The question of what you can change and what you can’t is a powerful one. This notion applies to self-management, employee or staff management and client/customer management. Knowing the difference can be tricky and slippery, but is worth the effort. The basic distinction is that characteristics are built-in and cannot be changed, and that behaviors are essentially a series of choices and can be changed.
Traditional or subsistence societies operated under the assumption that little or nothing could be changed by force of will. The course of events were pre-ordained or attributed to fate. In fact, daring to try to change the course of events or the social contract could be construed as heresy and reason to go to war. This is by no means an obsolete idea; we see this in many forma globally today, regardless of the technical development level of the people involved.
Shifting concepts
This concept began to change with the beginning of the Italian Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries, and was greatly accelerated by the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Renaissance spread to all parts of Western Europe, and was characterized, at least in part by the rise of humanism. This concept is the opposite of fatalism and implied (and demonstrated) that an individual’s efforts could change the course of events. Seems obvious now, but it was far from it at the time. The industrial revolution gave rise to the physical and technical means of changing the course of events, as well as the associate economic power to extend one’s reach.. These trends have vastly accelerated today in the Westernized world, and to a lesser degree in the developing world. The American Colonial period was the greatest embodiment of these new concepts and allowed the rise to power we see today
Pendulum swing
We have moved so far in the other direction, that the concept of an unchangeable characteristic is an affront to some schools of thought. After all, if you can change things like your gender, your facial configuration, your evidence of aging to name just a few aspects of medical inroads, what could possibly be an unchangeable characteristic? When we think about future trends, the answer is that fewer and fewer things are going to be thought of this way. But for today, there are still a few obvious factors to notice
Characteristics
- Genetic “deck of cards”. This is a grab bag of things that can have useful or inhibitory aspects. Things like eye color and height do not seem to be under dispute. However, things like intellectual, numerical musical or artistic capacity do seem to have (at least in part) a genetic basis. This is certainly controversial, because the arguments can take on a political or racial bias.
- Past History. While one’s past does not dictate one’s future (fatalism and determinism), there can be no serious argument that there is a strong role played, and the influences will be strong. These can include native language, circumstances and location of early years, educational attainment, and applicable work history. When viewed as a timeline, these aspects can be thought of as part of a person’s character.
- Value systems. These can be difficult to enumerate, mostly because they are not overt. No one is going to give you a list of his or her internal value systems at a job interview! But employees will consistently demonstrate these values through their actions and priorities. These can include things like work ethic, communication and valuation pathways regarding others, and the concept of win-win in a workplace setting rather than win-lose.
Behaviors
It’s most helpful to think about an employee’s actions at work as behaviors, assuming you have hired a qualified person and trained him or her thoroughly. It’s easy to fall into the trap of confusing an undesirable behavior with an unchangeable behavior.
- “She’s just a late person.”
- “He’s just a rude person and does not care about other people.”
- “She’s incapable of finishing what she started.”
In reality any of these types of things can be changed by a decision and a choice. Habits can be thought of as repetitious choices, either for better or worse, and we all know that the longer and deeper the habit, the more difficult it is to change. However, that does not mean that it’s a characteristic dictating future choices.
If you are faced with this sort of thing as an employer or manager, the first step is to point out the behavior to the other person, act as if it’s changeable (assuming it is!) and work on strategies, along with measurable criteria to enact desired change. Simple in concept, but tougher in execution. For otherwise valuable people in your life, worth the effort!