PDF Summary:Leading from the Middle, by Scott Mautz

Leading a team from the middle of an organization's hierarchy requires a unique combination of skills and mindsets. In Leading from the Middle, Scott Mautz provides a roadmap for developing the capabilities crucial for effective leadership at intermediate levels.

With a focus on prioritizing others' needs and honing practical skills, this guide explores cultivating an outward-facing perspective and essential abilities like flexibility, collaboration, and strategic vision. Mautz offers strategies for navigating common mid-level challenges, leveraging your position to drive change, and shaping organizational culture.

(continued)... Mautz advocates for acknowledging the benefits that come with holding a middle position. Your team and peers can confide in you, express their concerns, and take risks, knowing you can relate to their challenges and offer support.

Recognize the influence you possess. Despite occasionally feeling devoid of power, managers consistently make numerous daily decisions that profoundly influence the organization. Acknowledge the significance of your leadership role and make decisions that carry weight.

Utilizing your pivotal role to create significant effects.

In his book, Mautz underscores the significance of leveraging your unique position as a middle manager to drive the organization ahead and to transform your perspective on the challenges linked to leadership in this tier.

Sharing knowledge and perspectives across various organizational layers and divisions.

Mautz underscores the skillfulness with which middle managers enhance the clarity, importance, and relevance of information, instead of merely passing it along.

Showcase the strengths and achievements of your team members. Champion their development by supplying essential resources, removing barriers, and passionately promoting their projects throughout every tier of the organization.

Raise the level and expand the range of the goals, strategies, and methods of senior leadership. Make certain that those in entry-level or operational roles understand how their responsibilities are connected to the overarching goals and strategic direction of the company.

Encourage the company's progress and honor its successes by promoting creativity, seeking greater efficiency, and achieving significant results.

Amplify different perspectives. Mautz suggests bringing diverse viewpoints to the table, ensuring that everyone feels heard and valued.

Serving as a catalyst for progress throughout the company.

Mautz emphasizes that those holding positions in middle management act not just as conduits but as catalysts for transformation. They proactively take steps to propel the organization ahead. Prior to initiating any measures, ensure that your motives are in sync with the goal of facilitating the right outcomes at the most opportune time and for the correct reasons. Inquiring directly helps concentrate on key assignments and ensures that your endeavors align with the wider goals set by the company.

Enhancing the capabilities and resources of your group.

Leaders who are integral to the organizational structure prioritize the development and enhancement of their team members' skills and abilities. Scott Mautz highlights the pivotal role of mid-level managers in identifying and nurturing emerging leaders, in addition to valuing the contributions of the dedicated individuals who tirelessly perform their duties away from the limelight. He also underscores the necessity for leaders to courageously address individuals falling short of performance benchmarks, pinpointing the root causes of their deficiencies and implementing tactics for nurturing and enabling their growth, as elaborated in the following section named "Empowering and Developing Your Team." Individuals in mid-level leadership roles are pivotal in fostering an organizational culture that is marked by feelings of safety, dependability, and open communication.

Other Perspectives

• Middle management roles can also offer unique opportunities for growth and development that might not be as readily available in other positions, providing a broader view of the organization.
• The exhaustion associated with frequently changing roles can be mitigated by clear role definitions and effective time management strategies.
• Viewing oneself as a vital component within a dynamic whole may sometimes overshadow the need for specialization and deep expertise in a particular area.
• The unique opportunity to impact a diverse range of coworkers can also come with the challenge of spreading oneself too thin and not being able to provide adequate attention to all.
• Focusing on essential knowledge domains and delegating tasks requires a high level of trust in one's team, which may not always be present or may need to be built over time.
• Prioritizing self-care and setting boundaries, while important, can be difficult in practice due to the demanding nature of middle management roles and organizational expectations.
• Leveraging one's position to drive the organization forward assumes that middle managers have the necessary authority and resources to do so, which may not always be the case.
• Enhancing the capabilities and resources of the team is important, but it also requires support from senior management and access to resources, which may be limited.
• Identifying emerging leaders and fostering a culture of safety and open communication can be challenging in environments where there is a strong hierarchical or blame culture.

Leveraging networks to wield influence at various levels and with colleagues throughout the organization.

Exercising leadership effectively from an intermediate position within an organization requires adept management of diverse relationships and the ability to exert influence across the company's hierarchy, which includes guiding subordinates, influencing superiors, and collaborating with peers. This section explores Mautz's distinct strategies for enhancing your efficiency across these domains.

