Capture the Present — Shape the Future

One of the most profound lessons I’ve learned in the past 10 years came from a philosophical question asked by a mentor; it completely changed my worldview. The question, “What is love and how do we measure it?” While we both agreed that love was real, it was too abstract to measure. It is this lesson that is revolutionizing how we measure performance.

Love, in structural modeling, would be considered a latent construct; meaning you can’t measure it directly. However, because love is real, we can measure it indirectly through behavior, which are manifestations of the love construct. For example, we can observe and measure words of affirmation, physical touch, gifts given, acts of kindness, and quality time spent together. What is most important is that we clearly define “love” by identifying the behaviors that are manifestations of “love.”

Now consider some of the desired character attributes for your teams: Toughness, Discipline, Resilience, Passion, Coachability, and the list goes on. Just as with love, it is through the process of clearly defining the specific associated behaviors (both positive and negative) that we can begin to measure and discover what makes individuals high performers or prevents them from being their best.

Once defined, we begin to observe and document. For example, when we initially began working with Special Forces, we observed instructors using small sheets of paper to document salient behavioral observations (called “spot reports”). These observations were then put into a candidate’s file for selection purposes. Our team studied the spot reports and found there was a predictable pattern of behaviors within a specific context (like during “Physical Training”). We have since automated this list using mobile technology, but the basic premise still holds. Now, instructors can pick an event, like “Physical Training,” and a list of behaviors is displayed to select from in order to capture the candidates’ behavior.

Let’s consider a sports example — Toughness. Quitting on a play does not by itself imply that a player is not tough. It is an observation about a player’s behavior at the moment but is not intended, necessarily, to imply a corresponding value judgment regarding the player’s toughness. It is simply a behavioral artifact for something that actually occurred — specifically the player gave up on a play. Whether a player is actually tough will be validated by future behaviors.

The power behind behavioral observations is that these artifacts (i.e. captured behavior in a specific context) are the best predictor of future behavior in a similar context. Behavioral patterns that emerge from multiple artifacts begin to tell a richer story and eventually allow for a corresponding value judgment. For example, if a pattern develops where the same player struggles to finish strong at the end of hard workouts, gives up on plays during practice, and is unable to fight through fatigue when studying with tutors, then we build a stronger case that this athlete needs to “toughen up.” Given we’ve identified specific behavioral patterns across multiple events (workouts, practice, tutors), we can then begin to “coach” specific behaviors as opposed to an abstract value judgment.

Ultimately, behavioral tagging provides the following benefits to an organization:

1. Aligns your staff. A list of predictable, salient behaviors by event calibrates all coaches and staff to what performance should or should not look like.
2. Makes the main thing the main thing. It shapes an observer’s perspective to what the organization has defined as most important. Allows you to focus on the behaviors that are most important for success.
3. Enables specificity. Instead of coaching in generalities, you are now able to specifically address the behaviors that are either reinforcing success or detracting from it.
4. Helps stay in the now. Instead of dwelling on an observed behavior, you capture it and allow yourself the mental freedom to move on.
5. Builds good habits. Behavioral tagging ensures you reinforce and make aware that which you want to become a habit — and sustained habits build culture.