An apple a day keeps the doctor away, right? There’s a reason why adages like these become stuck in our heads. The power of habit is a spectacular thing. From childhood, we are taught structure: we get up, we get dressed, we brush our teeth, we brush our hair, we eat breakfast, etc. Somewhere along the line, certain habits fall out of line and we let things go. Luckily for us, time has passed and we are again, utilizing the power of habit to benefit our businesses. Here’s how:
Habits bring your team together
In the digital world it’s easy for people to become caught up in their role within a company. They do their work and do it well, but when it comes to working with other departments, team members may begin to fall short as they delve into their own projects. Incorporating habits for workflows between departments can help things move more steadily.
We recommend implementing the use of the same software of apps across the company. For example, if the marketing team uses one application to keep all of its information, it’s best that the other teams do the same. If everyone in the company has the same basic process of doing things, it’s easy to keep things streamlined.
Habits form consistency and expectation
When you instill habits into your team’s day-to-day, a consistency forms. And with that consistency, comes expectation. Not only is this a breath of friend air for your team members themselves, who come to expect a specific efficiency from a well-oiled machine; your customers find knowing what they can expect comforting and authoritative.
If you meet on Monday, don’t meet on Wednesday the following week. We understand that people have scheduling conflicts but in order to stay organized it’s a good idea to implement habits in all areas of your business. If you meet on Mondays, stick to Mondays; if you correspond with clients via email, don’t all of the sudden switch to phone.
Habits allow for more grace in an emergency
We often think of our day-to-day routines as banal. But that idea stops when an unfamiliar situation arises and we don’t know where to go from there. When implementing habits for your business, keep in mind that you need a plan for when things don’t go according to plan, too. Who is the go-to person is each department if something goes wrong? What is the default process of communicating with clients under specific situations? If you know that it could occur in your industry (such as a PR emergency, or a technical mishap), prepare for it by setting up habits. Of course, it’s difficult to make a process that is intended only for specific situations a habit, and so we recommend routinely reviewing this process with your team.
Habits allow for change
While habits allow for consistency and expectation, they also provide a great way to demonstrate growth and what may need to change. If you and your team decide that something in your workflow needs to change, clean-cut habits make it easy to determine which step in a process may be best to start with.
How else can habits help?
We are working in a data driven world and so we like to see how our actions cause their effects. Habits allow us to do that. They allow us to explore what we’re doing well, what we can do better, and how we may be able to implement change. Are there habits your team keeps to maintain efficiency? Feel free to let us know on our Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
