The Real Reason Employees Donโ€™t Change: A Guide for HR and Managers

Teacher Kean

August 5, 2025

*Note: All Our Workshops are HRDF / HRD Corp Claimable!

๐—ช๐—ต๐˜† ๐——๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐— ๐˜† ๐—๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ž๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜€?? ๐—ช๐—ต๐˜† ๐—ช๐—ผ๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ?!
This post is for leaders, HR professionals, parents, teachers, anyone who feels ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ from trying to correct repeated unhelpful behavior.

Behavioral researchers have boiled it down to 3 root causes, which I teach using my leadership framework, ๐—”๐—–๐—ง.

๐Ÿ”น ๐—” โ€“ ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†
This is the HOW.
Most people know their behavior is unhelpful.
They just ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜€ to get out of it.

๐Ÿ”น ๐—– โ€“ ๐—–๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†
This is mental, emotional, or physical capacity.
If someone is ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜† ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด, they won’t prioritize improvement.

๐Ÿ”น ๐—ง โ€“ ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป
This is the ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€.
Sometimes, we shield or rescue them out of love
So, they don’t learn because thereโ€™s no tension to prioritize change.

As loving people, we rush to โ€œfixโ€. Perhaps we should also pause and ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป. Most unhelpful behavior is a ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป of these three root causes.

When I train leaders to use ACT, they realize:
โŒ We shouldn’t reward bad behavior
โœ… But we also ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ฝ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ต ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต๐˜

Instead, we:
๐Ÿฉบ Diagnose with empathy
๐ŸŽฏ Correct with purpose
๐ŸŒฑ Praise with clarity

Because unhelpful behavior is often a message. A ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ.
And the best leaders learn to read it.

Talk to me (all our workshops are HRDC Claimable) and let’s help your leaders correct unhelpful behavior with clarity and conclusiveness!

#LearningAndDevelopment #HR #Leadership #CoachingCulture #HRDCClaimable #CorporateTraining

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