Why do people keep making the wrong choices?
By Chantelle Botha
MANAGING people often feels harder than it should, even when expectations are clear.
Why do people keep making the wrong choices even when they know what the right choices are?
As leaders, we focus heavily on what our people know. We train them and explain expectations, then wonder why knowing what to do doesn’t always translate into doing it.
Knowing better is no guarantee of performance. Behaviour is influenced by several factors including how much capacity we have at any given moment. I’m exploring four neurobiological processes that influence choice:
1. Dopamine Dynamics
Our brains pull us towards immediate reward. Dopamine is the reward prediction chemical which makes novel or immediately rewarding experiences particularly compelling.
Checking email can feel productive. Avoiding the difficult conversation can feel like relief. Doing easy tasks provides an immediate sense of completion.
We can train ourselves, and our people, to notice and value the future reward. When leaders design environments that reward the right things, they spend less time chasing the wrong ones.
2. The Thrill of Subversion
There is something strangely satisfying about breaking a rule. Subverting the standard can feel like an act of personal agency: I don’t have to do what I’m being told.
What looks like resistance could simply be a need for autonomy.
If work is fully prescribed and monitored, following the rules can feel like surrendering agency. Give people autonomy over how they achieve the required outcome. Paint a picture and give them room to think.
3. Cognitive Fatigue
A study of sitting judges showed how decision-making can wear away as the day progresses. Our capacity to make conscious choices is not constant.
When we’re tired or overloaded, the brain is more likely to choose what is familiar over what is effective. The solution isn’t simply to tell people to “try harder”, but to ask whether they have the capacity required to complete the tasks ahead of them.
Protecting capacity means fewer errors to fix later.
4. The Power of Subconscious Suppression
Attempting to suppress an impulse can make it harder to ignore.
Try this: DON’T think about a pink elephant.
Did you notice how your brain immediately pictured one?
In trying not to think about it, your brain keeps checking if you are. This happens in workplaces too: “Don’t make mistakes.” “Don’t forget the report.”
Curiosity interrupts the loop. Awareness doesn’t demand control, it opens a doorway through which choice becomes possible.
As leaders, it’s time to acknowledge that capacity matters.
We cannot keep asking people to make better choices while ignoring the conditions under which those choices are made. We cannot demand creativity while removing autonomy. We cannot demand sustained performance while ignoring exhaustion. And we cannot assume that because someone knows better, they will automatically do better.
Capacity isn’t another item on the leadership to-do list. It’s the condition that makes every other item easier.
Neurobiological capacity and holistic wellness is performance infrastructure.
If we want people to do the hard things, make considered decisions and perform consistently, we have to support their capacity to do that.
Otherwise, managing people will always feel harder than it should.
Ready to build capacity for better choices?
Phoenix equips highstakes leaders to navigate human complexity with conscious choice and relational integrity. Through keynotes, executive advisory, and transformational frameworks, we build the capacity that drives better decisions and sustained performance.
Contact me to build capacity for your team.
Chantelle Botha is an international speaker, author and Permission Catalyst, helping leaders turn shame into desire and desire into courage. To learn how better choices can change the way you live, love and lead, visit phoenixconfidence.com.
