Identifying and Instilling Habits for High Performance in South African Organisations
Habits for high performance are the foundation of organisational excellence. American historian and philosopher Will Durant distilled two distinct ideas from Aristotle in one memorable line: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Organisational Culture Is an Amalgam of Habits
An organisation’s culture can be defined as the way we behave and do things around here. Habits can be defined as behaviours that are performed repeatedly and usually automatically. The connection between culture and habits is direct. Culture is, in essence, a series of habits adopted by an organisation. Some are adopted by design. Others emerge by default.
No organisation exists without institutional habits. The difference lies in whether those habits are deliberate or accidental. Accidental habits tend to be toxic and disabling. Deliberate habits tend to be enabling and high-performing.
Even an enabling culture must stay relevant. It must adapt at least as fast as the external environment in which it operates. The Fosway Group recently collaborated with HR, talent and learning professionals across a variety of European industries about upskilling and reskilling experiences. The findings are striking. Soft skills have become more important according to 59% of respondents. 56% said their organisation’s approach to soft skills accelerated because of the pandemic.
"The organisations that are going to thrive in the years to come are organisations whose people can anticipate and adapt to change."
Clarity and organisational self-awareness are critical departure points for high performance. Take an audit of your organisational culture. Ask: what about the way we behave and do things enables or disables high performance? What good habits do we have? What bad habits do we have? The answers provide a treasure trove of habits to work with as you build the culture and the organisation you want.
And So to Action: How to Build Habits for High Performance
“If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the trouble isn’t you; the trouble is your system.”
Clear argues persuasively that it is processes, not goals, that enable positive progress. He describes “atomic habits” as those small but powerful habits which are part of a larger system of routines – effectively, a process towards the desired results. He believes that fixating on objectives may be counter-productive; instead, by concentrating on improving the system of these atomic habits, the outcome will naturally follow.
Clear points out that there are three layers of behaviour change: Outcomes, Processes and Identity. Take customer service as an example. An Outcome would be to improve customer service ratings by 10%; a Process would be to put in place a system or routine for improved service; an Identity would be to truly believe in customer service as an organisation, not simply to pay it lip service while in practice focusing on other priorities. In an organisational context, the suggestion is that one needs all three, supported by a fourth: Action – in order to ensure lasting Habit adoption.
To build a culture or a habit of customer service, it would be important to define the full value chain of service and break it down into its component parts. And, where possible, to ‘habit stack’ by adding a new desired habit on top of an existing one. For instance, ‘after a client call (existing habit), we will email the client within 12 hours to clarify outcomes and note any follow-ups’ (new habit).
Starbucks: How Willpower Became an Organisational Habit
“A people business serving coffee with an entire business model based on fantastic customer service.”
Starbucks built that service culture by turning self-discipline into an organisational habit. An initial attempt to boost workers’ willpower through gym memberships and diet workshops failed. Starbucks realised they needed other approaches, particularly for high-pressure customer-facing scenarios involving angry or difficult customers.
Their solution was to give employees willpower habit loops, practised repeatedly until they became automatic. MIT researchers had discovered a simple neurological loop at the core of every habit. It has four parts: a cue, a craving, a routine or process and a reward. To understand habits, identify the components of the loops. Starbucks followed this habit loop process to embed willpower as a crucial habit for great customer service in every circumstance.
Another corporate example: Google founder Larry Page changed the company’s decision-making culture. His rule was simple. “Decisions should never wait for a meeting. If it’s critical that a meeting take place before a decision is made, then that meeting needs to happen right away.” Even small behavioural changes can habituate an important improvement in a company’s processes and culture.
Alcoa: How One Safety Habit Changed an Entire Organisation
The transformation of Pittsburgh-based industrial giant Alcoa by Paul O’Neill is one of the most compelling examples of habit-driven culture change in corporate history. O’Neill was appointed CEO in 1987. He identified the company’s dire safety record as a root cause of multiple systems weaknesses and performance-related issues.
“If I could disrupt the habits around one thing, it would spread throughout the entire company,” O’Neill reasoned. By instituting stringent safety measures and creating non-negotiable habits of safety excellence, the company established trust and improved communication between management, workers and unions. This became the crucial foundation for improved operations, efficiencies and all-round performance.
When O’Neill left Alcoa thirteen years later to become US Treasury Secretary, the company’s annual revenues were five times larger. Alcoa’s market capitalisation had increased by $27 billion. Institutional investors who had sold down the stock because of his approach were left to rue their decisions.
The All Blacks: Red Head and Blue Head Thinking as a High Performance Habit
After the All Blacks lost the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final, they admitted the cause was poor decision-making under pressure. Their response was to introduce a concept called Red Head and Blue Head thinking. It was designed to keep players in an optimum mental state during high-pressure match moments. They then practised the appropriate mindset response repeatedly in typical match situations.
The brilliance of the system was creating a habit of best practice decision-making and action under pressure. The All Blacks went on to win the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups. They established a win record of over 90%. That had never before been achieved in any sport anywhere in the world.
The Power of Identity in Habits for High Performance
"The identity we assume as individuals and as organisations is critical to the successful adoption of habits."
