The Behaviour Change Handbook
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The document summarizes an approach to achieving sustained behaviour change through learning initiatives. It discusses how most change initiatives fail due to a lack of behaviour change. It recommends investing more resources in aligning stakeholders and sustaining changes, rather than just the initial training. It provides checklists for improving focus on aligning and sustaining. It also describes a fictional case study of a bank that implemented a three-part process including impact planning, metrics tracking, and ongoing learning support to successfully drive strategic changes in customer service behaviours.
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The Behaviour Change Handbook
- 1. The Behaviour Change Handbook Optimise behaviour change for business impact
- 2. Contents Change Initiatives are Failing 3 The Answer 4 The Traps 5 Today’s Approach 6 Leaders / Laggards 7 One Key Lesson 8 The Solution 9 Align & Sustain Checklists 10 Before the Learning 11 Measurement 12,13 During the Learning 14 After the Learning 15 Speed to Mastery 16-18 The Situation at XYZ Bank 20-24
- 3. Change initiatives are on the rise... and so is their failure rate. Most leaders believe that no greater than 50% of change initiatives are successful (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2011). And how did they gauge that success? 3
- 4. “There is no return on investment until you get behaviour change” – Shirli Pollard Ed.D., Learning Performance Lead, Air Products The most important measure in determining the success of a change initiative is “Behaviour change in the organisation.” There it is. If you want to achieve strategic change, your number one priority is behaviour change. 4
- 5. Why does behaviour change fail? Behaviour change fails because organisations typically fall into one of these five traps: ? 1) Focus on learning as an event, not a process 2) Use “The Field which learners can share knowledge. solely on building an online place in of Dreams” approach – focus efforts Unlike “The Field of Dreams,” if you build it, they may not come 3) Focus on e-learning, which can be effective for knowledge acquisition, but not always for behaviour change 4) Focus on of the communication and alignment pieces exclusion the delivery and measurement part of a learning initiative to the 5) Build tools without clarity about what the end state should look like, or means to measure it 5
- 6. Why current solutions fall short Our data show that the distribution of investment of time and resources across the phases of a learning solution (Align/Equip/Sustain) does not align with where business impact is derived. Investing Time and Resources Which Phase Has the Most Impact? 50% 50% Percent of Respondents Percent of Respondents 40% 40% 30% 30% 20% 20% 10% 10% 0% 0% 33/33/33 20/60/20 40/20/40 50/25/25 25/25/50 Align Equip Sustain These data support Robert Brinkerhoff’s 40/20/40 rule: Aligning and Sustaining make a much greater impact on learning than does simply equipping learners with skills to make a change. 6
- 7. And you know what happens when we isolated the “highly effective” at sustaining behaviour change from the ineffective? The results were even more striking... How Do You Invest Your Time and Resources Across Align/Equip/Sustain Phases? 70% 60% Leaders Percent of Respondents 50% Laggards 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 33/33/33 20/60/20 40/20/40 50/25/25 25/25/50 7
- 8. One key lesson jumps off the page: The most effective sustainers of behaviour change invest their time and resources where the impact is.
- 9. The Solution We recommend investing time and resources in the aligning and sustaining stages of learning by creating a learning system not a training event. 9
- 10. To Improve Your Focus on To Improve Your Focus on Aligning Sustaining Do learners see the connection between Have you made it clear to learners and business goals, individual performance, their managers that the learning process and learning opportunities? continues on after the formal learning event is over? Are learners clear about the reasons for the learning initiative: the learning path Have you put processes, tools, metrics, and its destination? and supports in place to help learners get on the path to mastery—and stay on it? Are you appealing to learners’ rational and emotional sides in your communications? Can learners access examples, practice opportunities, and coaches that can help Can learners identify opportunities to them in the mid- to long-term? apply learning to real situations? Have you put rewards and recognitions in Do you leverage communication and place to help reinforce new behaviours measurement plans to provide feedback and motivate people to change? and support to learners over time? Have you put appropriate communication Does the learning initiative have strong, and measurement plans in place to visible support from management? provide ongoing feedback on successes, progress, and results? 10
- 11. Before the Learning: Align stakeholders and create a measurement strategy If you wait until the learning is underway to sustain it, you are sunk. The two biggest reasons for lack of sustainment - management commitment and measurement - should be addressed in the alignment phase. Senior stakeholders must agree on which behaviours will drive execution of their strategy, and how those behaviours will be measured. Lack of Management Commitment This is the chief reason why behaviour change is not sustained. This is particularly true for our ‘laggards’ whose comments reveal further insight into this challenge: “Executive “Lack of clarity “Lack of prioritisation, level politics around roles and too many initiatives to and turf war” responsibilities” effect change” 11
- 12. No Defined Measurement Strategy Only 38% of organisations are able to demonstrate the impact of behaviour change on their business results to even a moderate extent. Getting agreement upfront on the right measurement strategy will ensure that the right behaviours are focused on. This should include a concrete plan of action for measuring behaviour change, including key metrics, how they will be tracked and by whom, and how the results will be reported back to stakeholders. 12
- 13. Measurement Breakthrough at a Financial Services Organisation. This client company’s Learning and Development team realised that to be credible with key stakeholders and organisational culture, they needed tangible evidence of how specific behaviours impacted customer and financial measures. Based on discussions in the Impact Workshop*, the team created a customised behavioural survey that quantified the demonstration of these behaviours—such as accessing senior-level customers and executing relationship-planning meetings—and captured a wide range of vivid success stories that showed how employees were adopting the new behaviours and achieving better results. These behaviour metrics and stories provided the colour and nuance needed to support the tracking of larger metrics over time. *Impact Workshop – A meeting in which Forum brought together all the key stakeholders involved in the initiative at the client organisation to catalyse the measurement strategy and commitment. 13
