New votes in L&D – Wil Procter – Remember to learn

Having early training as a professional psychologist, I have a bias of wanting to know the solutions are based on evidence or to support decision -making based on evidence. It can be difficult to sort good sales from real models and theories that have value.

This piece of Wil Procter is useful to explain the Com-B approach to diagnose a problem and offer potential solutions. I have never heard of Com-B before, and this is not the product of a training company. Wil clearly explains how this model can be useful for L&D.

Wil Procter is a strategy and innovation director with training in learning technology and digital transformation. Wil speaks regularly during conferences and sharing useful advice and tools for people L&D on Liendin.

I do not modify or modify the written documents for me. I am not an editor, and it is not something that matters to this series. Each piece is subject to the author's own writing style. I do not check the facts either, unless there is something that should be checked.

The Behavioral Science Revolution in L&D: a Com-B approach

In the world of learning and development, people usually come to us because they want someone or a group of people to do something differently. However, it is easy to fall into the “training trap”, overvalating lessons to solve each problem. And a way of avoiding this trap is to borrow from the science of behavior.

The science of behavior is based on psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics to understand human actions and interactions. It examines decision -making processes, the influence of social and environmental factors and communication models.

Such an extent in an area can be intimidating and it is not realistic for all L&D people to become behavioral scientists, but fortunately, there is a practical framework that we can use to effectively apply information from behavior science and choose appropriate interventions to support our audience to make positive changes.

COM-B presentation

The Com-B model, designed by Susan Michie, Maartje Van Stralen and Robert West, postulates that behavior (B) occurs by the interaction of capacity (C), opportunity (O) and motivation (m). The simplicity and the intuitive nature of this frame make it a powerful tool to identify behavioral barriers and the design of interventions.

Com-B components:

• Capacity (C): Include physical and psychological capacities, such as skills and knowledge.
  • Physical: Skills, strength, endurance.
  • Psychological: Knowledge, mental skills, resilience.
• Opportunity (o): External factors that facilitate or hamper behavior.
  • Physical: Resources, time, accessibility.
  • Social: Cultural standards, social support.
• Motivation (M): Reflective and automatic process that influences behavior.
  • Reflective: Conscious evaluations, intentions.
  • Automatic: Habits, impulses, emotional reactions.

Apply Com-B in L&D

The first question to ask with Com-B is: “What should change?” This question prevents the instinctive reaction from creating a course and rather encourages a holistic vision of problems. Thus, starting with the behavior you want to encourage, consider:

• Who needs to do the behavior.
• When and where the behavior occurs.
• How often it should occur.
• Which will be involved.

Then use discussion groups, interviews and observations to determine what prevents people from doing this behavior now. The list below gives a good starting point on what to look for.

Design interventions

With the obstacles identified, the COM-B frame gives a complete list of interventions which are most likely to operate. These fall into the following categories:

• Education: increase knowledge or understanding.
• Persuasion: Use communication to induce positive or negative feelings or stimulate action.
• Inception: Create awarded rewards.
• Coricon: Creation of an expectation of punishment.
• Training: acquire skills.
• Restriction: Use of rules to reduce the possibility of engaging in target behavior (or to increase target behavior by reducing the opportunity to engage in competing behavior).
• Environmental restructuring: modification of the physical or social context.
• Modeling: provide an example to people to vacuum or imitate.
• Activation: Increase in means / reduction in obstacles to the increase in capacities (beyond education and training) or opportunities (beyond environmental restructuring).

And can be chosen according to the areas of the Com-B that you think you have barriers using the cartography below.

These categories will probably give you the inspiration for the interventions that you can set up to encourage behavior, but the frame also has another level of detail – a complete list of techniques of behavior chance that have proven to be effective for each of these categories, to which you can access here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/behaviour-change/resources/online-tools-behaviour-change

Measure success

Because the framework is focused on modifying behavior, the results of your interventions should be easy to measure. Generally, the most effective way to do so is to set up a hypothesis when you define behavior at first (remember this question-“What should change?”

To conclude…

The integration of behavioral sciences and COM-B framework allows L&D professionals to create programs that not only teach new skills, but also to promote environments where these skills are effectively applied. This approach guarantees a change in lasting behavior and aligns learning initiatives on organizational objectives.

Read more in -depth:

The behavior change wheel, by Susan Michie, Lou Atkins and Robert West is the essential resource of the Com-B framework. More information here: https://www.behaviourchangewheel.com/

Julie Dirksen's book “Talk to the Elephant” also gives a very accessible starting point on the frame specifically for L&D people: https://usablearning.com/the-books/elephant/

This article is inspired by a longer guide written by Wil Procter and Jessica Holt Ph.D. which is available at request for https://nazarelearning.com/ /