Here at Coeus Creative Group, our mission is to empower people by improving behaviors. While much of our work targets organizations and adults, we also work with athletes on a variety of issues. Today we want to focus on an essential concept to the success of top-performing athletes; developing a growth mindset. While we are offering advice to athletes, their parents, and coaches, this concept is also beneficial to business leaders and professionals alike.

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck’s theory of growth mindset has impacted how many coaches and parents approach speaking to their athletes. A “fixed mindset” is such that skills and abilities are set, finite, and unchangeable. Whereas a person with a growth mindset has an outlook that practice and learning can lead to improvement.

Most importantly, a growth mindset is beneficial to all areas of life for young athletes, including school, sports, relationships, and careers. At its core, the concept notes that actions can change outcomes; intelligence, behavior, and abilities are not fixed or unalterable.

Fixed mindset: “I’m not good at face-offs.”
Growth mindset: “I’m not good at face-offs yet.”

A growth mindset is developed over time. Parents and coaches need to be aware of this to help young athletes discover it, and reinforce it over time. Teaching self-reflection is an integral part of that process.

CREATE A STARTING POINT

There is no way to see change without knowing where the starting line is. Some coaches do this through skills assessments at the beginning of the season. If your coach is not, suggest they start. But then evaluate your athlete (with their input) yourself. You have been watching them grow and educating yourself on the game. You can assemble a baseline for measurement.

It is essential to look at these assessments as opportunities for improvement, not talent evaluation. Parents and coaches need to avoid glorifying players for “natural” talent. These declarations promote a fixed mindset that an athlete is either talented or not. This can impact the growth of not only the athlete who is told they are talented, but also show their teammates that talent alone is what matters.

CREATE A ROADMAP

Individual improvement is the best way to increase a team’s chance of winning, so it’s necessary to identify the skills and abilities they want to develop. In doing this, athletes can also achieve success regardless of wins and losses.

Many of these goals will be focused on sport-specific skills and physical fitness; but athletes should also be encouraged to set goals around communication, teamwork, support for teammates, and conflict resolution.

ANALYSIS

Don’t skip letting the season end without a purposeful reflection on the skills and abilities gained. It is vital to close the loop so athletes clearly see they’ve established goals, worked to create change, and achieved an outcome. Even if some goals did not get met, they still were able to learn and grow.

A great way to facilitate this reflection is to try starting a conversation using open-ended questions:

• What are you proud of this season?
• What should have been done another way?
• At difficult moments, how did you use the tools available to you?
• What skill do you want to work on before next season?

Journaling is another way for athletes to establish a thoughtful routine because they regularly learn to review activities and key moments. It also creates a record that athletes can utilize to reflect on their long-term progress.

TODAY’S LESSONS PAYING OFF TOMORROW

Youth sports are great for teaching new skills, and reflection helps them connect the work they do and the progress they continue to make. This self-reflection is what will carry them into their future careers.

While most people define success as avoiding failure, truly successful people will tell you their success is determined by their response to it. They would argue that you must experience failure to learn the lessons that bring success.

An important reminder is no matter what your athlete thinks about their current abilities, they are good enough to do their best right now. No matter how hard they try, your athlete can’t be better than they are in that moment. Embracing and honing current abilities creates a firm platform. I know this looks like a circular argument, but what should be understood is that our culture, obsessed with better, is also an anxious culture.

Some studies show 25% of Americans have an identifiable mental disorder, and 80% of those, or 20% of us, have an anxiety disorder. Anxiety is related to the uncertainty and fear of a future event or occurrence. When our minds focus solely on the end results, we quit concentrating on the “now” and do not perform at our best.

What we know about human beings at their best is they are not constantly jumping into the future. They don’t dwell in the past. They stay present, focused, and function to the best of their ability right now. The problem with better is it keeps pulling you to the future. If you pay close attention to the people that succeed at a high level, they are not hyper-focused on winning. They simply believe they are going to do well.

Parents, coaches, and (behaviorally intelligent) business leaders should be saying, “Give it your all, do the best that you can, and learn from the experience to be better tomorrow.” If you’re leading an organization, whether it’s a family, a team, or a business, if you can get people to perform at their best right now, then you’re empowering people by improving behaviors at the highest level.

