Mike Saporito, Manu Puri and Fred Luskin present Smart Habit, which combines workshops, micro-coaching and an online academy
A few years ago we set out to conduct research and create a business – one where we combined our own personal growth engendered through simple daily practices with our professional experience as consultants, coaches, and leadership development professionals in global technology firms – to teach not only the practices, but to create a scalable process making our own performance-enhancing workday experience available to more
leaders and teams.
As advocates for the power of coaching, we assumed it would play a key role in the solution. But we knew we had our work cut out for us. We were aware of the factors that limit the use of coaching, such as overbooked calendars and prohibitive cost.
We wanted to answer the questions: How might we help professionals shift their day at work from ‘something that happens to them’ to a ‘positive experience they create’? and ‘How can the process of shifting be fun and fulfilling despite the stress of modern life?’
The trail of clues we have since uncovered provides a clear path for leaders, teams, and the L&D professionals who support them.
FORMING SMART HABIT
Our founding hypothesis was that coaching needed to be ‘democratised’ and made available to more than the few senior leaders within an organisation who typically receive coaching. We believed that apps were the most logical way to provide successful coaching and expand its reach. In short, we thought technology was the answer. Unfortunately, our initial engagements with clients from various industries told us otherwise.
Over time we tested new assumptions, and these findings emerged:
- You can’t make people change. They must want to change, regardless of the bells and whistles offered from the latest devices, AI and social. Motivation is key.
- People in organisations are hungry for genuine connection – with themselves and others – and they’ll gravitate towards opportunities to connect.
- lnteracting with busy managers during the flow of work is challenging. Some people feel relief when they are supported during the day; others see it as in interruption.
- Technology is not enough. People need people.
We know these learnings sound obvious, but each informed our emerging business model. We asked ourselves, ‘Knowing what we know now, can we assemble a process that will democratise coaching, be affordable and scalable?’
What we came up with is detailed in the following.
WHAT IS SMART HABIT?
The Smart Habit Path™ is an amalgam of education, support and coaching that guides people to make positive incremental shifts through their workday.
The path accommodates the realities of the modern workplace, namely that people are busy and attention spans are short, by facilitating an ongoing conversation and relationship among people in an organisation.
The Smart Habit Path™ includes a distinct and approachable worldview taught in a master class, a series of tools including the Workday Integration leadership model, effective coaching and personal practices combined with the power of groups and technology.
As participants gain understanding about the Smart Habit Path™, they learn about their patterns, are reminded to regularly align with their intention, and are encouraged to implement evidence-based practices to make the desired shift.
- See an illustrative experience on video here: www.smarthabit.com/path
Three phases of Smart Habit
To understand how Smart Habit™ works, meet Elizabeth. She’s a busy senior manager at a Fortune 125 global technology company who works in a competitive and high-stress environment. Elizabeth has managed people for 10 years and is responsible for a team of 15 people in North America, Europe and Asia.
Phase One
Reset: pausing and assessing
Elizabeth attended a leadership development workshop, along with 20 other experienced senior managers. She wasn’t all that eager to attend because it was a very hectic quarter for the business.
During the multi-day workshop, she participated in a 90-minute master class where she learned the Reimagine Your Day practice. In it she participated in training derived from Dr Luskin’s work on sustainable performance at Stanford University that surprised her – and the other people in the room.
She admitted to the group that she hadn’t considered how despite her best intentions, many of her current habits hindered her effectiveness as a leader.
The coach facilitating the workshop then led the group through several practices after grounding them in essentials. Next, he asked them to complete the My Typical Day assessment which explored different aspects of life, including stress and energy levels, relationships, purpose and achievement. Small and large group conversations on their Ordinary Habit Profiles ensued.
Phase Two
Upgrade: envisioning new possibilities
After the challenging My Typical Day exercise, Elizabeth and colleagues envisioned My Ideal Day. One person at her table was sceptical, but Elizabeth wasn’t. She shared her perspective with her group, and together they contemplated, ‘what if?’
Next the coach introduced Master Strategies and Smart Practices – and Elizabeth was hooked! She said to herself, ‘why not?’
Elizabeth took the final few minutes of the master class to set up her own personal coaching assistant, known to them as Smart Habit’s Digital Guru. She entered key information and her preferences including which Practice Pod communities were of most interest to her. She didn’t know what questions she would ask her AI-powered Digital Guru or like-minded community, but she was curious.
Phase Three
Optimise: experimenting and measuring progress
Elizabeth returned to her job after the master class experience. And as so often when she returned from an off-site, she had more email waiting for her than she could read, and innumerable deliverables with no end in sight. She used to find such experiences frustrating. However, this time it was different.
She met with a Smart Habit certified coach for her one-to-one within two weeks of the master class. They reviewed key lessons, recent wins, and aligned with her target Smart Habit Index for the quarter. They agreed to meet once a quarter. Then her cohort met virtually for a 30-day huddle call to celebrate progress and troubleshoot challenges.
Elizabeth received regular reminders and an easy-to-read dashboard from the AI-powered Digital Guru. Once a month she re-took the My Typical Day assessment to ascertain next steps as part of her ongoing desire to improve. She found the Practice Pod community helpful in answering her questions and keeping her enthusiasm up. As the quarter ended, she was invited to begin the Reset process all over again.
One year later: making the positive shift stick
Today, Elizabeth has a spring to her step as she greets the security guy outside her office. She gets up early and spends some time reflecting on the day ahead. She also takes time to exercise so she can perform effectively.
Elizabeth looks forward to work on Monday mornings – a positive sense of anticipation that was unthinkable not that long ago. She already has a good idea of her important and high-priority focus areas for today and the week ahead.
Her calendar and her Digital Guru are allies. She looks forward to the ‘stop and reflect’ moments that are sprinkled throughout her day. And if she forgets, she has a few ways to gently get back on track – including reminders from her Digital Guru.
While she still encounters setbacks, Elizabeth gets more ‘real’ work done than most of her peers. She has learned skills that help her stay focused on what is important, and practices that help her realign when she moves off centre.
VERDICT
In our experience launching a powerful change experience such as Smart Habit in an organisation is best accomplished via a masterclass of influencers/leaders. These influencers then become the foundation for the emergent culture that is the goal of a vibrant learning organisation.
With the help of technology and the budding Practice Pods, a self-propagating community of leaders emerge who are effective and supportive.
This community continues to grow through Master Strategies and Smart Practices. They learn and share what’s necessary for them and their teams to best support the organisation’s objectives that make for a thriving and competitive business.
About the authors
- Mike Saporito is manager partner of Smart Habit, a development firm which helps leaders do simple things better to build stronger teams and healthier organisations.
- See an illustrative Smart Habit experience on video here: www.smarthabit.com/path
- Manu Puri is a former executive at Microsoft and General Electric. He is responsible for Smart Habit’s Modern Leadership Development Practice, specialising in scalable experiences
- Dr Fred Luskin is a lecturer in wellness education at the Stanford University School of Medicine and bestselling author of Stress Free for Good and Forgive for Good. He is a senior adviser to Smart Habit and responsible for its performance science work. He will be offering an abbreviated masterclass on helping clients achieve more while being less stressed. Details to come.
Table 1: Pros and cons of Smart HabitTM
Figure 1: The Smart Habit process