- 14. During the Learning You’ve jumped the first (and biggest) hurdle – senior management is bought in, clear on their role, and on how success will be measured. Now it’s time to choose the learning methodology and content that will equip people to support the change. Forum’s six Principles of Learning are good guideposts: Link Learning to Value for the Individual and the Organisation Connect Action and Reflection in a Continuous Cycle Address Learners’ Attitudes and Beliefs in Addition to Their Behaviours Provide Learners with a Balance of Challenge and Support Create Opportunities for Participants to Teach as Well as Learn Design and Cultivate Learning Communities Along with Learning Media 14
- 15. After the Learning: Making the behaviour change stick Effective leaders know that this learning phase—sustain —has the most impact on behaviour change. But who is accountable? Our data detect a shift Who’s Held Accountable for Learning? occurring: the vast 70% majority believes that Leaders 60% Percent of Respondents managers or learners, Laggards rather than the L&D 50% organisation, have the main accountability for 40% sustaining learning 30% and behaviour change after the training. 20% 10% 0% L&D Managers Learners 15
- 16. Managers and Learners may be accountable, but L&D organisations can make it easier for learners to sustain behaviour change and easier for managers to hold their people accountable for behaviour change. Our Speed to Mastery® approach is a great way to do just that. 16
- 17. Up to 70% of learning happens on the job, and people often struggle to ‘get it’ on their own. Speed to Mastery helps Forum clients “Seize the Seventy” and provides a contained process for people to sustain learning on the job. We have identified six real ways people learn on the job. 17
- 18. How Do You Learn “It” Well? Know “It” Review course skills, tools and techniques to take you to the next level of performance See“It” what success looks like Need“It” Do“It” Grow“It” Live“It” 18
- 19. To illustrate how a company can achieve sustained results by taking a systematic approach to learning and behaviour change we have put together the story of XYZ Bank. This story is a fictional composite of several real Forum client companies.
- 20. The Situation at XYZ Bank Diversified regional financial services organisation. 1300+ banking centers, $100B + in assets. Strategy to differentiate by providing superior customer service which encourages customers buying solutions across lines-of-business. Execution required all sales and service people and systems to adopt new sales process and behaviours. Sustainment of behaviour was seen as key to generating the customer loyalty and growth that would produce long-term operating results. 20
- 21. The Solution Developed uniform sales and service model for each line of business. Supported model with 13 sales training programmes for 6,000 participants across customer-facing organisation. Strategy differentiated by providing superior customer service which encourages customers buying solutions across lines-of-business. Programmes ranged from consultative selling workshops for banking and financial center reps, to customer service for call center reps, to coaching for managers. 21
- 22. To ensure sustained behaviour change, Forum designed a three-part process: 1 Impact Workshop: A planning process that enabled key stakeholders to define the specific business outcomes expected from the strategic initiative (such as new business and customer acquisition, satisfaction, and retention); the workshop would track and report the training programmes’ results as well as their influence on the expected outcomes. 2 Metrics that Matter®: A process for measuring the results of the training programmes at five levels: reaction, learning, behaviour, results, and return on investment. Metrics that Matter® is a web-based survey system developed by KnowledgeAdvisors, the industry leader in measuring training and using metrics to drive business results. 3 Speed to Mastery®: A web-based learning system that ensures that participants derive full value from training programmes by applying their learning on the job, tracking their progress, and sharing ideas and results stories with their fellow participants. After completing training, XYZ participants used the Speed to Mastery® programme on a day-to-day basis to support one another in applying and practicing key concepts and skills and boost motivation by sharing successes. 22
- 23. The Business Impact The Strategic Initiative has achieved significant results to date. All XYZ lines of business reported substantially improved operational performance in its first year: A 12% increase in the customer engagement index score of the Business Banking Group An extraordinary 329% increase in sales of complex products in the bank’s Customer Contact Centre The highest average monthly revenue trend in 5 years in XYZ’s Mortgage/Consumer line 23
- 24. While some programme participants expressed initial scepticism, they then went on to learn and apply advanced customer-focused skills A personal banker who had been on board at XYZ for less than a year applauded the training for helping him to hit 176 percent of his quarterly goal in less than a month. The bank’s Learning and Development executive used the measurement process to demonstrate business results to senior management, which then increased its investment, enabling additional XYZ employees to benefit from the programme. 24
- 25. Further Resources: Go to www.forum.com/speedtomastery, you can download the following resources: Forum Europe & Middle East – 44 (0) 20 7017 7150 Forum North America – 617 523 7300 Forum Asia-Pacific – 65 6505 2050 Forum is a recognised global leader in linking learning to strategic business objectives. Our learning solutions help organisations effectively execute their business strategies by focusing on their most important asset: their people. We provide clients with practical and research-based advice and tailored programmes that mobilise employees, accelerate business-initiative implementation, and improve agility. Forum’s 40-year legacy as a pioneer and thought leader continues with the release of our latest book, Strategic Speed (Harvard Business Press). For more information, visit www.forum.com. © 2012 The Forum Corporation.