Interested in hiring Coeus Creative Group to train your teams on this topic or behavioral intelligence? Contact us today

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For anyone who participates in training with us, works with our marketing division, or simply has a conversation with one of our team members, you will hear the term Behavioral Intelligence. It’s the foundation of our company and it guides everything we do. With that said, you might be wondering what it exactly means. Through years of research, more than a decade of application, and collaboration with professionals in psychology, neuroscience, and communication disciplines, Coeus Creative Group has redefined this space.

Behavioral Intelligence is the application of skills and abilities to accurately explain existing behaviors, predict future behaviors, influence other people’s behaviors, and control your own behavior. Four easy-to-remember categories we describe as “EPIC,” but there is a lot to unpack here.

A Brief History

Behavioral Intelligence made its debut in military strategy. Its application to discern the root causes of intentions and actions of enemy combatants. This type of intel was invaluable for special ops and strategy planning. There were a number of technologies developed to track and analyze behavioral data points to support these military efforts. Like most technologies, these later became commercialized for use in tracking consumer behaviors across digital landscapes.

It wasn’t long after that researchers and talent development practitioners started toying with Behavioral Intelligence as a means for understanding self and others. Some of the work was good, some not so much. Much of it was academic and had no real application value. Mostly, it relied on psychology as its main driver. However, it was not easily accessible to those without advanced knowledge or experience. Unlike Emotional Intelligence, it did not generate mainstream interest nor widespread adoption as a tool for understanding self or others. Behavioral Intelligence remained in the shadows of Emotional Intelligence, which was made popular by Daniel Goleman.

We’ll Take It From Here…

In 2014, Coeus began developing a model that was more inclusive, more robust, and easier to access for the general population. We used the foundational discipline of psychology, but also included the disciplines of applied communication and neuroscience to round out a more holistic interpretation of Behavioral Intelligence. While a small handful of organizations began using the term, it remained mostly unheard of and unpopular until our TEDx talk in 2018 brought it to the attention of nearly 2 million people worldwide.

From that point forward, Behavioral Intelligence was no longer to be the long-lost ugly cousin that no one wanted to invite to the party. Now, there are a number of articles such as one in Forbes titled, “Why Behavioral Intelligence is the New Black for Marketers.” It’s a great article if you have not seen it although it has a narrow focus on digital technologies. Our team especially liked the idea of it being the “new trend” given we have been using our model to help our marketing clients for the past five years with exceptional success. So, what is it about our model that drives marketing results and human performance? Let me break it down.

A Deeper Dive into The Coeus Creative Group Behavioral Intelligence Model

Our 4 easy to remember categories (Explain, Predict, Influence, and Control) establish an internal and external awareness of behavioral meaning, coupled with a framework for internal and external behavioral modification strategies. Let’s take a look at each of the categories and how they interact to establish Behavioral Intelligence as a means for growth and development.

Explain –

This category is the base level and supports all of the other categories. The ability to accurately explain behavior is complex. There are a number of factors that drive behavior, such as emotions (which is why Behavioral Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence are related), brain functions, genetics, culture, environment, and motivational drivers to name a few.

Awareness of these and other factors offer a framework for understanding, but we still have to collect information to apply the knowledge. This is where observation of particular body language cues, listening to speech patterns, analyzing behavioral data for digital sources, and other mining tools come into play. Through these human and technological means, we can discern a variety of different behaviors and use these to predict future behaviors, influence other people’s behaviors, and control our own behaviors.

Predict –

This category relies on patterns of behaviors, habit formation, and applying the base level explanations to a deductive process that gives insight into future actions. Through these applied skills and abilities, future behaviors are often easily predictable. In fact, humans have a built-in capacity to make these deductions naturally. With the help of Behavioral Intelligence, it gets scary how accurate we can be in our prediction models.