Effectively steering the direction of your superior's decisions.

Mautz underscores the importance of mid-level leaders engaging with higher-ups in a manner that not only furthers their personal career progression but also enhances the overall success of the company. He characterizes this relationship as a cooperative alliance rather than a traditional hierarchical structure.

Fostering a mutual understanding through relationship building.

Mautz outlines a systematic approach to nurturing a cooperative bond with one's higher-up, which he terms the "Sequential Guide to Enhanced Management Cooperation." He guides readers through a six-step process:

Prioritizing Innate Qualities Over Learned Behavior: Acknowledge the inherent interdependence that defines the bond between a manager and their subordinate, a relationship that brings together two individuals, each with their own imperfections. Each needs the other, and both are fallible. Recognize the truth in order to cultivate a stronger connection. Before providing guidance on fostering growth, Mautz warns about five typical errors when attempting to persuade those above in the organizational structure: seeking to curry favor instead of forming genuine relationships, excessively yielding to or unnecessarily challenging authority, prioritizing the impact on higher-ups over guiding subordinates, presuming that your superior can instinctively understand unspoken thoughts, and allowing your superior to determine your value.

Develop a thorough understanding of your manager's expectations. He introduces a set of nine questions intended to precisely determine their expectations of you, encompassing desired behaviors and principal objectives. Inquire about their vision of exemplary performance. What signifies exceptional performance? A straightforward difference frequently uncovers an unexpected divergence in expectations.

Grasping the nuances of your personal style. Adjust your methods of handling tasks to align with your supervisor's favored techniques. Reflect on their inclination to focus on tasks or interpersonal relationships when disseminating and safeguarding knowledge, making decisions, and addressing disputes while upholding a certain level of decorum. Consider their unique behavioral traits to enhance conversations and forge a more robust bond.

Forge a personal bond. Once the initial trio of steps has been accomplished and a solid base of trust has been built, the subsequent phase commences. Mautz advises creating a strategy that allows you to understand the challenges and goals of your supervisor, as well as their worries, motivations, and fundamental reasons. Foster authentic connections that transcend the mere transactional elements of your professional duties.

It is essential to first demonstrate a consistent record of exceptional performance in your present role and to manage your responsibilities with care in order to effectively navigate the dynamics of the relationship with your superior. He presents five key questions aimed at evaluating your management effectiveness, probing if you're meeting expected results and have a thorough understanding of your industry. If answering these questions in the affirmative is difficult for you, focus on improving your skills and gaining a deep comprehension of your core responsibilities before attempting to sway the decisions of higher-level management.

Support Rendered Intentionally: Once you've built a solid foundation of mutual understanding and competence, actively support your boss in meaningful ways. Mautz highlights six critical domains for your attention: enhancing information accessibility, skill enhancement through task delegation, guiding their choices, fostering an approach centered on resolving issues, championing their cause internally, and offering assistance through time consideration, anticipatory actions, and maintaining an optimistic outlook.

Disagreeing constructively and providing upward feedback

In addition to the fundamental tenets of ascending the management ladder, Mautz offers additional guidance on crucial aspects like providing valuable critiques to higher-ups and voicing disagreements in an impactful manner.

He recommends adhering to a number of important principles for constructive dissent.

Mautz recommends setting up a reciprocal understanding for open and honest feedback well in advance of any conflicts. When a conflict emerges, one should respectfully acknowledge the existing consensus with your superior while offering an alternative perspective, taking into account their authoritative role.

Begin the dialogue by setting a common goal, which aids in dispelling any doubts of ill intent associated with differing viewpoints.

Share your distinct perspective based on your personal insights, instead of framing it as an objection to the individual.

Dealing with the complexities of being accountable to several managers.

Mautz offers strategies for navigating the challenges of being accountable to several supervisors. He underscores the necessity of maintaining open communication with higher-ups to guarantee a mutual comprehension of anticipated outcomes, identify any conflicting directives or demands, and set clear boundaries to avoid burnout. Scott Mautz suggests scheduling regular discussions with senior management to talk about common objectives, any contradictory directives they may have issued, and the critical boundaries that define the scope of your role.

Encouraging the development and skills of your team members.

Mautz underscores the significance of fostering robust bonds through a foundation of trust, transparent dialogue, and shared commitment to triumph, which serves as a more effective method of steering your team than merely depending on the power inherent in your position.

