When working as leader you often work with changes and leading changes, it could be small or big change. To have knowledge in group dynamics and social psychology is always useful so I am going to introduce an old but still interesting idea created by Kurt Lewin, it called for Lewin´s equation
Kurt Lewin is a famous psychologist and i pioneer in modern social and organizational psychology and one of the first to study group dynamic and organizational development.
B – ƒ(P, E)
This is obvious not a “real” mathematical formula but more of a psychological equation of behaviors. Even if its was new and revolutionary in the 1930s, I think it still have many great thoughts that modern leaders can learn from.
B – ƒ(P, E) where:
B = Behavior
P = Person
E = Environment
This means that a behavior is the function of a person in a specific environment. This may sound obvious but to often we are locked in a internal battle where we don´t understand how to progress and reach our goals.
And if you are working with changes in a organization its important to realize that you can not change a person´s behavior, however you can try to change the environment where the person are. Every human being are capably of adaption, its a survival skill so I think you should focus on the environment if you want to change behaviors.
What I am trying to do is, not to say to my employs, that they need to changes because of this and that. I rather explain why something is going to happens and then try to give them the support, tools and information they need to adapt by them self.
This is also one of mangers most important tasks, make sure that you have the right person (P) for the job (E). As a manager you have to put the right person on the right job, otherwise you will not get the result you desire. If you want to make sure to get the most out of your employees you need to know their skills, needs, interest etc. If you know that about your employs, you then can focus on putting the right person for the job.
I like football “soccer” and usually compare football teams with business teams. Some football players can be superstars (B) in one team (E), then they decides to swap team (E) for new challenges or more money:), anyway its not to rare that their performance (B) drops drastic.
Another football metaphor is that you as a coach need to put the right player (P) at the right position (E). You don´t let the keeper play as a midfielder or the top scorer as central defender. The all need to know how the team are supposed to play and off course help each other on the pitch.
My point is that you are part of something bigger and your performance and behaviors is dependent of the situation you are in.
So, transform the environment and not the people directly and make sure that you have the right person for the job.
Kurt Lewin – Wikipedia
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