For example, if you know that your work colleague suffers from low self-esteem and lashes out when his ego is under attack, you can anticipate his reaction when the new hire begins to threaten his standing with the company. Now that you can predict what will happen, you can insert an influence mechanism to mitigate the harmful effects of his response. Predictions such as these are useful in business in forecasting the impact of organizational changes, hiring results, leadership potential, and consumer behavior.

One thing to note; sometimes humans can act outside of their behavioral norms and be completely unpredictable. In these cases, we “autopsy” a failed prediction to see newly visible markers or an alternative behavioral factor that was previously unrecognized. This helps to refine future predictions and models.

Influence –

This is where we become masters of persuasion, sales, negotiations, and marketing. By understanding the genesis of people’s behaviors and being able to explain what drives them, we can employ an influence tactic that truly gets to the inner fibers of their very being. Matching a well-structured communication message to the intrinsic drive of another person is incredibly effective at delivering positive results.

Using the foundations of rhetorical communication theories, influence tools (as made popular by Robert Cialdini’s groundbreaking research), and practical applications of a myriad of persuasion methodologies, we can see how Behavioral Intelligence sets the stage for influence to not only be more effective, but faster in its application.

With influence strategies, we are particularly sensitive to the ethical application of persuasion. As the friendly neighborhood Spiderman once said, “with great power comes great responsibility.” These tools are not to be taken lightly and should only be employed with an ethical approach. Influence can quickly become manipulation in the wrong hands, use its power wisely.

Control –

This is the real power of Behavioral Intelligence. The ability to manage your behaviors – despite intrinsic motivations (or lack thereof), despite emotional urges, despite nurtured habits – is the epitome of success and failure. Behavior is a choice. How we choose to act and react to internal and external stimuli has consequences. Some of these consequences are positive in nature, while some are harmful or negative in nature.

Utilizing methods such as limbic reaction management strategies, meditation, self-awareness of behavioral triggers and cues, we can become the master of our own destinies. If we can explain why we engage in certain behaviors, predict how we will react to certain stimuli, then we can adapt and transform our behaviors. This is growing our Behavioral Intelligence, and that is the core of what we do at Coeus Creative Group.

Coeus Creative Group’s Application of Behavioral Intelligence

Our vision is to be the leader in Behavioral Intelligence globally, and we are well on our way. We have delivered keynotes, trainings, workshops, and lectures in more than 30 countries; consulted organizations on the development of a Behaviorally Intelligent performance culture stretching from Main street to Wall Street; executed hundreds of marketing campaigns that have driven significant results to our clients across government, nonprofit, and corporate sectors; empowered thousands of leaders to improve their Behavioral Intelligence, giving them the tools to empower their followers and constituents; and we have even developed a proprietary assessment that helps people to understand their own behavioral preferences.

You can take our free, Quick Behavioral Elements Assessment and learn your primary behavioral preference. Interested in going deeper? We offer a full assessment at the lowest price on the market for a growth and performance tool of this type. The investment is $30 USD and you receive a detailed 15-page report with your personal rankings in each elemental preference. If you are curious about all of your behavioral preferences, take the Behavioral Elements – Full Assessment.

Our Behavioral Elements Program also has a number of products and tools, such as our Behavioral Planner System, designed to help people transform their behaviors. We continue to innovate new solutions and services in our effort to lead a behavioral revolution.

Why? Because we believe that helping people understand their behaviors is a means to a better world. Less conflict, better relationships, more innovation, enhanced leadership…It is all possible with the application of Behavioral Intelligence. The Coeus Team is proud of the work we do. We would love the opportunity to help you improve your own Behavioral Intelligence. Behavior is a choice and how we choose to behave impacts our success and failure. Behave intelligently, friends.

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1. If people do not like you, they will not want to do business with you. Seems obvious, right? However, our body language can send signals that affect the way we are perceived.
2. The limbic system of the brain is what regulates our Fight – Flight – Feint instinct. Its default is to assume that there is danger around every corner and in every person. When we meet someone for the first time, we must get past this Limbic gatekeeper to make a positive connection.
3. If our body language causes a negative Limbic reaction in someone, it can have the effect of reducing trust, liking, credibility, and give an overall negative perception. Some of the ways people cause this negative Limbic reaction are as follows:
   • An overly aggressive handshake – Once thought to be a powerful symbol of a strong business personality, neuroscience has shown that it can decrease rapport.
   • Standing to close to someone – also known as proxemics, this can cause the Limbic system to go on high alert.
   • Toe-to-toe postures – We naturally stand shoulder to shoulder like Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. When we take a more dominant stance it can trigger a Limbic response.

