Critical Practices: What Are They & Why Are They Useful?

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Influencer" by Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, et al.. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

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What are critical practices? How can you identify critical practices to accomplish a goal?

According to the authors of Influencer, critical practices are the behaviors that need to change in order to accomplish a goal. While identifying them can be challenging, there are many ways to do so so you can reach success.

Let’s look at several strategies for finding and implementing a critical practice.

Identifying the Critical Practices

Having established a measurable goal, influencers must then identify the critical practices necessary to reach that goal. They must know what behaviors need to change to make their goal possible. In this section, we’ll define critical practices and discuss strategies for identifying the critical practices that will be most impactful in reaching your desired outcome.

While identifying the necessary behavior changes can seem overwhelming, the authors argue that there are usually one or two critical practices that have a disproportionate impact on the desired outcome. For example, if you wanted to minimize texting-related car accidents, a critical behavior might be placing cell phones out of reach while driving.

(Shortform note: While many agree that behavior change is a critical step in accomplishing long-term goals, there are different psychological theories about what causes long-term behavior change. For example, the theory of reasoned action suggests behavior change requires intention, shaped by attitude and social norms. The social cognitive theory on the other hand posits that personal ability and social learning prompt behavior change. Though there are subtle differences between these theories, most theories of behavior change point to the importance of individual ability and motivation and social influence as the key factors.)

Identifying critical practices can be challenging. The authors outline several strategies you can use to identify critical practices.

First, always start with the basics. Sometimes the critical practices are the most obvious ones. For example, 79% of people killed in bicycle accidents between 2010 and 2017 weren’t wearing a helmet, and yet a 2016 study revealed that 56% of participants said they never wear a bike helmet. Putting on a bike helmet before going for a bike ride is a critical practice that has a disproportionate impact on the number of fatal bike accidents.

(Shortform note: This suggestion is an example of the principle of Occam’s razor, which states that the simplest solution is probably the best one. The validity of Occam’s razor is up for debate, as critics of the concept argue that it values simplicity over accuracy.)

If you’re feeling stuck, look for the anomalies. If one person or institution is having success where many are failing, ask what they’re doing differently. For example, if one teacher in a school has significantly fewer classroom management issues than his colleagues, you might observe his class, and look for teaching practices he uses that aren’t being used in other classrooms.

(Shortform note: Anomalies have the potential to drive innovation, but they can be difficult to spot because they challenge our expectations. Because human brains are wired for pattern recognition, we easily filter out information that doesn’t fit patterns we’re used to. However, even though spotting anomalies doesn’t come naturally, psychologist Gary Klein suggests it’s a skill we can improve through practice and a commitment to open-minded curiosity.)

Critical Practices: What Are They & Why Are They Useful?