Do We Want Behavior Change or Information Transfer?
Two very different outcomes which require two very different approaches.
There I was, sitting in the dentist's chair for my regular cleaning and the hygienist said to me, "You do such a good job taking care of your teeth, it makes my job easy."
I loved the compliment, but I had to respond with, "It wasn't always that way." I had plenty of years where the hygienists were less than thrilled to be cleaning my pearly whites (or more accurately, my dusty yellows).
She asked, "What made the difference?" - clearly interested in how she could help other patients improve.
"It was a combination of things," I said. "A hatred for the process of getting cavities filled, a hygienist who kindly took some extra time to show me how to floss properly, and a sticker chart."
"How long ago was this?" she asked.
I answered, "Well, when I started using the sticker chart, I was 44 years old."
What are we really after? Behavior change or information transfer?
What the hygienist was really asking me was how I managed to change my behavior. After all, I'm certain she had numerous conversations each day telling people about the benefits of flossing. She was transferring information continuously. But, as she realized from the return patients, simply transferring information about flossing doesn't translate into changing behavior.
When we are designing any type of learning experience, this differentiation is critical as it informs the best way to proceed. Chris Taylor, whom I recently interviewed on the L&D Must Change Podcast, so eloquently articulated this concept with a simple question:
Is the purpose of this program to transfer information or drive behavior change?
Depending on the answer, we will proceed differently. As I'm certain my hygienist would agree, transferring information isn't the same as driving behavior change. The first is focused on knowing, the second on doing.
In my experience, business stakeholders tend to lack clarity about this difference and often assume that information transfer alone is enough. I can point to one specific example in my past where I was asked to put a PDF into the LMS to "train" everyone in the company on winter safety procedures.
As an L&D professional, I'm certain you know that reading a PDF doesn't change behavior. However, it can be an excellent method of information transfer. To ensure we met the expected outcome, we needed to clarify the goal.
In this instance, if information transfer was all that was needed, mission accomplished! But if the goal really was behavior change, that opened the door for us, as L&D professionals, to use our expertise and share what would (and would not) accomplish that goal.
A clear path to change
After collecting data from 84,903 workshop participants from 6,814 workshops across 1,452 different organizations, Chris Taylor and his team at Actionable.co found some common success measures for the design of learning programs with a goal of changing behavior.
Those most likely to change behavior understood why the change was needed (why), made a clear commitment to the change (commit), knew how to change (how), and had a clear path (path) to achieving the change. This path needed to include plenty of practice (PoP) as well as strong support and accountability systems. Without these items, they found the behavior change was unlikely to occur.
They also detailed several specific strategies to achieve the practice, accountability and support needed for change. Things like smaller cohort sizes, a three to one content to context ratio, designing commitments for daily practice, participant's articulating the personal outcome of the change, accountability buddies, working out loud, extending the role of the facilitator, and more. You can download the full report here: Actionable Annual Insights Report 2024: Amplify Your Training Impact.
Jumping back to my dental visit. I'm sure there were plenty of people who know why they should floss more often and may even know how to do so. They say they will change (commitment). But once they go home, the new habit doesn't stick, and they end up back in the same spot. I'd been in that boat many times in the past. Like many, I was lacking the path.
After a particularly painful cavity filling, I became adamant about doing my best to avoid that procedure in the future (my why). That was when a kind hygienist showed me how to floss properly (how) and asked me if I could commit to doing that every day for the next few weeks (commit). I agreed. But I know that wouldn't have been enough.
This is where my sticker chart came in handy. I'll admit, I felt a bit silly using the same strategy I had for my young kids, but it worked for them! Aren't grown-ups just big kids? I was curious to see if it could work.
The chart was simple, just a little piece of paper with each day on a grid and a set of cheap star-shaped stickers. But, as I started to "reward" myself with a star each day I flossed, I didn't want to stop. I didn't want to lose my "streak." But I also noticed my teeth felt cleaner. By the end of the 6-weeks of the sticker sheet. I was hooked and I've never looked back.
That simple strategy for reinforcing (and rewarding) my practice made the difference. It was a clear path.
Breaking Patterns
One of the things that separates information transfer and behavior change is the impact that each has on behavioral patterns. To change behavior, we often need to intentionally break and rebuild current patterns that we use in our daily work. Information transfer may talk about changing patterns but doesn't do much to equip this change to happen.
Detlef Hold and Sarah Nutt presented a case study on their own program called, "Breaking Patterns," a few weeks ago for the international Offbeat Fellowship Community. The program aimed to solve issues like unproductive meetings, information overload, and growing a brave working environment. For these changes to occur, Detlef and Sarah realized they needed to change existing patterns of working.
They put several strategies in place to break existing patterns and build new ones. These included a multi-media nudge campaign, consistent new behavior themes with corresponding activities, and a community for accountability. Perhaps the most significant part of the campaign to break patterns was the recognition that it required time to reflect, experiment, and adapt. There weren't any "one and done" events.
Sometimes we pile on the new and forget that changing behavior means unlearning or breaking an old pattern. If the purpose is behavior change, we must take this into account and allow the time for it to happen.
At the beginning of my own behavior change campaign to floss every day, I'll admit that I wasn't a fan. I was tired and it would have been easier to follow my own pattern of going to bed without the extra step to floss. It might not sound like much, but I'm hard pressed to do anything when I'm tired. I had to break one pattern and build a new one.
Intentional change (or not)
If we want to be more effective in our work as L&D practitioners, intentionality must be part of our regular routine. That includes intentionally defining the purpose of the work and using that to inform our corresponding solution.
If the purpose is simply to transfer information, we cannot expect behavior to change. But if behavior change is the goal, we need to design to allow for that to happen. Let's ensure we are clear about the goal and the corresponding methods, and our stakeholders are as well.
