In the recent blockbuster, Cinderella Man, we meet James J. Braddock as a top light heavyweight boxer, known for his powerful and predictable right hand. As the Great Depression descends on the nation, Braddock loses his savings, and injuries to his right hand force him out of the ring. On good days, Braddock finds work on the docks, where he masks his injured right hand, relying on his weaker left limb to lift and maneuver the heavy cargo. While it isn't an easy transition for him, eventually his left arm becomes stronger and when given the opportunity to box again, the addition of a more potent second weapon-the newly-conditioned left arm-carries Braddock to a title he couldn't achieve before: Heavyweight Champion of the World.

A nice story, but what does this have to do with running a business? If we look past the context of the ring, we see a simple truth about business and our day-to-day dealings with people and enterprises: Successful people and, by extension, successful organizations develop new tools and strategies over time to remain successful.

What does that mean in real terms? It means people in organizations need to do things differently to stay successful and competitive. Yet like Braddock, many leaders at all levels have achieved a high measure of success relying on certain safe and comfortable actions--and just don't realize the need to add new tools to their arsenal of skills.

Facing the Risk

Braddock, who had many people telling him to change his tactics, knew his advisors stayed safely outside the ring. It was his face, his torso, his career at stake, so he simply discounted their input. It is, after all, a risk to let go of what has worked in the past and try something new. Ironically, Braddock's reliance on the familiar and comfortable resulted in injury and loss. As leaders, our reliance on the familiar and comfortable can hold us back as well.

So what is your "right hand?" What are the familiar tactics you focus on to the exclusion of other tactics that would bring even greater success? Here are some common "rights" we encounter as we work with leaders:

Management Focus

• Managing to results, to the exclusion of behavior: Results usually lag indicators. What do we mean by this? The results we are talking about are the end results of business activity-share price, production numbers, etc. Many people use this data as their only source of information about how things are going. The danger is, by the time those numbers are in, the problem has happened and often has taken root. Results tell you what has happened, not what is happening. Behaviors, on the other hand, are current and on-going. Get the right behaviors from people in the organization going and you'll get the right results. When you identify the key impact behaviors of your workforce, you can predict and prevent many negative end results. The key, then, is to measure both the sustaining behaviors as well as end results. That way, a leader can take action before the results suffer.
  
  
• Managing to task, to the exclusion of behavior: Again, activity is easy to measure and quantify. A manager directs his sales people to make 17 sales calls per day. You can bet his sales people will make 17 calls per day (not 18, but 17), yet some sales people will effectively sell during those calls and others will just make the calls. Why? Because the behaviors engaged during the task (call) will be different. Focus on what happens during those calls, how to reinforce the desired behaviors, and how they lead to results (sales not number of calls). The result of the leader's adding a "left" to the arsenal could well be increased sales across the board-an organizational result.
  
  
• Managing with an Inside-Out Focus, rather than an Outside-In Focus:You know you need to identify and coach to the key impact behaviors, but how do you select them? Do you start with what matters to the customer (Outside) then connect that to your internal processes? Or do you start with what matters to you and the internal team (Inside) then connect that to your customer experience? Many leaders and organizations work in to out. Managing what we do is much neater and easier than managing to what the customer expects. When these organizations experience customer problems they don't know why; after all, their processes are working smoothly. Instead, start with the customer--not just the product the customer wants, but how the customer wants to engage with your organization-- then identify the key impact behaviors that make it possible to deliver that type and level of customer experience.

Fear of Embarrassment or Failure

One area we explore when we go into organizations is their experience with unsuccessful change. Many people resist developing new tactics because they may have tried something new that was unsuccessful, then experienced embarrassment or failure. Those experiences make it more difficult to take risks the next time change is needed. Try these techniques to increase your success when you launch new strategies:

• Don't just announce new tactics for your group, find engaging ways of creating energy around the change: Communication and training vehicles like games and simulations can be an engaging way of creating energy and learning. You can also use them to enable people to discover for themselves the reason for the change. While they certainly do create excitement, they are a tool most leaders don't think of or are unwilling to use. Yes, research shows games and simulations:

1. Create instant relevance because the learners apply their own experience to the situation.
2. Reduce resistance because the learners will not argue with their own data.
3. Raise commitment because the learners discover and contribute to the learning rather than simply act as information receivers.
4. Reach a larger segment of the population because they engage everyone no matter the learning style.
5. Create a positive learning environment because it engages the part of the brain that controls long-term memory.

