behavior(s) would trigger us to live up to our mission and vision? And are there keystone habits we may not have noticed that are sabotaging our success?

It’s a discussion you should have too. At work and at home. Here’s a video, a podcast, and a handout to get you started.