These are just a few examples of how our body language can cause a negative limbic response in someone. This can have damaging effects on relationships. A savvy communicator understands this and works to ensure that the person they are interacting with is comfortable. This increases liking, and if people like you, they will want to do business with you.

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Talent Development is an investment into the people portion of a business. It can include coaching, training, teambuilding, and a wide variety of job performance skill and ability development opportunities. Companies such as John C. Maxwell, Franklin Covey, and Coeus Creative Group offer a number of opportunities in those areas that can empower a workforce. These opportunities often create conditions in which employees feel like a value to the organization, rather than a commodity that can be sacrificed for the “greater good” of corporate profits. Talent development leads to better leadership and management in addition to significantly reducing the amount of conflict within an organization; again, this can produce a measurable return on investment for the sophisticated company.

Here are a number of benefits organizations can expect when they invest in their people:

1. Replacing an Employee is EXPENSIVE – Talent development helps retain good employees.

According to a study by the Center for American Progress:

“Specifically, the economic studies we examined reveal a number of patterns about the cost of turnover:

• • For all positions except executives and physicians—jobs that require very specific skills—across the remaining 27 case studies, the typical (median) cost of turnover was 21 percent of an employee’s annual salary.
  • For workers earning less than $50,000 annually—which covers three-quarters of all workers in the United States—the 22 case studies show a typical cost of turnover of 20 percent of salary, the same across positions earning $75,000 a year or less, which includes 9 in 10 U.S. workers.
  • Among positions earning $30,000 or less, which includes more than half of all U.S. workers, the cost of replacing an employee is slightly less than among positions earning less than $75,000 annually. The typical cost of turnover for positions earning less than $30,000 annually is 16 percent of an employee’s annual salary.”

At the low end of the spectrum, you are looking at $3,000 – $4,500 for every employee who walks out the door. At the high end of the job spectrum, $15,000+. Ouch. When an organization invests in an employees’ personal and professional development, that employee is more likely to invest themselves into the organization.

2. An Attractive Culture for New Hires – Talent Development Draws the Top Talent

According to a 2016 Gallup Poll, 87% of Millennials say development is important in a job. Given that millennials are dominating the workforce and will continue to do so, an intelligent company will look to invest in their future and create an environment rich in learning and development. Just think, do you want an employee who is interested in being better? If so, you can be the organization that offers the opportunity for growth, which can lead to significant gains in loyalty and job satisfaction. If you build it, they will come.

3. A Better Workforce and Workplace – Talent Development Improves Necessary Job Skills

Talent development opportunities can build critical skills that will help your organization save money, time, and heartache. Some of the most impactful training for a workforce resides in the areas of leadership development, communication effectiveness, and conflict resolution. Again, investments into these critical workplace skills yield exponential returns on investment:

• • A recent article on Forbes highlights a number of different organizational costs stemming from poor employee communication.
  • Inc.com quantifies 3 major hidden costs that are a result of poor leadership.
  • Entrepreneur.com points to a CPP study which calculates that 385 million workdays are lost as a result of conflict in the workplace annually.

One way or another, organizations pay for the skills of its workforce… It doesn’t take a Warren Buffet to see that investing in employee development is a far greater use of resources than the alternative of paying for mistakes.

In today’s economy, a business leader knows that talent development is a necessity for sustainable business. Invest in your people and they will invest in you.

