How many times have you wanted to change and couldn’t do it? New Year’s resolutions illustrate the difficulty of change. It is common that at New Year’s Eve dinner, in front of the family, we commit ourselves to something (lose weight, exercise, quit smoking, etc.). Gyms understand human psychology, they know that the first days of the year, with the excitement of resolutions, we are going to start with exercise and they charge the full annuity. As the weeks of the year progress, priorities change, laziness increases and many of us drop out.
If it is difficult to change on a personal level, it is more difficult to provoke it on an organizational level. It requires modifying procedures, changing routines, breaking bureaucracies, constantly motivating our people, and maintaining momentum until change is part of a new culture.
Measurement is a trigger for change. Measurements focus attention and direct behaviors. They also clarify expectations, allow people to observe their evolution, show the efficiency with which resources are used and help to carry out a more objective evaluation. That is why it is said that only what is measured is achieved.
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In an article published in this same medium in 2018, my colleague Juan Romero McCarthy and I proposed, to achieve the claims, that a meter be EPIC. For this we develop the following acronym: ANDntendible, Phard, Impartial, Cconsistent and ORportuno (Forbes, August 27, 2018).
Having implemented epic metrics across multiple companies, I came to the conclusion that to effect change requires more than just measurement. The idea arises from observing the addiction caused by social networks and some video games. How to change those negative habits for virtues? Could we cause addiction in our collaborators, but to fulfill their responsibilities and to achieve the organizational objectives?
The excessive use of social networks and, especially, the one that “likes” our publications causes pleasant sensations. It makes us say: How good I feel! Video games, meanwhile, are addictive, among other things, because they give you short-term rewards. In both cases dopamine is released that makes us feel comfortable.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a chemical that transmits information between neurons in our brain. Dopamine is especially important for the body’s motor function and is involved in multiple brain activities that influence learning, memory, motivation, sleep, mood, and attention. Dopamine promotes pleasant sensations. Dopamine secretion occurs before pleasant stimuli and, therefore, spurs a person to seek those seductive and enjoyable activities. That is, it induces the repetition of the behaviors that generated pleasure.
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Dopamine is the culprit of some addictions, but used well it can work in our favor.
This chemical is triggered both when you take the first step towards a goal, and when you meet it. Therefore, the best way to increase dopamine is to implement short-term goals and measure them effectively. Also by dividing those objectives that are longer term into small goals and establishing clear and visible indicators that encourage their fulfillment.
John Kotter proposes a series of steps to lead change in an organization. First establish a sense of urgency and the need for change. Second, create a group of relevant people for the change. Third, develop a vision to generate change and a strategy to achieve it. Fourth, communicate the vision and strategy, which is achieved with measurement. The indicators allow to translate the strategy and create an effective communication mechanism: a common language in which understanding is promoted and not blame.
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Kotter’s fifth step is to empower people to act according to the vision and strategy; the sixth, generate short-term achievements. For this, we require dopamine. This will keep the effort going, generating even more changes, until the new culture is institutionalized.
In order to change we need to have focus and alignment, we must consider those factors in which we cannot fail. Then, develop an organizational culture in which measurement is important and that these measurements provoke the dopamine necessary for employees to become addicted to meeting their goals.
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Antonio Casanueva Fernández, Professor and Director of IPADE Business School, Guadalajara headquarters. *
The opinions expressed are solely the responsibility of their authors and are completely independent of the position and editorial line of Forbes Mexico.