We need to look at change from an individual and system lens...
One of the main things that we think about in change is how to get people to adopt things, but adoption is only the first step, why... because the real challenge is going to happen after, when those new ways of working have to survive under the orgs day to day reality.
This took me a while to realize in the past and in the begining of my career, because while we know it, we did not really account for it.
I had a wonderful coversation with someone this week, who understands this and knows how important the system part of things is to change.
But how can we actually try and address this in a realistic and achievable way?
Well, this is where I am focusing on these day, moving towards the good area of implementation science - because more of my work has been moving to org/culture change.
See, behavioral science gives us models to understand why people do or don’t do things, which is essential to change, as it gives you the tools to design better strategies....but even the best-designed interventions/stratregies can fall short the system they sits in doesn’t also behave differently.
That’s what implementation science focuses on.. basically how interventions are adopted, integrated, and sustained in complex settings.
It looks at things like: -How leadership, culture, and priorities align (the inner setting) -How resources, processes, and structures reinforce or block change -How people plan, reflect, and adapt (the process)
When you combine both disciplines (and I am not saying it is easy, but we have been doing it and have had very interesting insights.. including how we incoprtate and align strategies from both )you are able to get a much clearer picture.
In practice, this means every change project should start with two parallel diagnostics:
1.
Behavioral
What’s limiting people from doing a behavior 2.
Systemic
What’s limiting the organization’s ability to support those behaviors leadership alignment, resources, feedback, policy, or incentives?
Once you have that map, you can understand where you can and can't drive change, where your levers are and where you can design aligned strategies:
-Strategies for people (training, feedback, coaching). -Strategies for systems (structures, tools, workflows). -Strategies for meaning and reinforcement (leadership modeling, recognition, culture).
This dual approach can really change how teams work, which means that instead of pushing harder on comms or training, you start designing systems that make the right behavior the easiest and most reinforced thing to do.
Image credit
CFIR 2.0 - Center for Implementation