In my pursuit of meaningful information to help us work better and live better, I have found a brilliant framework developed from some very smart people.
The brilliance of it is that it has taken thousands of studies into human behaviour, and boiled them down to a simple easily applied framework, to achieve any behaviour you may want to adopt. Or, eliminate!
And so I’ve ‘translated’ this for your use in our world of events. To both create more influence on people in your events, and in helping create more influential event professionals.
I shared some of my Playbook on this in workshops at the inspiring ‘Eventing the Future Conference’ last week. And as it was embraced by many talented and motivated people that attended, so I thought I should also share it with motivated and talented people like you
“Very informative and soul searching” – Cat K.
“Loved it… so much to take back to my team and my family too :)” – Simone P.
“Very thought provoking session. Going to be thinking about this all night!” – Rebecca T.
…
We had a lot of fun, and some great outcomes, and while I won’t try and replicate that all here, I’d like to give you some ideas to run with.
What we focused on in essence was the ‘2 sides’ of events, the inspiring and challenging, both the opportunities, and realities of our world. And in recognising that there are these 2 sides, we can endeavour to stay on the right side, to be thriving and not just surviving!
The 2 sides of events.The reason for focusing on this (aside from being the conference theme), was that as we know, we all need some support to help us navigate our way through what is a unique industry to be working in.
The world of events.We know the realities of events. And the nature of our work means our challenges come in waves. So we need to keep our heads above water as much as possible during these times, and then get on the right waves to progress in the next phase. This applies whether your starting out, or at a crossroads in the industry, and we need to get to where you deserve to be.
So, the 3 elements!
To summarise a clever solution to the complex challenge of influencing human behaviour, essentially what my clever friends have found, is that ANY behaviour comes down to 3 key elements.
Your capability to do it
Your motivation to do it
Your opportunity to do it
And if you think about it, whether it’s getting your kids to clean their teeth, running a marathon, or being great at your job, if you don’t have these 3 things in sufficient measures, you will not be able to achieve what you want to do.
Start with the Why, then What, then How.
But before we looked at how to change our behaviour, we talked about the layers of behaviour change, which in short, requires us to be aligned at our core, with our self-concepts and beliefs, and to our wider goals, and then, between that, to have the systems in place in enable us to achieve that.
“You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems”
– James Clear (who offers a lot of great thinking around this).
It’s all potentially complex, but in essence all very true. Your core identify shapes what you will (or wont) do, our goals provide an outcome as a focal point, and our systems will determine whether we get there.
So, the workshop then stepped through these 3 elements, towards the goals we had set. Specifically addressing this in the context of our lives as event professionals.
We won’t go through it all here, but you may find the tasks below a useful exercise help keep you moving in the right direction. QUESTION 1. Can you? The influence of capability
In the session we focused on our capabilities in relation to our relationship with time, as our capability to manage our time is such a critical variable in our world’s today. So have a look at the Four Burners theory, to see where you want to be investing your valuable energy. This is always a good place to start, to set yourself up to succeed, in the areas you need to.
Where do you want to be investing your time and energy for the next few months?
QUESTION 2. Could you? The influence of opportunity
Given no amount of motivation can overcome a lack of opportunity, we addressed the influence of the places and the people around us, to ensure we have the people and the things we need in our lives to achieve these goals. It is always critical to understand how the places we operate in are an immense force determining our behaviour. Likewise the people around us allow us (or prevent us) to do the things that we do (and don’t) want to do.
Who are the people you need around you, in each of the important parts of your life?
Thinking about the people you need around you (more, or less), is a valuable exercise.
QUESTION 3. Will You? The influence of motivation
We culminated our session by looking at our motivation, and the influence of both our automatic and deliberate thinking, setting some critical habits, and how we can fight those annoying forces of The Resistance, overcoming the ‘valley of disappointment’, imposter syndromes and his old mate procrastination.
Think about what is holding you back. It may be the very thing you are resisting is the most important thing you should be doing?
Being accountable to change
And then what we did, to honour the time we had invested, a was to write it down, and sent ourselves a note. Reflection and action are essential to making progress happen, so I am sure this will be our most influential exercise. Mine just came through the mail today, and it’s been a nice little reminder to reflect on what we learn, and put it into action!
We had a lot of fun, lots of energy and meaningful outcomes, and I hope this gives you some meaningful information. To find the capability, opportunity and the motivation to achieve what you want to do.
“This was fantastic!! Really great tips & thought process! Will definitely use this! Thanks Andrew!! – Mellissa S.
“Great session Andrew, great tools to achieve goals” – Jen B.
If this sounds like something you would like to explore, please drop me a line and let’s chat!