Initiating conversations centered on coaching has the potential to result in transformative changes.

Mautz considers coaching an essential element for effective leadership directed towards subordinates. He recommends a methodical strategy for steering coaching discussions, known as the "Coaching Conversation Funnel." The framework offers a clearly delineated structure:

Begin by clearly defining the conversation's objective and the anticipated result. The mentee is thus empowered to focus on their personal priorities and issues, fostering a sense of harmony and comprehension with their advisor.

Middle: At this juncture, the abbreviation SIT gains significance. Make an effort to understand the unique situations and challenges of each person by carefully listening and asking in-depth questions. Eliminate any misconceptions. Help the coachee see things objectively, especially when they are presenting a one-sided perspective on a conflict. Encourage a setting in which the individual being coached can independently create strategies and develop a roadmap for progression.

Regularly highlight the significance of setting clear standards and ensuring responsibility. Direct the conversation towards tangible progress by encapsulating the key points, detailing the particular objectives that need to be met, and establishing strict timelines.

Mautz emphasizes the significance of shifting from prescribing answers to guiding a process in which coachees discover solutions independently, using a method that entices rather than dictates. He provides numerous mentoring techniques, such as delivering guidance that could dampen excitement, sparking meaningful dialogues, challenging conventional wisdom, co-creating concepts, and asking questions that encourage independence and growth.

Identifying and addressing performance gaps

To address performance gaps effectively, Mautz offers detailed advice on identifying the fundamental reasons behind employees' difficulties. He emphasizes six crucial considerations when pinpointing potential opportunities:

We usually find opportunities in areas where our strengths lie. The disadvantages often stem from an employee's strongest qualities, which can, in turn, transform into their most substantial weaknesses.

Confront the truth head-on, even if it may cause discomfort. Engage in candid conversations about the genuine matters at hand with both you and the person you're mentoring.

Determine if the performance gap stems from inadequate skills or diminished drive. Each requires different solutions.

Refrain from making quick judgments based on a single negative incident; rather, seek out consistent behaviors and acknowledge isolated events as not indicative of a regular pattern. Look for patterns and recurring issues.

Refine your viewpoint to guarantee its accuracy. Mautz suggests forming a team of specialists who can offer impartial evaluations of an individual's professional performance, which he calls a "Personal Board of Directors."

Foster a workplace where team members are comfortable revealing their weaknesses and asking for your assistance.

Establishing an environment that fosters responsibility and ongoing enhancement.

Recognizing potential for enhancement in performance is crucial, and offering helpful feedback is fundamental to promoting progress. Mautz delineates eight crucial principles to facilitate transformative feedback: offer specific insights, ensure authenticity, tailor the feedback to the context, find an equilibrium in the feedback given, deliver it at the opportune moment, personalize the feedback for the recipient, avoid common errors in giving feedback, and apply a uniform method. Scott Mautz presents the SHARES model as a systematic method for delivering comprehensive positive feedback.

Articulate the particular circumstances with language that is free from emotional bias, ensuring clarity in the description.

• Halo: Frame the conversation with empathy and sincere support, acknowledging the difficulty of receiving critical feedback.

• Articulate: Pinpoint the exact issue with performance and provide distinct examples of when the outcomes fell short of the anticipated benchmarks.

• Result: Discuss how the issue influences others, projects, or the trajectory of the employee's professional advancement.

• Demonstrate the anticipated outcome or conduct by providing a distinct instance, thus establishing unambiguous standards.

• Invite the employee to express their viewpoint, show empathy as you listen carefully, and acknowledge their dedication.

Mautz underscores the importance of leveraging brief periods when employees are particularly receptive to learning new things. He provides a catalog of nine pivotal instances where leaders can provide valuable direction, including moments of unmet expectations, subjective views of conflict, instances where top performance is lacking in critical situations, moments of failure after daring endeavors, situations where employees are unaware of the consequences of their behavior, opportunities to share unique insights or life lessons, observations of insufficient preparation or logic, opportunities to demonstrate the difference between being skilled and being outstanding, and occurrences of lost composure or instances when excuses are made rather than taking responsibility.

Shaping the perspectives of your colleagues.

Influencing peers who aren't directly reporting to you requires a different approach than leading subordinates or superiors. Mautz lays out a framework for navigating this critical dimension of influence.

Building a reputation for collaboration and earning trust.