“I am a digital ninja” is far more potent for habit adoption than “I am adopting new digital communication skills.” The Kodak story reminds us that identity adoption can even have fatal consequences. Kodak, once the global leader in photography, positioned itself as a camera equipment and film processing specialist. It was slow to grasp the implications of analogue’s transformation to digital. More critically, it failed to change its identity from a company that made products to a company that made memories.
Some Habit Changes Are Easier Than Others: The Fogg Behaviour Model
It helps, when assessing the viability of adopting a new habit or dropping an old one, to check it against the Fogg Behaviour Model. Proposed habit changes should sit above the model’s Action Line, where higher motivation is matched with the relative ease of adopting the habit.
Good habits elevate every aspect of performance. Here is a practical summary of steps to catalyse the adoption of habits for high performance.
Do the audit. Get a trove of both good and bad organisational habits to work with.
Make a plan. Prioritise the few habits that will most effectively produce the desired performance change.
Recognise the four steps of habit change. Clarify each: desired identity, process, action and reward. Break these into small segments to encourage progress along the way. Changing habits is not always easy.
Increase the odds that the habit will stick:
- Stack habits where possible.
- Make the cues of good habits obvious in your environment.
- Make the habit attractive. Approval, respect and praise all qualify. Consider a mindset shift too. Instead of “we have to” for the tough habits, try “we get to” and reframe with benefits.
- Get to action and start with repetition, not perfection. Make the habit easy. Habits form based on frequency, not time. The idea that it takes 21 days to form a new habit is, well, not supported by the evidence.
- Make the habit immediately satisfying where possible. This makes it more likely to be repeated. In an organisational environment, tracking and reporting with highly visible results achieves this effectively.
- Set up a deliberate practice process to master the habit.
Beware the twin evils of procrastination and perfectionism.
Then watch as service excellence, people engagement, diversity and inclusion, or any other strategic intent, become not arbitrary acts but embedded habits in your organisation, exactly as Aristotle envisaged.
"High performance itself happens because of what you deliberately think and do on a routine basis in order to excel and serve on higher levels."
Do you want an organisational culture of customer service? Financial discipline? Resilience? Engagement? Diversity and inclusion? Authenticity? Excellence? Quality? Competitiveness? All of these?
Habit Theory provides a sound, proven means of achieving them while remaining in the flow of work, without stopping the organisational bus to change the chassis. Without being deliberate about it, the risk of accumulating difficult-to-remove bad habits is high.
"Adopting Habits for High Performance removes the risk and maximises the upside."
At LRMG, we help South African organisations build the high performance habits that sustain excellence over time. Through talent development, talent advisory and talent technology solutions, LRMG embeds the deliberate behaviours, routines and culture that produce real commercial outcomes. To find out how, contact the team.
Frequently Asked Questions: Habits for High Performance in South African Organisations
What are atomic habits and how do they apply to organisational performance?
Atomic habits, a term popularised by James Clear, are small, incremental habits that form part of a larger system of routines. They derive their power not from their individual size but from their cumulative effect when practised consistently over time. In an organisational context, atomic habits are the everyday behaviours, decision-making patterns and routines that collectively shape culture and performance. Clear argues that it is more effective to focus on improving the system of atomic habits than on pursuing goals directly. When the system is right, the outcomes follow naturally.
How does Starbucks use habit theory to build a culture of service excellence?
Starbucks discovered that customer service excellence could not be trained through knowledge alone. It required embedding willpower as a habit. Using the MIT-identified habit loop of cue, craving, routine and reward, Starbucks trained employees to respond automatically and constructively to high-pressure customer scenarios, including angry or abusive customers. By repeating the responses until they became automatic, Starbucks transformed individual willpower into an organisational habit. The result is one of the world’s most consistently recognised customer service cultures.
What is the role of identity in adopting habits for high performance?
Identity is the most powerful lever in habit adoption. James Clear identifies it as the third and deepest layer of behaviour change, below outcomes and processes. When an individual or organisation assumes an identity aligned with the desired habit, the habit becomes an expression of who they are rather than something they are trying to do. “I am a digital ninja” is more likely to produce lasting digital behaviour change than “I am trying to learn new digital skills.” For South African organisations, defining the identity that supports strategic objectives is a critical first step in any culture or habit change initiative.
How long does it take to form a new habit in an organisation?
The common claim that it takes 21 days to form a new habit is not supported by the evidence. Research suggests that habit formation depends on frequency of repetition, not time. Simple habits in stable environments can form in a few weeks. Complex habits in changing environments can take months or longer. The key factor is deliberate practice: structured, consistent repetition of the desired behaviour until it becomes automatic. For organisations, this means designing habit stacking, environmental cues, tracking systems and visible rewards that maintain momentum throughout the formation period.
How does LRMG help South African organisations build high performance habits?
LRMG helps South African organisations build habits for high performance through a combination of talent advisory, talent development and talent technology solutions. In practice, this includes culture assessments, leadership development programmes, deliberate practice frameworks, learning interventions designed to embed behaviour change and technology platforms that track and reinforce new habits at scale. With nearly three decades of experience and partnerships with over 800 organisations across Africa, LRMG knows how to turn strategic intent into embedded organisational habit. To find out more, contact the team through our contact page.
References:
- Thomas Friedman, Thank you For Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in an Age of Acceleration (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016)
- See the full story in Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit (Random House, 2012)
- A term coined by cognitive psychologist and performance expert Anders Ericsson
