What Have I Learned About Designing for Behaviour Change and Why Did I Stop?

by | Oct 29, 2024 | Behaviour, Changemakers, Designing for Behaviour Change, Impact Measurement, Regeneration | 0 comments

When I started the Behaviour Change Project back in 2017 with great enthusiasm, I wanted to support entrepreneurs, project managers, employees, volunteers or students to access and apply key knowledge from behavioural science to design their solutions.

Like many others, I assumed that to foster change toward a regenerative, flourishing society, people need to change behaviours that harm the environment – through CO2 emissions, pollution, waste production – or that perpetuate social injustice and inequality. I also assumed that organizations play a key role in supporting these kinds of behaviour change and can apply various strategies to achieve this.

Seven years later my point of view has shifted. I now see how change occurs (or doesn’t) in a much more humble, holistic, and integral way. My own role is no longer that of a designer but rather of host and facilitator of spaces where change can happen.

 

The Designing for Behaviour Change Project: a Way to Integrate my Own Experiences as a Social Entrepreneur

Before initiating the Designing for Behaviour Change Project with scaling4good, I had passionately invested six years into building a social enterprise, WeAct. I co-founded WeAct to help people adopt more sustainable behaviours. I learnt a lot on the way, and I left WeAct wanting to summarize and share the insights I gained from that journey. That’s what I did with the Behaviour Change project, and looking back I see how that helped me integrate the learning and have a conscious closure of my experience with WeAct.

At the time of WeAct, I couldn’t see beyond my own way of thinking – I couldn’t think “outside the box”. Even though I was aware that many factors influence behaviour change and that one must plan, execute, and learn in fast, iterative cycles, I believed that with a good understanding of the situation and a plan, one could make people change their behaviour and thus achieve a predictable impact. Ultimately, it was a utilitarian way of thinking, driven by reason and logic.

 

Moving Away from a Problem-Solving Mindset: Humbled by Life

When my entire life took a strong turn, my way of thinking and being gradually cracked open.
During the years of WeAct, I identified as a social entrepreneur. However, I was burning out, and there were conflicts within our startup team. The impact I was achieving seemed good in terms of the numbers displayed on our app, but my work didn’t feel meaningful. At the same time, I went through a breakup, both my parents got ill and needed support. On top of all of that I injured my knee, which prevented me from recharging by going on extreme hikes in the mountains during weekends. I was demotivated, exhausted, and unhappy. My life, until that point, seemed in vain. The only thing I could think of was to leave, to take a sabbatical – to take a break from everything and see what would happen.

 

Lessons Learnt: New Pieces of the Puzzle Revealed a New Landscape

During that time of wandering and feeling lost, several experiences deeply touched me, and I learnt from fantastic teachers and mentors through their books, interviews and trainings. The scaling4good team was a constant source of trust and inspiration during this time of change.

Below are some lessons I learnt on my journey (there are many more!). The references I mention build on and reinforce each other like pieces of a puzzle that, once enough pieces are in place, reveal a new landscape.

 

Change Requires an Integral Approach

To bring about lasting change in a system, all dimensions need to be considered. Designing to support behaviour change must include the personal dimension – the mindset and motivation of those executing the behaviour – as well as the culture, norms, infrastructure, and the conditions influenced by the environment where the behaviour occurs. Approaches that consider and integrate all these aspects are necessary. (Integral Theory, Ken Wilber)

 

The Dynamics of Complex Systems Matter

When we attempt to support behaviour change, we try to influence a complex system (composed of humans, who are complex!). Complex systems are messy; they aren’t like complicated systems, such as a car engine, which can theoretically be disassembled into its parts and then reassembled by any skilled mechanic. Complex systems are alive – they are intraconnected, self-regulating, and unpredictable. You can’t understand a living system by dismantling it; only by observing what happens in the system, interacting and acknowledging that you are part of it.

