Psychological approach in management:

Reprogramming people's mindset

Dr. K. Kuhathasan -CEO-CENLEAD

Psychology is the study of what makes people tick. Greater understanding of psychological aspects in management will help managers to perform their functions in an intelligent way. They will win the confidence and trust of the people and take their organization to greater heights of productivity and profitability.

The human mind can perform miracles, if properly used and conditioned for excellence. Yet most human minds remain uncultivated, unexplored and unchallenged.

Managers are permanently surrounded by many people of widely differing personalities. And with these people the manager must interact in an exceptionally wide variety of ways directing, advising, asking, telling, coaching, socialising, training, congratulating and motivating.

This article therefore aims to help you to understand the essentials of psychology as currently understood, so that you can motivate and interact more effectively with people and influence them to your way of thinking. Reprogramming the mindset of the people through a common set of values, attitudes and behaviour is the most challenging task of a manager.

Subconscious mind

Psychologists of all ages have proved beyond doubt that subconscious or unconscious mind yields a lot of influence over the behaviour and the attitude of people.

Mental re-engineering means reprogramming the mental process of people in areas such as thoughts, memories, emotions, perceptions and beliefs.

When we deliberately inplant new ideas in our subconscious mind through repeated statements and affirmations and maintain it over time, we could develop a new mental set. Managers can easily apply this techniques to infuse new thoughts and new way of behaviour among people.

Conditioning procedures have also been applied in the workplace. One well-known example comes from book "One Minute Manager", by Ken Balachard. He advised managers to use praise and constructive criticism in the workplace; in other words, to use the principles of positive reinforcement.

The author advised managers to: (1) Set clear goals, (2) Catch people doing something right, (3) Praise them immediately in these situation. Although these principles seem simple, they prove to be very effective.

The One Minute Manager's Game Plan

* Set new goals

* Praise the behaviour (with true feeling)

* Do it soon

* Be specific

* Tell the person what they did right and how you feel about it

* Encourage the person (with true feelings)

Schedules of reinforcement

One important factor in conditioning is the type and frequency of reinforcement. You may feel that behaviour would best be acquired by reinforcing every response. This is called a continuous schedule of reinforcement. However, the best results are not obtained from a continuous schedule. When positive reinforcement occurs only intermittently or on a partial schedule, the responses are generally more stable and more persistent.

If you set limits on yourself such as, "It is impossible" "I am not smart enough" or, "I don't have enough resources "I find it very difficult to complete the assignment" your spirit will slowly die and you will fulfil your negative prophecy. Avoid being a prisoner of your past-become the architect of your future.

Reprogramming your attitudes

An attitude is the tendency to respond positively or negatively to a particular object. Attitudes affect a wide range of behaviour.

Some theorists believe that attitudes have three components: the cognitive (beliefs), affective (feelings) and behaviour (actions). However, it is often difficult to predict a specific behaviour from a person's beliefs or feelings about an object. Cognitive theories propose that attitudes consist of evaluations of an object that are stored in memory.

This approach suggests that the likelihood of attitude - behaviour consistency depends on accessibility of evaluations in memory, subjective norms, perceived control over the behaviour, prior direct experience with the attitude object and how closely people monitor the behaviour of others.

Attitudes can be learned through modelling as well as through classical or operant conditioning. They are also subject to the mere-exposure effect. All else being equal, people develop greater liking for a new object the more often they are exposed to it.

Changing attitudes

The effectiveness of persuasive message in changing attitudes is influenced by the characteristics of the person who communicates it, by its content and by the audience receiving it. The elaboration likelihood model suggests that attitude change can occur via either the peripheral or the central route, depending on a person's ability and motivation to carefully consider an argument.

Using self - assertion targets

Managers can encourage people to develop self declared targets and plans and to look at them on a regular basis. This will help images of success to be imprinted on the subconscious and ultimately these create a dominant picture of goal achievement. This results in a new belief and ultimately behaviour will move in line with thinking, leading to actual achievement of the goal.

Self-assertion statements can be temporary or permanent; repetition can help achieve lasting and sustained change in behaviour.

Self-assertion statements are simply statements of desired outcomes or behaviour that are written down and then imprinted on the mind. They accelerate the process of moving towards the achievement of personal goals and objectives by taking the time to imprint only images that we want in our subconscious minds, rather than other less helpful message.

Self-assertion statements are about establishing new beliefs and counteracting old beliefs about ourselves by effectively programming our subconscious. This programming is a normal and natural process, rather than leaving things to chance.

This technique follows three critical steps.

* Identify and define the desired change, ie, recognize what needs changing.

* Draft the self-assertion statement (ensure that it subscribes to the principles described below) and ensuring that it specifies a successful outcome.

* Imprint by reading the self-assertion statement at least twice a day and by imaging yourself as a person with the changed behaviour. The reinforcement combined with the visualization will produce a powerful change in your self-concept and subsequently your behaviour.

New beginning

The human mind can perform miracles if properly used and conditioned for excellence. And yet most human minds remain uncultivated, unexplored and unchallenged. On an average day, the average person has about 60,000 thoughts.

Even more startling is the fact that 95 percent of those thoughts are the same as the ones you thought the day before. Limited thinking patterns must be exploded and you must exert your tremendous mind strength to develop the habit of Limitless Thinking. Throw off the shackles of your old thinking patterns.

Kaizen means constant and never ending improvement. There is no pursuit more noble nor important than the pursuit of self-improvement. Consistent and constant improvement in all areas is essential to reach your true potential.

The personal trade mark of almost every high achiever and successful persons is a dedication to daily improvement in their personal and professional lives. You must also apply the Kaizen principle on a daily basis to condition your mind to spark performance. It has been said that the mind is a terrible master but a wonderful servant.

By seeking to improve your mind and condition it to excellence of thought, this wonderful servant will most certainly bring you all the success and achievements in your career.

The Champion's Mindset

Virtually every elite athlete has a sports psychology regimen alongside nutritional considerations and general body training. Many say that the key is to harness the mind's exceptional psychic energy to create the desired results.

This can be done visualizing success at the event, going through rituals in preparation for the event and practising meditative exercises designed to calm the body, ridding it of the stresses that hamper peak performance.

You must condition your mind and enter into a mind - training routine as an elite athlete preparing for the event of your work. You must take your training seriously and become devoted to true excellence. You have phenomenal powers lurking deep inside you.

Also, it is imperative that you develop a winning attitude. The limits you impose in your mental factory are the limits you impose on your life. Shatter the myth, once and for all, that you are bad, too weak, too tired, too taxed, too poor or too average to do extraordinary things. You can have whatever you want but step one means, controlling the thoughts swirling around in the garden of your mind. If you encourage yourself daily and cultivate the garden of your mind it will blossom far beyond your expectations.

An idea gives rise to a mental image. A mental image will then generate a mental habit of which a mental trait ultimately blossoms.

Master your thoughts and you master your mind; master your mind and you master your habits and attitude. Master your attitude and you master your world of work. Begin to reprogram your subconscious mind from today. You will emerge as one of the most outstanding leaders in your organization.