• Don't forget that people are people: We are all weird, unique, talented, fallible (yes, all of us), flawed, noble, and self-interested to some degree. It is totally OK if my talents, weirdness, and fallibilities are different from yours. We will never be clones and machines. Keep in mind that what will get Sarah interested and motivated to make a change will differ slightly from what will get Michael interested and motivated. Learn to utilize the energy of everyone's differences. Create approaches that excite everyone and you will overcome inertia more quickly.

Staying the Course

Many managers and leaders are great at initiating the use of new tactics or strategies. They have balloons, cups, mouse pads-the whole gamut of launchers-and they kick off the training. Unfortunately, many of those same leaders also are very good at stopping there. Here is the opportunity to add that new tactic to the arsenal-the new potent strategy of staying involved and sustaining the effort. This is where champions are made and stay the course. You can sustain the change by discerning:

• Catalysts versus sustainers: Training and setting expectations are things that trigger behavior change. Specific feedback, reward, and recognition that immediately follow behaviors are examples of behavior sustainers. Studies show that sustainers are four times more effective at building and supporting real behavior change. Yet most leaders spend most of their time, energy, and resources on catalysts, neglecting sustainers.
  
  
• Funding versus leading: Too often leaders have this thought pattern: "I approved the funds, now go make it happen.'' The truth is managers at all levels need to change their behaviors, too, if any effort is to succeed, and not take the attitude that "others" must change their behaviors. Leaders need to stay involved, show interest, and continue giving support long after they've allocated the funding. Give yourself leave to take a manageable step here. Even superstars don't land a potent left the first time they use it.
  
  
• Your motivators versus your employees' motivators: Reward and recognition can be powerful- and so can peer influence, customer responses, lack of time, family constraints, and alignment or misalignment with an individual's value systems. Stand in the employee's shoes and look carefully at what happens when the employee demonstrates the "right behavior." What are the positive results-- those things that will encourage the employee to demonstrate the right behavior again? What are the negative result--those things that will discourage the employee from demonstrating the right behavior again? If the manager pre-analyzes the motivators, there is a higher likelihood the effort will succeed. This is a different mode of operation for many leaders, but champions know it is critical to success.

• Compliance versus commitment: Be careful your measures don't set up systems that generate compliance. Here's an example that's very real to us: Not long ago, the office of a large organization was always a bustling, fun place to be--especially on Saturday. At this site, every individual-from publishers to executive consultants-focused on the customer experience, knew the right behaviors within their role to create an amazing customer experience, and was rewarded (through both formal and informal means) when they contributed to creating an amazing customer experience. No one micro-managed hours. No one micro-managed breaks. Everyone got the job done, and the company was highly successful in the eyes of customers, employees, and managers. Enter a new CEO who loved numbers and loved to measure things that were easy to measure. Now, breaks were micro-managed. Time sitting at a desk was considered time well spent, and everyone was managed accordingly. Within days, these people who would happily devote their evenings and Saturdays to creating amazing customer experiences were now watching the clock and leaving projects undone because they had to leave at the required time. They complied with the measures, but were no longer committed to what really mattered--the customer experience.

Target and Condition

Take the time to ask yourself these questions to target areas where you can add a potent "left" and condition yourself and your team to be world champions:

• Have any of your business circumstances changed recently? Have you changed any of your approaches to leadership issues because of the change in circumstances?
• Do you favor the opinions of those who think just like you over more disparate views?
• How many new leadership tools have you used successfully in the last five years?
• Does everyone in your unit know exactly what their customers expect?
• Does everyone in your unit know the behaviors critical in accomplishing assigned tasks?
• Do you know the behaviors critical to your unit achieving its desired business results?
• Do you have a way to track those behaviors?