Habits and Health Care Leadership

Right now I am about half of the way through the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. This is another social psychology book, the genre I really enjoy. The book takes a look at the research on creating, changing, and sustaining habits. Duhigg breaks habits into three key parts: cue, routine, and reward. A cue is a trigger that starts a routine. It can be something physical like seeing your running clothes laid out from before you went to bed or non-physical such as the time of day. This trigger initiates a particular sequence of actions. Once the routine is complete a reward occurs. A reward can be physical, like a piece of chocolate. It can also be psychological such as a pleasant conversation with a colleague. Brain studies reported in the book indicate the occurrence of physiological responses to the reward, and stress if the routine is not completed. To create or change habits you have to manipulate the cue or the reward. I have not finished the book where the nuances of creating and changing habits are discussed. Still, it has me thinking.

This book has me thinking about two different habits. The first is how we as health care leaders can support the development of healthy habits in the patients we serve. What opportunities do we have in front of us that support creating cues and rewards that lead to behaviors for improved wellbeing. Dr. Rosie Ward might argue that rewards support extrinsic thinking, which are not as powerful as those that are intrinsic. She is right and initially creating or changing a habit is very extrinsic. That being said, the research on habits is very compelling. Tying extrinsic rewards with an intrinsic motivation would be exceptionally powerful. Our minds and bodies automatically create habits because habits free us up to do something else at the same time. We can drive a car and talk with a passenger because of habits. Cavities and tooth decay have been reduced drastically over the last 50 years because we have created the habit of brushing our teeth. We can help our patients create healthy habits through cues and rewards, especially if the extrinsic and intrinsic are tied together.

The second habit I am considering is that of health care leadership behaviors.  What habits do we need to create (or improve) so we can help our organizations prepare for the future? Is there a cue we can find to start a routine that makes us better leaders? What might be a reward for completing such a routine? This begs the question of what makes a good health care leader?  I don’t have the answers to these questions. However, great thinkers inspire me on this topic. I have mentioned in past postings a favorite blog is that of Marie Popova. In a recent article she described the routines of famous writers. What would such a list look like if research were done on health care leaders? Notes from a conference on health care leaders list few characteristics; we have more work to do.

At the end of the day we know more about habits and Duhigg has evidence on how we can improve our lives through managing our habits. As health care leaders we need to use this information to better understand how we can help patients improve their lives and support our organizations to higher-level performance.