How To Develop Habits In A Workplace Environment

Published by Algorithmic Global on February 5, 2020February 5, 2020

Habits are routines and practices that we perform automatically, allowing us to carry out essential activities such as brushing our teeth, making a cup of coffee, taking a shower, and following the same routes to work without thinking about them. 

Neuroscientists have discovered that our habit-making behaviors occur in the basal ganglia of our brain, which also plays a crucial role in the development of emotions, memories, and pattern recognition. 

Decisions, meanwhile, are made in a different part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. Our minds form habits to save us from decision fatigue, which refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Charles Duhigg wrote The Power of Habit to explain how habits work and how they can be changed. In his thorough research, he examines everything from personal routines to the habits of businesses and organizations. Duhigg introduces the “habit loop” to illustrate this concept. The habit loop consists of a cue, which triggers a routine, which then results in a reward. To change a habit, we must identify what our cues are and the reward we seek. 

 Developing keystone habits will automatically lead to multiple positive behaviors and positive effects. For instance, implementing a regular exercise routine at least three times a week is a keystone habit that triggers people to start eating healthier, increases patience, decreases stress, and contributes to a better mood and better sleep quality.

A few keystone habits businesses can implement into a workplace are driving employee engagement, and promoting employees from within the company.

Employee Engagement

Companies should make a habit of encouraging their employees to share their passion, because it will result in creating an employee to feel more passionate about their jobs, resulting in better work output.

Promote From Within: 

Creating a routine of hiring from within the organization will result in higher retention rates, employee engagement, and a stronger sense of culture and values. Finding ways to promote employees is an excellent way to make them feel valued and committed to the organization.

One major key takeaway is that businesses need to implement keystone habits in the workplace because they can’t change just one behavior. Human behavior is interconnected, so by changing the cue in a habit loop, other behaviors also shift.