Why do habits matter in transforming leadership?
Why do habits matter in transforming leadership?
In times of change, the small things we do every day matter more than ever. In this edition, we explore how embedding new habits supports personal growth and organisational effectiveness. We share insights from our work in India, with Secure Meters, and the UK, with Christian Aid, along with practical resources on habit formation and governance.
Embedding new habits
Habit formation is one of the 12 ‘essentials’ in our Essentials of Transforming Leadership. In a fast-changing world, the ability to form effective habits is key to developing a sustainable future. Throughout time and across cultures, habits have been recognised as important to individual growth. For example, Aristotle, a Greek philosopher who lived over 2,000 years ago, is attributed with the saying, ‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.’
Forming habits is challenging – it’s easier said than done. For example, it can take around 66 days, on average, to change a habit. Insights about building lasting habits can be found in the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. This approach focuses on small, incremental changes that compound over time to create significant improvement.
One useful way to embed a new habit is ‘habit stacking’, which involves linking a new habit to an existing one to make it easier to remember and perform. Another idea is making habits obvious by designing your environment to cue the desired behaviour.
For those interested in exploring habit formation further, here’s a short video about the science of forming habits, and here’s an overview of Atomic Habits. You can also read the relevant section of our Essentials of Transforming Leadership here, which provides additional practical insights on how to build and sustain positive habits.
We recently facilitated a module on habits as part of a year-long leadership programme with Secure Meters in Udaipur, India. Secure Meters is a leading manufacturer of smart electricity meters and energy management solutions, committed to sustainable business practices. Below are a few photos from the module.
Board reviews
Just as individual habits influence change, the collective habits within teams and an organisation as a whole are crucial for overall effectiveness and contributing to a sustainable future. This is relevant to our facilitation of board reviews.
We are delighted to be facilitating a board review with Christian Aid. Based in London, Christian Aid is a large international NGO, operating in over 20 countries with an annual income of approximately £90 million. It works closely with Christian Aid Ireland, with whom we conducted a board review in 2023. Christian Aid is also a founding member of the global ‘ACT Alliance’ (Action by Churches Together), a coalition focused on international development.
As part of board reviews, we integrate activities to strengthen leadership and teamworking. With Christian Aid, these teamworking activities take place during group sessions involving trustees and members of the ‘Directorate’ – the organisation’s most senior staff. These activities support the three main elements of the process: desk-based research, a survey, and one-to-one interviews. If you would like to learn more about our approach, please read our Essentials of Governance, which includes our 5M model developed by Dr Peter Moore.
“Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
Best wishes,
Ian, Lorna, Kemal and Rosie