Mautz underscores the importance of deliberately shaping a distinct reputation to effectively sway the opinions of colleagues. Colleagues are eager to understand the genuineness of your intentions and the certainty that you'll prioritize their interests alongside your own. Your team members must also have confidence in your abilities and be convinced that dedicating their time and effort while being led by you is worthwhile.

To establish such a reputation, Mautz recommends the consistent demonstration of the following attributes:

Take the initiative to provide your expertise and support, and ensure you're available to help when asked.

Demonstrating proficiency in your field of specialization. Showcase your skill and adeptness in the responsibilities you hold, which in turn cultivates trust from your peers in the guidance and contributions you offer.

Ensure that your decisions and suggestions are based on objective analysis, supported by data and rooted in reason.

Consistently advocate for your colleagues' interests, especially when they are not present to speak for themselves.

Assume responsibility for challenges; refrain from shifting blame, accusing others, or undermining colleagues. Take responsibility for the decisions you make and the subsequent actions you carry out.

During difficult periods, it's crucial to offer steadfast backing and exhibit fortitude.

Recognizing and appreciating the contributions of your colleagues: Acknowledge their hard work generously and ensure to commemorate their successes.

Demonstrating a positive outlook and high spirits. Exert a constructive influence throughout the entire company.

Embracing vulnerability: Acknowledge your errors, actively solicit guidance, and show a dedication to learning in partnership and collective effort.

Supporting colleagues in a manner that unexpectedly bolsters their achievements.

Mautz advises bolstering the cohesion of your team by genuinely honoring the achievements of your coworkers. He outlines two potent methods:

Offer genuine and constructive feedback to support your colleagues in their growth and improvement. However, Mautz emphasizes the necessity of making peers feel valued before offering critical feedback. If your feedback is ignored, they will likely seek affirmation elsewhere.

Champion your colleagues by communicating their successes and positive recognition to higher-ups. Make it clear to your peers that advocating for their interests is your priority. It significantly fortifies your relationship by showing a true dedication to their achievements.

Aligning goals and utilizing the concept of reciprocal benefit.

Mautz emphasizes the necessity of aligning your goals with those of your peers to influence them effectively. Identify shared goals, come together for a unified mission, or acknowledge mutual difficulties. Frame your requests for collaboration in a way that highlights the benefits for your peers and how a shared effort will advance their agenda as well as yours.

He also highlights the power of reciprocity: the natural human tendency to return favors. Actively and genuinely offering your help and making yourself a valuable resource creates an unspoken sense of obligation, making your peers more likely to reciprocate when you need their support.

Other Perspectives

• While leveraging networks is important, over-reliance on networking can sometimes lead to the undervaluation of individual merit and the risk of nepotism or favoritism.
• Exerting influence across the company's hierarchy is crucial, but it must be balanced with respect for established processes and protocols to avoid overstepping boundaries.
• Guiding subordinates and influencing superiors are key leadership tasks, yet it's also important to empower individuals to make decisions autonomously to foster innovation and personal growth.
• The concept of a cooperative alliance with superiors is ideal but may not always be practical in highly competitive or rigidly structured organizations.
• Building a personal bond with superiors is beneficial, but it can create perceptions of partiality or conflict of interest, especially in situations where impartiality is critical.
• Focusing on exceptional performance is important, but it should not come at the expense of work-life balance or employee well-being.
• Actively supporting superiors is recommended, but it should not lead to a diminishment of one's own career aspirations or professional development.
• Constructive dissent is valuable, but it must be managed carefully to ensure it does not inadvertently damage professional relationships or one's standing within the organization.
• Being accountable to multiple supervisors can be challenging, and the strategies suggested may not always mitigate the complexities of conflicting priorities and directives.
• Coaching and mentoring are important, but there is a risk of micromanagement or overstepping boundaries that can stifle an employee's sense of autonomy.
• Identifying performance gaps is crucial, but it's also important to recognize that not all performance issues are within an employee's control and may be systemic or organizational in nature.
• Establishing an environment of ongoing enhancement is key, but it must be balanced with acceptance of human limitations and the understanding that continuous improvement is not always linear.
• Influencing peers through reputation building is useful, but it should not lead to manipulative behavior or the creation of inauthentic relationships.
• Supporting colleagues to bolster their achievements is noble, but it should not result in neglecting one's own work or responsibilities.
• Aligning goals for reciprocal benefit is strategic, but it should not compromise one's values or lead to quid pro quo arrangements that could be unethical.