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• Prioritization – Imagine being asked to join friends for dinner, but you have other obligations. You respond with, “I’m sorry; I just don’t have the time.” Now imagine that right after you decline, you receive a phone call from a local dealership saying that you just won a Mustang convertible. All you need to do is show up in the next hour to claim your prize. Would this change your priority? Would you forgo your obligations to collect your winnings? Most people would say yes. Through this lens, we see that time can be “created”. It depends on prioritization.
• Tracking Time – Do you know where you spend your time? Without fail, whenever I ask a client to track their time, the response is, “I cannot believe I spend so much time on _______.” The blank can be filled with a number of different activities, but most common include: social media, email, phone calls, Netflix, and driving. When we make a concerted effort to track time we notice trends. This is similar to tracking food while dieting.
• “Spending Time” – People use this phrase, but may not consider its meaning. The phrase implies that time is a resource, just like money. However, we never hear people say “Time doesn’t grow on trees you know.” Time is not something you can hold in your hand, nor is it something that you can earn more of, so we may not treat it the same way we treat money. We spend money to buy things we need or want, and try not to waste money on things that are not necessary or enjoyable. Looking at time in a similar way can help us not to “spend time” on tasks or activities that do not provide value.

Knowing your priorities, tracking your time, and viewing time as a precious resource may help you to spend your time more effectively. So, how will you manage time moving forward?

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• Focus – This aspect of listening is the most challenging, as it requires significant self-control. Controlling our own behavior is a major element of behavioral intelligence. Unfortunately, neuroscience has shown that our thoughts will naturally stray. A behaviorally intelligent listener should be aware of this and will consistently re-focus their attention to the speaker whenever this occurs. Try following each word that the speaker says, much the way you would read a book. This helps to control your own thoughts as the conversation progresses.
• Absorb – This aspect of listening is where we learn and remember what was stated. From the behavioral intelligence perspective, we need to understand the information provided in order to explain and predict future behavior. One of the key elements is to absorb both the spoken and unspoken messages. This means watching body language, tone, inflection and coordinating it with the spoken words. This helps us to retain information and contextualize it into a coherent message.
• Encourage – This aspect of listening is about giving good prompts and affirmations to the speaker. Imagine talking to someone who keeps looking at their phone and saying, “yep…uh-huh…” This does not make for a very engaging conversation. Encouragement can be non-verbal – good eye contact, nodding the head, smiling, etc. It can also be done verbally – paraphrasing what was said, sharing an insight on the topic, etc. This will also help you to stay focused and absorb the information.

A behaviorally intelligent listener controls their own focus, absorbs the information provided to explain and predict behavior, and encourages the speaker to invoke positive influence.

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So why do we find it so challenging to change our behaviors? Through behavioral intelligence, we can find the answer. Human beings are creatures of habit. Often, we find ourselves following a routine. It brings us a level of certainty in the world, which gives us comfort. When we attempt to disrupt our routine, our brain literally works to establish control and tries to get us to stick with what is known. We vow to exercise; our brain says that we can do it tomorrow. We promise ourselves that we will see our friends more; our brain tells us that they are probably busy. Our brain keeps us in the status quo because it has certainty. The saving grace is that through acknowledgement of this fact, we can start to observe the moments where our brain is limiting our actions toward positive, desired behaviors. Here are a few ways to overcome this challenge:

1. Create new habits by pairing them with old ones – Imagine that your resolution is to take a multivitamin every day. Research in habit formation suggests that you pair it with something you already do, such as brushing your teeth. Wrap a rubber-band around your vitamin bottle and your toothbrush. Each time you reach to polish your pearly whites, you will be forming the habit of taking your vitamin.
2. Affirm your commitment…the night before – Maybe you want to get up early and exercise. But every morning you justify hitting the snooze button and going back to bed. One way to train your brain into backing away from this negative reaction is to reaffirm your commitment the night before. Before you go to sleep, recite all of the reasons that you want to start this new behavior. Remind yourself of what your brain will naturally say in the morning, and how you will overcome it. Making this commitment the night before makes it harder for your brain to justify the negative reaction when game time comes.
3. Write yourself a note – Sometimes, you need a reminder of what you can accomplish. Write yourself a little note of encouragement and make it so you can’t miss it. Affirmations have been shown to positively affect behavior, just think, you can do it!!

There are a lot of strategies to stay on track, but hopefully these simple solutions can give you the boost you need to attain your goal. Now, get out there and be the best you that you can be.

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