Changing Beliefs As A Modern Method Of Staff Motivation

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

At the present stage, more and more attention is paid to informal interaction between the manager and his subordinates, which determines the requirements for the set of competencies that he needs to possess when organizing this interaction. One of the urgent tasks is to find ways to improve the efficiency of personnel motivation methods. The solution to this problem is facilitated by the development and improvement of motivation methods, one of which is the method of changing beliefs.

Unfortunately, the very concept of "belief" is not sufficiently developed, especially in a practical sense, since only some psychotherapeutic directions of psychology work with beliefs.

In cognitive therapy, beliefs are divided into two types, deep and intermediate:

• Deep, beliefs - these are attitudes that are so deep and fundamental that people often cannot express them clearly and even simply realize.
• Based on deepest beliefs, intermediate beliefsthat includes relationships, rules, and assumptions.

It is difficult to argue with the fact that there are quite a number of layers of beliefs. The criterion of depth in this case is the number of: reinforcing the belief; subconscious attitudes; facts supporting the belief; predisposition of this personality type to this belief. However, the definition itself is, firstly, too broad, and secondly, it erases the difference between the very concept of "belief" and the concepts of "attitude" and "assumption".

Much attention is paid to working with beliefs in neurolinguistic programming (NLP), which is a branch of cognitive psychology that deals with the modeling of behavioral skills. In NLP, the description of those linguistic structures from which they are built is used as a definition of beliefs. These structures are:

1. Complex equivalent … A form in which two concepts are equated (A = B).
2. Causal relationship … A structure in which one concept is the cause or effect of another concept (if A, then B).

Often, a person only says the negative part of a belief, for example, when a person says that he is a bad employee, without explaining the reasons for such an opinion. The challenge is to fully reveal this belief.

Belief, in NLP, is a generalization that we make about the world around us and our ways of interacting with it. At the same time, beliefs are one of the logical levels in the pyramid developed by Robert Dilts. It includes the following levels from bottom to top: environment, behavior, abilities and skills, beliefs and values, identification, mission.

Initially, in the pyramid of logical levels, the level of beliefs and the level of values were combined into one. At the moment, they are separated, which seems to be more logical from a logical point of view. Indeed, even in the linguistic sense, these concepts are designated in different ways. If, as already mentioned, beliefs are expressed by creating complex equivalents and causal relationships, then values are expressed in the form of nominalizations (verbal nouns such as "love", "harmony", "respect", etc.). In doing so, beliefs are the link between values and our actual behavior.

To concretize the concept of "belief" it is necessary to trace the process of the formation of beliefs. We can distinguish two main ways of forming beliefs: our own experience and the experience of other people (when a person simply copies other people's beliefs, without having experience confirming them).

The formation of beliefs from personal experience is a more complex process, which consists of the following stages: (1) a certain situation occurs; (2) the person perceives and interprets the given situation; (3) there is a generalization of the interpretation of the situation; (4) belief is created.

You can immediately ask the question: "Why, when perceiving the same situation, different people can develop different beliefs?" The answer lies in the individual characteristics of the person.

As soon as a person receives information from the external environment, the process of its perception and interpretation begins, i.e. information passes through its filters of perception (filters of perception - individual ideas, experiences, beliefs, values, metaprograms, memories and language that form and influence our model of the world). Thus, once formed, the belief has an impact on the subsequent perception of new information. As a result, we can give the following definition of beliefs).

Belief - this is a generalized interpretation of experience, which extends to the perception of new situations that have certain similarities, with situations due to which this belief was formed.

Beliefs perform a number of functions: (1) optimizing the storage of information; (2) beliefs as a filter of perception; (3) beliefs as criteria for choosing patterns of behavior in new situations; (4) beliefs shape the personality (the totality of beliefs is reflected in our personality and character); (5) beliefs are a reflection of unconscious attitudes and complexes; (6) beliefs as a resource (belief can be both a stimulating factor and a limiting one); (7) the creative function of beliefs (based on already existing beliefs, we build new theories and concepts).

Beliefs are of the following types:

1. Resource beliefs Are beliefs that contain a certain resource for achieving a goal. Such beliefs imply the presence of both opportunities and motivation in a person, and the attractiveness of the situation about which the belief was created. A separate, but very important point is that a resource belief is a belief that adequately and realistically reflects a real situation.

2. Neutral beliefs - these are beliefs of a general type (both objective and subjective), which constitute a set of general truths and scientific concepts that most people adhere to, and do not have an emotional impact on a person.

3. Limiting belief … These are the beliefs that contain some kind of negative resource. They can also be about the person or situation.