Pioneering transformation, cultivating teams that excel, and generating significant outcomes.

This section of the book explores Mautz's tactics for catalyzing change within a company, nurturing teams that deliver outstanding outcomes, and amplifying the impact you have as a leader at the mid-tier level.

Driving transformations within an organization.

Mautz recognizes the challenging fact that more than 70% of change-driven efforts do not succeed in reaching their intended objectives. He attributes the common occurrence of failure to a prevalent neglect in managing the intricacies of how people react to alterations. He outlines eight key principles that form the foundation for effectively guiding change:

1. Employees often experience a range of feelings when encountering change, usually transitioning through stages such as profound dissatisfaction, opposition, hesitant compliance, development, adaptation, and finally, embracing the new circumstances completely. Leaders skilled in facilitating change excel at offering assistance and steering their team through the diverse feelings that come with these shifts.

2. Navigating through change successfully goes beyond a simple process; it embodies a voyage. Transformation ought to be seen as an evolution toward a better condition, rather than merely a series of events to endure.

3. The unease stems from the transition process rather than the change itself. Guide team members as they transition from conventional methods to more innovative strategies.

4. To accelerate progress in the long run, it's essential to provide employees with sufficient time to adjust and establish new routines.

5. History has always encompassed change. Employees' perceptions of change are shaped by their previous experiences with similar transformations.

6. Essential transformation stems from the modification of existing practices; acknowledging and preparing for this challenge is vital.

7. Effective transformation necessitates the support of influential champions. Mid-level managers must authentically demonstrate the changes they endorse for their employees to take notice.

8. Change that yields significant results is accomplished by gradually introducing it in phases. Navigating through the complexities of change requires a systematic approach that progresses through specific phases.

Cultivating a deep commitment to the intended change.

Scott Mautz presents a structure known as EMC² for overseeing transitions, which encapsulates the concepts of Evoke, Move, and Create, with the 'squared' signifying the heightened commitment necessary for forming new habits. The book outlines a methodical strategy that includes three separate stages to guarantee the successful implementation of changes. Before initiating the three stages, Mautz emphasizes the necessity of conducting an evaluation to determine readiness for change, which involves:

Understand the critical components that need to be transformed, along with the underlying motivations for such transformations, and how these modifications will benefit the organization. Assess the readiness of the group for change by considering their skills, willingness, and the resources at their disposal. Involving stakeholders: Gather feedback from individuals who will be affected by the change. Forming a group dedicated to beginning transformations. Gather a team of key leaders committed to endorsing and facilitating the change.

Guiding team members through the emotional challenges they face during adaptation.

After carefully evaluating and readying for the transition, move forward with the implementation of the EMC2 Change Model.

Initiate the change process by fostering enthusiasm for the new direction. It's crucial at this point to evolve beyond mere acknowledgment of change and cultivate a setting where the individuals responsible for implementation are genuinely enthusiastic about it. Scott Mautz describes specific strategies to achieve this:

Engage in open dialogue about the current situation and contrast it with a compelling vision of the future that could materialize once the changes take effect. Cultivate elements that will persist to nurture a sense of stability.

Mautz underscores the importance of transparently conveying to team members the potential personal consequences, whether favorable or unfavorable, that may arise from the change.

Foster an atmosphere of keen excitement. This involves nurturing a profound passion for the results that emerge from transformation. Introduce the transformation progressively, setting distinct objectives for each phase, and consistently emphasize the transformation's benefits by sharing stories of past successful changes. He also warns of common barriers that diminish enthusiasm, such as skepticism about the reasons for transformation, insufficient dissemination of the change strategy, the circulation of false information, fear, and the enduring structures and processes that oppose the change. He then details specific strategies to overcome these obstacles, such as providing a clear justification for change that highlights direct benefits for employees, consistently communicating the strategic vision, addressing misinformation head-on, and quickly eliminating any structures that hinder progress.

Progress to the second phase, which involves guiding employees towards a state of dedication.

The subsequent phase involves cultivating a strong commitment within the team members after you've charged them with enthusiasm. Motivate individuals to transition from passive observers to active participants who contribute significantly to the journey of transformation. Scott Mautz outlines numerous strategies to achieve the desired outcomes.

Equip your team with the essential understanding and resources to manage transitions successfully. Mautz advises creating a framework that clearly outlines the required behaviors, identifies the expected skills and competencies, and highlights the educational support and resources provided to encourage development.

