If you’re managing a team (especially one that is filled with self-directed independent contractors), you’ve probably noticed the best New Year’s intentions don’t always turn into long-term productivity gains.
This is a reality of human nature that managers and individuals have struggled with since the beginning of time.
Thanks to Facebook, we can now predict when this is going to happen. It starts about now (3rdweek of January) and bottoms-out around the first of February.
Is there anything you can do to keep this from happening? Probably not.
Once it does happen, is there a way to help individuals pick themselves up and become productive for the remainder of the year? A few researchers, psychologists, and sociologists seem to think so. I’ll share some of their ideas on this topic today.
Rachel Bachman recently summarized the research of abandoning New Year’s resolutions in the Wall Street Journal. Bachman’s focus was the fitness industry. However, since personal fitness is a self-directed activity many of the same dynamics apply to other areas of personal goal setting.
The data for the research comes from two years of Facebook postings:
Check-ins on Facebook to facilities with “gym” or “fitness” in the name drop 10% in February, according to two years of Facebook data. The decline starts as early as the third week in January, Facebook researchers say. This dip comes after a more than 50% surge from December as people chase vows to lose weight or get fit.
The same thing happens with your agents. They set goals for the New Year and then have a tough time turning these goals into a productive reality.
Understanding Habits
Reaching goals often involves doing new and different things, and doing them repetitively. This means forming new habits.
There is a lot of research on habits. The more you understand about habits, the more equipped you’ll be to help your agents be successful in forming them. Here are a couple ideas from Bachman’s article:
Predict the future. It takes about 66 days to form a habit, according to a 2009 study by researchers at University College London.
Be Specific. Setting a specific goal is more effective than vague vows to [accomplish more]. A new habit should be realistic enough to be reachable but challenging enough to be worthwhile, experts say.
Understand Trigger Points. One strategy for sticking to a workout resolution is to create plans specifying when, where and how you will take action. For example, if you think, “After I have my cup of coffee every Saturday morning, I will put on my shoes and go running.” It’s no longer you who controls the behavior, it is the situation that triggers the action.
Two years ago, we wrote a four-part series on the power of habits. If you’ve never read this series (or you just need a refresher), I’d encourage you to learn more about this important topic.
In our next WorkPuzzle, we’ll discuss three more ideas on how to get your agents over the February New Year’s resolution slump. According to the Facebook data, a productivity rebound happens in March for some people while others are destined to befriend their couches for the rest of the year.
Stay tuned to find out how to keep your agents from ending up in the second group.
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