The ultimate goal of many interventions is often behaviour change, but how effective are our interventions at changing behaviour?
The research
In this paper, the authors synthesize the results of multidisciplinary meta-analyses to compare the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions with a focus on both individual determinants (knowledge, general skills, general attitudes, beliefs, emotions, behavioural skills, behavioural attitudes and habits) and social-structural determinants (legal and administrative sanctions, trustworthiness, injunctive norms, monitors and reminders, descriptive norms, material incentives, social support, access).
The results
They found that the most effective focus for behaviour change was access. Access involves controlling attributes that might constrain undesirable behaviour or increase desirable behaviour. Examples include having a recycling bin correlating with recycling, making organ donation the default on organ donation forms or providing funding to women or minority owned businesses.
After access, the next most effective behaviour change interventions focused on habits and social support.
Habits are defined as repeated behaviours which occur without awareness and are difficult to stop, even when they no longer benefit the individual. Examples of habit-promoting interventions include those that support people to stop the behaviour in the face of temptation and distracting people from behavioural cues.
Social support describes help provided by others directly related to the behaviour change goal, and can include formalised support such as support groups (i.e., when trying to lose weight) or informal support such as supportive family and friends.
Interventions targeted at developing knowledge, skills, attitudes, beliefs and emotions had the smallest impact on behaviour change.
Implications for organisations
So what does this all have to do with inclusive leadership?
Our purpose at Inclusive Leadership Company is to enable behaviour change in leaders to support them in working more inclusively. Therefore, understanding the science of behaviour change is critical to this.
Data such as from this research helps inform our approach to working with leaders and organisations and tells us that:
– Focusing on knowledge, skills, beliefs and emotions is not enough. Many inclusive training offerings will ignite participants emotions with powerful story telling and building knowledge to increase their understanding of inclusion. This is important but the data shows that this is not enough. Interventions that do not go beyond knowledge, skills, beliefs and emotions will have a minimal impact on behaviour change.
– We must consider habits to enable behaviour change. As habits are often automatic it can be difficult to spot them. By working with a coach on a one-to-one basis, our clients are able to identify which habits are hindering their ability to work inclusively and explore new habits that can support inclusive practices. A great example of habitual behaviour that influences experiences of inclusion is how we chair meetings.
– Maximise opportunities for social support. Interventions such as group coaching provides leaders with the network of individuals working towards the same goal which will positively impact behaviour change.
– Use access to make behaviour change easier. By working on systems and processes that facilitate inclusion and inhibit exclusion, organisations can make it easier for everyone to work inclusively. An example of this is implementing transparent rules on how promotions and pay decisions are made.
You can check out the full article here.
