The above image is called the Iceberg model and is used by cognitive behavioural therapy and various behavioural sciences.

This model describes how your performance at anything is driven by your sets of behaviours – your habits.  Your habits in turn are driven by your feelings – emotions.  These emotions are driven by your thoughts.

At the bottom of this model is your values and beliefs.

Some of your values and beliefs come from your temperament – your biological-based tendencies.

A lot of your values and beliefs though are built from your day-to-day experiences such as your childhood games; your parents’ interests and values; your community’s societal norms; what is considered polite, dangerous or exciting; when to laugh, cry, relax.

What is below the waterline determines your observable performance that everyone sees about you above the waterline. Below the waterline is where you build your mind-maps of your world.

When my former husband came to Australia over 40 years ago, he took a job in a factory as a process-worker.  He had no formal qualifications in what he earned his living in his country – a pharmacist.  He also could not speak a word of English.  He needed to provide for his family that he had brought with him, so he did not have a lot of options.

His performance at work as a process-worker was very simple – follow the process set down by management and you produced an electric meter box.  There was very little thinking required unless the machine you were working on broke down.

Fast forward 40 years and our world is totally different.  In Australia, there are very few of these types of jobs available.  They have beenoutsourced to lower-cost countries or they have been computerized.

Employees today are better educated than any previous generation.  The working landscape has changed as well.  Most people are paid to think.  Also, they have more independence on what they want to do unlike my former husband.

Yet our leaders and management tend to still look above the waterline to change performance.

Imagine a factory where artists painted pictures, and the people managing them had not studied how to improve the quality of painting.  Management focus was totally on how to build better canvasses, frames and paints.  It’s hard to imagine that there would be many artistic masterpieces produced from this factory.

Of course, most people are going to shy away from going below the waterline. Do we really want to know what other people’s emotions and dramas are?  We have enough of our own to deal with!!!

It does not have to be like this.  As I learnt in my executive coaching,you just need to improve thinking.  You don’t have to dwell on the drama and the detail.

In fact, it is best to stay out of the drama and detail because the person may become emotional and unable to think clearly.

Remember last week, I talked about how I was just building the Grand Canyon of habits by dwelling on the emotion and detail of my bad habit.

To improve thinking, you want the person to create their own new habit NOT reinforce an old low-performance habit.

My executive coaching taught me this amazing technique forimproving thinking that I would thoroughly recommend for all effective leaders and managers to learn for our current world.

The training is available through the Neuroleadership Institute.  As a starter, I would recommend that you read the book by David Rock“Quiet Leadership: Six steps to Transforming Performance at Work”.

If most workers in our world today are paid to think then it is imperative that we start improving thinking if we want to be effective leaders.

Remember I’m available for executive coaching and my Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Program covers this important topic and much more.