Employ the approach referred to as the Circles of Commitment. : Foster commitment by cultivating three key dynamics: Empowerment in the workplace involves encouraging staff to embrace risk-taking and learning without the threat of repercussions, while involvement ensures they feel heard and possess a stake, and accountability involves establishing clear responsibilities and the anticipated outcomes for which they will be held responsible.

Employees' previous encounters with transformation influence their views on present initiatives. Address individual concerns by having personal conversations, discerning their root causes, and customizing your strategy to fit the particular situation.

Mautz delves into the common barriers to commitment, including the absence of advocates for change and the existence of individuals who resist it. He underscores the necessity of addressing these difficulties by acknowledging staff fatigue, consistently commending and encouraging actions that support transformation, promptly removing barriers to transformation, and precisely assessing the capacity of employees to manage their existing duties alongside the fresh challenges introduced by change.

Establishing and consistently upholding novel procedures

The fundamental goal of change management is to create new patterns of behavior. Change won't stick if employees don't alter their behaviors and routines. Mautz provides guidance on helping employees establish new routines and introduces strategies to sustain the change.

Establish the third phase by forming fresh routines.

The current stage emphasizes the necessity of establishing regular routines to begin transformation. The beginning stage focused on inspiring employees and equipping them with essential resources, while the current phase emphasizes sparking action and maintaining momentum.

Follow the rules that dictate the alteration of traditional behaviors. Mautz outlines four essential elements necessary for forming new habits: a clear understanding of the required actions, highlighting their benefits, the ease of integrating them into everyday life, and the assurance that the journey towards these habits is enjoyable and rewarding. He also suggests adopting strategies that actively oppose these specific detrimental conditions to break free from established negative behavioral patterns.

Other Perspectives

• Employees' range of feelings during change might not always follow a predictable path, and some individuals may not experience all the stages outlined.
• Change being a journey towards a better condition assumes that all change is positive, which may not always be the case.
• The assertion that unease comes from the transition process rather than the change itself may oversimplify the complex emotions and resistance that can arise from the change itself.
• Providing employees with time to adjust is important, but too much time could potentially lead to stagnation or a loss of urgency.
• Past experiences with change do shape perceptions, but this doesn't account for new employees with no history in the organization or industry.
• The idea that transformation requires modifying existing practices may not always be applicable; sometimes entirely new practices need to be created.
• The necessity of support from influential champions could lead to over-reliance on certain individuals, potentially creating bottlenecks or single points of failure.
• Introducing change in phases is a sound approach, but it might not be suitable for all types of change, especially those requiring swift action.
• The EMC² structure, while comprehensive, may not fit all organizational cultures or types of changes.
• The evaluation before initiating change could become a bureaucratic process that delays action.
• Involving stakeholders is crucial, but it can also lead to decision paralysis if not managed effectively.
• Forming a team of key leaders committed to change assumes that all necessary leaders are willing and able to drive change, which may not always be the case.
• Initiating change by fostering enthusiasm might overlook the need for critical analysis and healthy skepticism.
• Open dialogue about the current situation and future vision assumes that all team members are willing and able to engage in such discussions, which may not be true for everyone.
• Transparently conveying potential personal consequences of change could lead to fear and increased resistance if not handled delicately.
• Overcoming barriers to enthusiasm does not guarantee that the underlying issues causing those barriers are resolved.
• Guiding employees towards a state of dedication may not address deeper organizational issues that inhibit commitment.
• Equipping the team with essential understanding and resources assumes that the resources are available and that understanding can be easily transferred.
• The Circles of Commitment approach may not resonate with all employees, especially those who are more individualistic in nature.
• Addressing individual concerns and customizing strategies could lead to inconsistent application of change principles.
• Overcoming barriers to commitment might not be possible if the barriers are systemic and deeply rooted in the organization.
• Establishing new routines to sustain change assumes that the new routines are inherently better and will be embraced over time.
• The rules for altering traditional behaviors may not take into account cultural or individual differences in how people form habits.
• Highlighting benefits of required actions assumes that these benefits are clear and agreed upon by all stakeholders.
• Ensuring ease of integrating new habits into everyday life may not consider the complexity of the changes or the varying capacities of employees to adapt.
• Making the journey towards new habits enjoyable and rewarding may not be feasible in all contexts, especially in situations involving difficult or painful changes.