Bringing about change in a group’s culture is a humble task that can neither be designed nor planned. It’s more like an artwork of co-creation, whose result will surprise everyone. Changing a human system involves inviting people to a broader conversation and creating spaces for new types of interactions. It’s about observing, listening, and asking questions to expand established ways of thinking. (Warm Data Training, Nora Bateson)

 

Knowing Your Own ‘Box’ to Think ‘Outside the Box’

The mindset or mental framework of those designing for behavior change significantly impacts the strategies they devise and how they communicate. The people creating a behavior change programme inevitably apply their own way of thinking, leading to its replication – or, depending on the dominant mindset of the target group, its rejection. It’s a chicken-and-egg problem. Becoming aware of one’s dominant perspective requires personal development and support. This made me realize how essential it is to do the “inner work” before rushing to change the “outer world.” (Spiral Dynamics by Beck & Cowan, Theory U)

 

Redefining Impact and Meaning: The Heart and Body as Compasses

Accompanying my father on his deathbed made me realize how meaningful it can be just to sit in silence together. Meaning doesn’t have to come from doing something extraordinary, from “reaching big numbers”, or from leaving a “significant legacy”. Doing what feels right to the heart creates an inner sense of meaning. Listening to the heart is a way of saying yes to life. It makes us feel alive, and as a part of life. It generates more aliveness. Measuring our impact becomes a secondary concern, as there is an experienced impact that releases energy.

 

Alignment Between the Why, How, and What Creates Meaningful Actions

Drawing rationally sound plans for societal change that don’t create an inner “oh yes!” won’t lead to meaningful change. Realizing these plans will require energy, and actions will follow not with ease but through force. In contrast, when there’s alignment between the “why,” “how,” and “what,” things fall into place effortlessly. When plans rise out of an embodied inner clarity, they are in service of what is ready to unfold. Opportunities appear out of nowhere, and collaboration and co-creation flourish. The “inner state of the intervener” is crucial in bringing about change in complex human systems. (Theory U, Charles Eisenstein’s books)

 

Unraveling My Own Myth About ‘Making’ Change: Eco-Awakening

During my sabbatical, I participated in a Vision Quest, a wilderness-based rite of passage that involves spending four days and nights in solitude in nature while fasting. It was the most extreme thing I had ever done, but I was so lost regarding who I was and what I was supposed to do with my life that I gave it a chance. I found myself sitting in the forest, watching the wind move the leaves. I had nothing to do, nowhere to go. I was just breathing. And the forest was breathing too. I was one with the forest – just another animal in it. That’s when it struck me: “I’m life. I’m nature. I am the environment. I’m not here to save myself or the environment. I’m here to be alive. I’m here to embrace and fully live my potential. I’m here to connect with my surroundings and share my gifts.”

It became clear to me why I was here. I stepped out of the narrative of being either the saviour of the environment or the one harming it. The dichotomy was gone. My motivation for taking action started to come from a different source. The story I tell myself about who I am and what my purpose is had rewritten itself. (Vision Fasts, The School of Lost Borders, Books of Bill Plotkin’s books)

 

Behaviour Change Doesn’t Happen by Design: Change Follows Its Own Course

All of these experiences, and many others, have shifted my thinking and presence. Today, when working with people and organizations in a change process, I apply the methods of listening, observing, and being present while asking questions.
Behavior change is not something that can be designed; it happens when the conditions are right, and the timing is right – like a ripe apple that falls effortlessly from the tree. I now see myself as the gardener, the steward.

 

Recommendation

I will leave the Designing for Behaviour Change ebook on the scaling4good website, as it summarises valuable approaches and methods, which can contribute to widen perspectives about how humans function and behave. However, I recommend avoiding applying the guide with the expectation of making predictable change happen. Instead, I suggest to get in touch with the people and organisations we want to influence, ask questions, listen, and spark a new conversation.

 

References and Interesting Resources

Integral Theory

Warm Data & Transcontextual Reasearch

Spiral Dynamics

Theory U

Wilderness-based rites of passage

 

ChatGpt 3.5 has been used in the spelling and grammar revision of this blog.

Please share your thoughts and comments with us

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.