Thanks to Kelly Mathison, also a Dealer Institute trainer, for asking this question – Can Old Dogs Learn New Tricks? Every dealership with whom I’ve interacted confronts this question. Keep reading.
An old joke — How many psychologists are required to change a dead light bulb? See the answer inserted at the end of the next paragraph.
Habit strength creates the challenge. Neuroscience tells us the strength of a habit is determined by the wraps of a myelin sheath around neurons involved in the neurological highway supporting the behavior every time a behavior is used. So, let’s take a supervisor who has been working for 20, 30, 40, or more years. Their habit strength becomes so strong over time that the behaviors become automatic, and they may lack self-awareness about what they are doing. To make matters worse, they may even deny any feedback that they’re using inappropriate behavior. To finish the joke — yes, one psychologist can change a dead light bulb if it wants to be changed. If not, forget it, leave the dead light bulb where it is, and get used to the dark. The sad story is, if that dead light bulb was a person and got overlooked for a promotion or, worse yet, fired, they’re going to point fingers instead of deciding to accept responsibility for their behavior.
Another sad story is that an old dog (i.e., an animal) can learn a new behavior to get a “treat” faster than people can change their behaviors. Dogs don’t have human cognitive potential, so they respond to rewards faster than humans.
When working with people, we must remember that our interpersonal skills are learned. That is, a positive consequence encourages us to continue using the behavior, or the behavior helps us avoid an unpleasant consequence.
To make matters more complicated is the person’s level of self-awareness. Optimally, the person is acutely aware of their behaviors.
If so, that provides the promise of change. Unfortunately, there are many instances in which the person is unaware and completely denies behaving in the manner described to them. Denying the use of inappropriate or toxic behavior is the end.
Let’s be more optimistic and say the individual is self-aware, so the next hurdle is accepting responsibility for their behavior. This sounds simple, but writing this article reminds me of two toxic supervisors. One blamed their mother, so I comically asked, “If your mother changes, would you change also?” The other individual provided a similar answer, saying that it is a genetic thing and he, therefore, can’t change. Both were fired.
Let’s continue with a degree of optimism. Successful change requires a strong push to help the other person recognize their leadership practices are detrimental to them continuing their leadership journey. As simple as it sounds, the recognition doesn’t come easy for two reasons. The individual has been deriving some benefit that has been reinforcing their behavior for years, thereby the habit strength is very strong, and it’s possible there is little to no awareness of using ineffective leadership practices. Without recognition of the need to change, there is no change.
Let’s continue to be optimistic, and the individual recognizes the need to change. The second strong energy source can result from the advantages associated with the change. Often, the advantage is to maintain their employment!
Continuing our optimistic theme, the next step is for the individual to see themselves, in their mind’s eye, using the new leadership practices. People will only do what they see themselves doing.
Now, the hardest part… changing. Every day, temptations will literally pull the individual to use the old, ineffective behaviors that need to be discarded. Unfortunately, the old behaviors can’t just be thrown away. Change requires substituting the new for the old, and that requires focused practice. If the old dog really wants to change, they need to list the target behaviors so they can readily be seen throughout the day and have strong support from those with whom they work to hold them accountable for using the new leadership practices. Soliciting this support may be challenging because, by this time, employees want to see the person gone.
Continuing the optimism, the last step the old dog must take is receiving a reward for using new behaviors. That, too, is more challenging than giving a treat to an animal for doing what you want the animal to do. The person in question must track their own success and pat themselves on the back in recognition of their success. Positive recognition from co-workers is a crucial step and may be challenging for the previously cited reason.
I wish I could be more assuring that successful change occurs, but as I tried to illustrate, many hurdles must be overcome to shed the old and strengthen the habit of the new.
LARRY COLE, PH.D., is a lead trainer for and consultant to the North American Equipment Dealers Association’s Dealer Institute. He provides onsite training and public courses to improve business leadership effectiveness and internal and external customer service. Please send questions and/or comments to Larry at teammax100@gmail.com