The task of the manager is to transform the third, and, if possible, the second type of belief into the first. This applies to the beliefs of both the manager himself and his colleagues or subordinates.

Now it's worth moving on to that instrumental classification of beliefs that will help us understand the direction of working with beliefs. Beliefs can be classified in two dimensions. The first is the object of persuasion (a person (me, you, he, you, etc.) or a phenomenon (life, destiny, company, etc.)), the second is the state of the object or its actions. Other classifications of beliefs are possible, based on the diversity of the perceptual filters themselves. It is important to reduce a person's conviction to the form "I do", and work with him, because only in this case he takes responsibility for himself and at the same time can control his actions. Sometimes it is difficult to reduce a belief to the form "I do", then you should re-evaluate the existing belief.

Working with beliefs consists of the following steps: (1) identifying limiting beliefs; (2) concretizing beliefs; (3) choosing a method of working with persuasion; (4) Working with persuasion and changing persuasion; (5) fixation of belief; (6) creating an attitude for the future.

The first two steps can also include subpoints: determining the need for a belief and identifying reinforcing thoughts and beliefs. At the same time, the manager should understand that he is unlikely to be able to influence the most deep-seated or problematic beliefs, so this work should be left to the psychotherapist.

The result of the fourth stage can be: (1) rejection of the belief; (2) formulating a new belief; (3) change of belief. As a rule, the first result is always followed by the second. The third option implies a change in beliefs with the introduction of a resource and personal responsibility (an incentive for an employee) into it.

Fixing a belief involves developing a new belief. It is necessary to develop the topic and discuss problematic points, not limited to the only technique of working with beliefs. The creation of a new attitude implies the development of an action plan to reinforce a new belief, and motivation of the employee to achieve the planned result.

Let's move on to the very methods of working with persuasion.

The first method is the metamodel (also the main way to flesh out). The metamodel identifies those linguistic patterns that obscure the meaning of communication, and identifies specific questions and methods aimed at clarifying and questioning the inaccuracies of language in order to reconnect them with sensory experience and concretize them.

Language metamodel (Linguistic pattern. Task. Method):

1. Vague nouns and pronouns (everyone, people, life). Recover missing information. Questions: "Who / What / What exactly?"
2. Non-specific verbs (love, respect). Identify the specific set of actions implied by the speaker ("how exactly?").
3. Nominalizations (love, honesty, faith). Turn an event into a process. Use as a predicate ("how exactly should you be loved? / How should love for you be manifested?").
4. Universal quantitative (everything, never, everyone, always) Find contradictions with experience ("when exactly?").
5. Modal Operators of Possibility and Necessity (I can’t, it’s not possible, I should). Break the constraints. Crossing the boundaries of the possible (“what if you don’t do this?”).
6. Comparison with default (he is worse, I am better) Find out what is being compared with ("compared to whom / with what?").
7. Cause and investigation (if he guides us, we will not be able to cope). Find out if the causation assumption is valid. How does X call Y? ("How can his leadership affect your productivity?")
8. Mind reading (you think I'm a bad employee). Figure out a way to get information. How did you know that X? ("Did I tell you that?")

The second method is "reframing"

NLP founders Richard Bandler and John Grinder identified the following types of reframing:

1. reframing content involves a change in our point of view or the level of perception of a certain behavior or situation ("the failure of the negotiations brought you a new experience").

2. Reframing the context relates to the fact that a particular experience, behavior or event has different meanings and consequences, depending on the original context (“the negotiations you have conducted are considered successful compared to those of company X yesterday”).

Robert Dilts expanded the concept of "reframing", highlighting the individual reframing methods:

1. Intention … Transferring the person's attention to the positive intention of his actions (“the main thing is that you wanted to help”).
2. Overriding: replacing one of the words with a new word that means something similar, but endowed with a different connotation (incompetent - in need of training).
3. Consequences. The manager directs the employee's attention to a positive consequence of his decision, which is not obvious to himself (“even though you had to fire him, you increased the productivity of the department”).
4. Separation … This pattern is intended to concretize a belief (“does it mean that you fired him that you are incompetent?”).
5. Union … This is a movement towards something bigger and more abstract (“yes, we failed the last negotiations, but we brought a unique experience to the company's activities”).
6. Analogy … An analogy is a search for a relationship (analogous situation) where a given belief is questioned. Also, as an analogy, you can use various metaphors (“everyone who comes to work for the first time is not sure of himself, but soon they gain knowledge”).
7. Resizing a frame … The manager changes the frame of the situation so that the employee can look at his belief in a more favorable light ("it seems difficult now, but in ten years you will be looking down on this problem").
8. Switching to a different result … We must find another result that brings a positive aspect to this belief ("yes, the work is difficult, but you gain invaluable experience")
9. Model of the world … This pattern helps a person to look at the situation from the perspective of another person (“even if you think that you have failed the negotiations, I saw that you did everything right, this should serve as a criterion for your professionalism”).
10. Reality strategy … We pay attention to the source of the formation of the belief ("where did you get the idea that you did your job badly, did I tell you that?").
11. The opposite example … You are looking for exceptions to the rule, namely events that contradict this belief (“Despite your failure today, you did a great job all week”).
12. Hierarchy of criteria (values). Our task is to identify a higher value that will correspond to this belief ("it is more important for you to teach the employee a lesson, or to achieve higher productivity").
13. Apply to yourself … This pattern helps the client to stand in the position of an evaluator and an observer, so that he can overestimate his belief (“I also see that subordinates do not like you, but how do you feel about them?”).
14. Meta frame … The meta-frame is the creation of a belief in relation to a belief ("you only say this because you are afraid of failure").

Terry Mahoney added the following types of promotions here:

1. Challenge to persuasion … We challenge a belief by pointing out its flaws (“and you think you’ll be successful with that belief?”).
2. Applying persuasion to the listener … The manager applies the employee's persuasion to himself to gauge his reaction (“I was just like you at the beginning of my career”).
3. Reverse assertion. We change the direction of the logic of persuasion (conviction: "I am an incompetent leader, I had to fire this employee", the answer: "Does firing an employee always mean that the leader is incompetent?").
4. Logical level change … Here we use a pyramid of logical levels (“you think you did everything wrong (behavior level), but you are a good worker (identification level”).

Each of the reframing methods corresponds to a change in a separate perceptual filter (some researchers identify more than 250 perceptual filters). The whole work is to isolate a metaprogram and then ask a question at the other end of that metaprogram.

You can also use provocative strategies to work with beliefs. There are two types of provocations:

1. Direct attack on customer values. Very often this strategy is used in stressful job interviews, when the interviewer deliberately describes the future job, overestimating its complexity, while underestimating the merits of the candidate. Such a strategy causes a stormy internal protest in the candidate, he begins to see this as a challenge for himself, which motivates him to further achievement.
2. Making fun of a problem belief … Any form of humor can be used for this. The most appropriate technique here is absurdity, when we bring a person's belief to the point of absurdity.

It is important to understand that their use is legitimate in certain relationships with employees.

Various techniques for working with beliefs also apply to cognitive therapy:

1. Socratic dialogue … The manager must conduct a dialogue with the employee, consisting of a chain of statements with which the employee cannot disagree. In the end, he simply abandons his belief.
2. Behavioral experiment … In this case, the manager asks the employee to try to refute the belief in his presence. If he succeeds, then the belief changes.
3. "As if". In this case, you can ask the employee to behave as if he did not believe in his belief.
4. Using the opinions of others … The manager can directly ask the employee's colleagues how much his belief really reflects the situation. Of course, this technique works most effectively when the object of persuasion is the colleagues themselves.
5. Rational emotive game. This technique involves the exchange of roles between the manager and the employee. The manager begins to convince the employee of the same thing that the employee is not sure about, the latter is trying to refute the manager's belief.
6. Comparison of pros and cons. The manager and the employee objectively assess all the pros and cons of the problem situation.

The last method is the coaching method … The bottom line is: first, transform a negative formulation into a positive one, i.e. set a goal; secondly, discuss with the employee the ways to achieve it; thirdly, to formulate a new belief, based on the goal and the way to achieve it. So the belief “I think I’m not competent enough for the job” can be transformed into the belief “if I do the training this week, I will be competent enough to do the job.”

Changing beliefs will be a significant addition to the competence system of the head of a foreign trade organization. This method will help increase employee loyalty to the company and to a specific manager (since the manager who uses it is very often perceived as a wise and authoritative person). The result will also be an improvement in the psychological climate in the team and the ability to prevent conflicts by working with the points of view of the conflicting parties. This method fits perfectly into the organizational system of any company.

Bibliographic list

1. Beck Judith. Cognitive therapy. Complete guide. - Williams, 2006.
2. Bandler Richard, Grinder John. Reframing: orientation of the personality using speech strategies. - NPO MODEK, 1995.
3. Dilts Robert. Tricks of the tongue. Changing beliefs with NLP. - Peter, 2012.
4. Raspopov V. M. Change Management: A Modular Tutorial. - VAVT, 2007.
5. Farrelli F., Brandsma J. Provocative therapy. - Ekaterinburg. 1996.