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Tip 44 – Shifting stuck patterns and a management application

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Have you ever found yourself stuck, trying to make a change, but repeating the same old patterns...over and over and over again? Instead of trying something else, you just keep trying the same thing – only harder. Have you noticed those habitual ways of thinking and acting that give us those "here I am again!" moments?

In his book: Find Your Power: Boost Your Inner Strengths, Break Through Blocks and Achieve Inspired Action Chris Johnstone examines how we can shift our stuck patterns.

Chris suggests that every stuck pattern has 3 types of causes:

1. Predisposing causes which are those factors which predispose us to behave in particular ways, such as our genetics, family upbringing and cultural context.
2. Precipitating causes which trigger the pattern in the moment.
3. Perpetuating causes which keep the pattern going by creating a reinforcing circle.

To successfully change you have to:

• Change those predisposing causes of the stuck pattern that you can (eg if you know you tend to be more irritable when your blood sugar is low, ensure you eat regularly).
• Identify the precipitating causes by noticing which events trigger strong emotional responses. Then get curious about the needs such responses might be attempting to meet and find different ways of meeting those needs.
• If this doesn't work and you still find yourself getting caught by the old patterns, then you need to tackle the perpetuating factors - the loops that keep the behaviours going.

For example, when someone micromanages their staff because they don’t trust them to do a good job, there are two system loops in play as follows:

The first is a short-term balancing loop in which each journey round the loop makes the manager feel more in control and so reduces their tension. So micromanaging brings an immediate relief and reinforces the behaviour.

A coach can help you break out of your stuck patterns and in many other ways.

What is probably never noticed is the second longer-term amplifying loop where, over time, each journey round the loop increases the tension. This is because, by micromanaging their staff, the manager is preventing them from demonstrating their talents, and so denying the manager the opportunity to learn to trust them. The tension remains and so the manager keeps micromanaging their staff.

One way to break the habit is to reframe the tension as something to be celebrated - because when you're feeling the tension, you're not micromanaging!