Mastering the Growth Zone - Part 2

The Work Zones

The time people spend at work can be divided into two zones – The Comfort Zone and The Growth Zone. They are both important for building the workforce you need today. 

The Comfort Zone – In a Stage of Growth 

The Comfort Zone is where people can confidently and successfully replicate successful performance. They have developed the skills, the connections, the ROA (rhythm of action), and the confidence to replicate success in their current stage of growth. Many people think of ROA as Return on Assets. Think of ROA in a Growth Culture as the return on the asset of your time and effort. Your ROA (rhythm of action) is composed of what you do, how you do it, when you do it, and who you do it with. The more your team members develop the ROA of success in their current stage of growth (The Comfort Zone) the more successful they will be. They know what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and who to work with. Even in a Growth Culture, before someone begins moving to the next stage of growth, they must build a successful ROA to succeed in their current stage of growth. It is a prerequisite for transition to the next stage of growth.

The Growth Zone – The Transitions between the Stages of Growth

The Growth Zone is the mental, physical, and emotional transition phase between the different stages of growth. We refer to the transition phase as the Growth Zone because what happens during the transition will determine whether the person continues growing in their role or whether they get stuck where they are and stop growing.  Growth always requires moving out of your current Comfort Zone to embrace new beliefs and master a new rhythm of action that will support success in the next stage of growth. Mastering transitions is the secret to create a growing career and a life of growth.

At the core of The Growth Zone is a process we call the RER Sequence – Release, Embrace, Reinforce.

• Release - Growth always involves letting go of beliefs and behaviors that created success in the previous stage of growth but will not create success in the next stage of growth. For example, in Stage 1-Task Equipped the focus is on “me & my role.” In the Growth Zone, the person must let go of that mindset to be successful in Stage 2-Emotionally Invested where the focus is on “us & our process.”
• Embrace – Thriving in the next stage of growth requires embracing new beliefs and behaviors that will support success there. Embracing new beliefs and behaviors is a progressive journey because we intellectually embrace new beliefs and behaviors before we emotionally and physically embrace them.
• Reinforce – Engraining new beliefs and behaviors requires continually applying and reinforcing them until they become the new normal. This leads to an important note about growth. Failure is an essential part of being in The Growth Zone. Failure means that you are doing things that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Developing a new rhythm of action usually requires failing numerous times before you can do it successfully.

Why Transitions are Difficult

Transitions are difficult because you are letting go of beliefs and behaviors that have helped you be successful up to this point and embracing new beliefs and behaviors that will create new success in the future. That process is difficult for three reasons: cognitive dissonance, emotional hooks, and emotional gravity. 

Cognitive Dissonance 

Cognitive Dissonance is what happens when you try to hold onto two competing beliefs and the related ROA (rhythm of action). The human brain has great difficulty supporting two beliefs that are inconsistent with each other. For example: It is very difficult to believe that you are only accountable for your own performance, and also believe that you are accountable to the other people on your team. One belief puts you at the center of your universe. The other belief puts you at a table with other people to whom you are now accountable. You can’t maintain these two beliefs without a lot of stress.

Emotional Hooks

Emotional hooks are the emotional and psychological attachment that you have to specific beliefs and behaviors. When you have a deep emotional hook related to something, your thinking shifts from “this is something I do” to “this is a part of who I am.” The deeper the hook and the more it is identified with your identity, the harder it is to move to the next stage of growth. I have seen many people who were great technicians struggle when they were promoted to a leadership role. At the core of the struggle was their emotional attachment to themselves as a technician not a leader. Before they could become an effective leader, they had to let go of the old image of themselves as a technician and embrace the new image of themselves as a leader. Some beliefs and actions are easy to let go of. Others take more time.

Emotional Gravity

Connected to emotional hooks is emotional gravity. The brain likes predictability. It is a fascinating part of the human brain.  On one hand, it gives us the gifts of consciousness which opens the door to growth, innovation, and adapting for the future.  On the other hand, it also likes predictability and wants to repeat what it already knows. Over time the brain develops hundreds of neural pathways that enable you to function every day. Most of us get up in the morning and go through our morning routine without thinking about each step in the process because our brain has developed a neural pathway to support our current morning routine.

When you begin moving from one stage of growth to the next you are stepping out of your current neural pathway.  It is the equivalent of stepping out of a path in the woods that has briars on both sides. When this happens, there is an emotional and physical reaction. The first instinct is to go back to what you were currently doing – anything to get out of the briars and back onto the path. Your brain is trying to pull you back to what is familiar. Your thinking becomes cloudy. Cloudy thinking leads to hesitation in thought and action. What was normal and natural suddenly is not normal and natural. Doing everything is an effort. You will likely stumble and fail mentally and emotionally. While this sequence is normal, it is not comfortable. The tendency for most people is to give up, and retreat to their old patterns.

Growth happens when you stay out of your current neural pathway long enough to begin building a new pathway. If you stay the course and keep traveling the new path, you begin letting go of old beliefs and embracing new beliefs. This leads to new actions and new results.  The longer you repeat the process a new neural pathway is created, and the future reality you desire becomes your new current reality.