Enable mindset changes by forcing changes to behaviors
Changing the way that we think about things is difficult. I’d hazard a guess that everyone has tried and failed at last once, even when imbued with great motivation to make a change. It’s relatively easy to decide that a change is needed, and it can even be easy to force our thoughts in a different direction for a short period of time, but somehow after a few short days or weeks we find ourselves right back where we started wondering where it all went wrong.
The entire process is frustrating. Wanting to make a change often just isn’t enough to actually make it happen, especially not in a way that really sticks over time.
Overcorrection usually has a negative connotation, but when used intentionally I believe it can be a powerful tool. One of the barriers that I’ve had personally to making mindset changes that stick is the power of habit. When we experience something that cues one of our ingrained habits, we have to find a way to fight our natural inclination to continue to do what we’ve always done. Especially for the kinds of work that we do every day, these behaviors are so deeply rooted that it should hardly be a surprise that they’re difficult to overcome.
Overcorrection is a mechanism that removes the ability to fall back on an existing mindset or set of habits that we’re trying to change. The core idea is simple: force a change to a behavior in a way that is consistent with the mindset that we’re trying to instill. While this will mean that we’re going to go too far during the period of overcorrection, it also means that we’re guaranteed to get a better feel for what it’s like to live like someone who exhibits the desired mindset.
What might this look like? It’s very simple (although it might not be easy):
- Identify the habit, mindset, or behavior that you want to change
- Define a period of time that you’re willing to commit to making the change
- Identify the actions that someone with your ideal mindset would take most of the time
- For as long as you’re willing to commit to, when confronted with the situation, take those actions every time
The final step is the overcorrection, and it’s admittedly more than you’d want to do forever. The difficult part is truly committing yourself to taking the actions you’ve identified every single time that the situation arises. There are times when it’s going to feel wrong - and it’s very possible that it is wrong in that specific situation - but staying the course allows you to learn what it feels like to be on the opposite side of the spectrum from where you naturally reside.
The types of behaviors you might want to overcorrect on depend on your role, experience level, tenure in your current position, comfort level with your peers, etc. A few motivating examples:
| Situation | Target | Overcorrection |
|---|---|---|
| A developer loves reading good documentation, but has trouble finding time to write good docs on their own systems | Become excellent at writing documentation | For the next month, spend at least 30 minutes writing documentation on every merge request that takes longer than two hours to implement |
| An engineering manager is concerned that they’re speaking too much in meetings, drowning out ideas of others | Promote collaboration and diversity of thought | For the next two weeks, never provide an opinion in a meeting until someone else has unless a question was directed specifically at you |
| A director realizes that they’re often solving problems directly in their skip-level 1-1s | Surface problems in skip-levels without subverting EMs | For the next quarter, never attempt to solve an individual’s problem in a skip-level |
In each of these situations, the overcorrection clearly isn’t ideal for an extended period of time. Not every merge request requires 30 minutes of documentation time (though some require much more!), there are certainly some questions that would make sense for the EM to answer without waiting for someone else, and the director is going to have a very hard time stopping themselves from solving very simple problems that don’t really need their EMs.
It’s the hard rule that makes the exercise worth it. Forcing the overcorrection temporarily removes your ability to fall back into your old, comfortable habits. It also forces you to think actively about the actions that you’re taking and why you’re taking them. You can’t operate on auto-pilot when you’re focused on making sure that you’re staying committed to the overcorrection. If you find that you slip up, ask yourself why, and consider whether you need to re-commit in another way.
This isn’t anything ground-breaking, but it’s one thing to read about it, and another thing entire to actually do it. Next time that you notice a mindset or behavior that you’ve adopted is holding you back, consider challenging yourself to a period of overcorrection. I hope you find yourself on the other end with a better understanding of what it means to make the change that you’re looking for.