Imagine, if you will, reaching for a door handle that leads into an office building and a room marked “Comfort Zone.” You attempt to turn the faded door handle and gently push the door open, but to no avail. With exponential force, you give it a second and third try only to find stronger resistance.
You peer into the small window just above the door handle and notice a large boulder pressed against the door, with the following engraving: “This is how we do things here. Why change?”
Doubt begins to creep into your mind. “This is challenging,” you tell yourself. “Should I quit, walk away from the door or persist? If I persist, how do I proceed?”
The challenge for life sciences commercial teams is that every person they encounter (i.e., leadership, direct reports and various key internal and external decision-makers) has created their own boulders, securing their respective comfort zones from others. These boulders are our biases, created by our beliefs, behaviors and habits – developed one pebble at a time.
In short, our biases, these human manifestations of our attitudes, beliefs and experiences, simplify and influence our days. They add comfort to us all, which is why we unconsciously embrace them. We all rely on our biases daily. As a result of this awareness, you decide to persist, acknowledge the challenges and brave your biases and the biases of others and once again attempt to open the door. But how?
As a life sciences professional, how will you guide and influence others who naturally want to keep their beliefs, behaviors and habits intact and secured within their respective comfort zones?
Like your biases, their biases have been created to make their lives easier. Your challenge is with the people you aim to influence, who have become comfortable with their biases and routines. That can lead them to say (or think) condescendingly, “This is how we have always done things here! Why change?”
Of course, people should form good, productive biases and habits – to recommend the contrary would be foolish and unrealistic. In fact, it is human nature to conduct our daily activities habitually. Again, it simplifies our daily decision-making. If we had to make new decisions 24/7 and were dissuaded from relying on our habits and routines in many situations, we would subject ourselves to “decision fatigue bias” due to brain overload.
Our routines also help us become experts when we have the discipline to focus on skill development habitually. Think about golfers attempting to perfect their golf swings. With consistent practice and repetition, they develop muscle memory, the ability of the body to perform a specific movement or action without conscious thought or intention. This leads to the highest level of learning mastery — unconscious competence.
According to an Association of Psychological Science study, 45% of our daily activities are habitual. Developing productive habits inevitably leads to elevated skill sets and the potential for ongoing growth and development. Thus, guiding others to action that will lead to new or altered habits is a meaningful way to influence others successfully.
There is a flip side that we must consider: Our habits can and often do lead to the development of our biases. That’s because biases often operate at an unconscious level based on, among other things, cues, daily responsibilities and a variety of motivated contexts. We can display these biases and preferences without our conscious knowledge.
Thus, creating habits is often productive and may lead to elevated skill sets. Again, your challenge is with the internal and external stakeholders you must guide and influence when their unconscious actions, biases and responses are initiated.
What do you do when they rely on their habits and biases to protect their comfort zones and respond with some version of “This is how we have always done things here! Why change?”
Biases may impact decision-making and make influencing others challenging. But we can favorably leverage biases as we engage others in coaching, teaching, selling or, frankly, in any situation where we attempt to guide and influence another. Here are two examples.
This is a psychological phenomenon where higher or lower expectations from another lead to improvement or a reduction in performance by another. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy where others’ beliefs about a person or group cause actions that lead to higher or lower performance based on those expectations.
Consider a rare disease commercial first-line leader focusing on a new hire’s transferable skills. The first-line leader helps the new hire believe they can leverage their relevant, transferable skills as they go through onboarding. As a result of the confidence bestowed, the new hire embraces the curricula with confidence and excels in training.
People grow weary of their daily decision-making obligations. They may start making good decisions, but as the day progresses and they grow sluggish, they risk making less-than-optimal decisions. They may feel overwhelmed by all the decisions they must make throughout the day.
Consider a first-line leader (or learning & development professional) with multiple virtual meetings throughout the day. They are at risk of providing poor coaching and guidance to direct reports toward the end of the busy day. They should take appropriate breaks throughout the day or schedule the last couple of direct report calls the following morning. Coaching sessions that become tense because of fatigue are harmful and challenging to overcome; missteps may include communication blunders, emotional miscalculations, forgetting the personal touch and neglecting genuineness. It is critical to consider decision fatigue bias and adjust your schedule appropriately to ensure energetic, productive coaching and learning sessions.
We’ve all attempted to walk through doors leading to someone else’s comfort zone. Think about how you have successfully removed the impediment of another’s entryway by slowly and strategically reducing their boulder to a mere pebble.
We can break down barriers with awareness, preparation, communication, creativity, perseverance and a willingness to brave our own and others’ biases.
Peter W. Carbone is founder of Mindset Effect Consulting and author of The RISE (Rare Disease) Leadership Framework and The RISE (Rare Disease) Selling Framework. Email Peter at Carbone@MindsetEffectConsulting.com or connect through linkedin.com/in/peter-w-carbone-6165464a.
