Two Ways an L&D Leader Can Make Sure Their Training Is Creating Behavior Change
Today’s guest is Matt Gjertsen, former Air Force instructor pilot and founder of Better Everyday Studios. He is giving us an outside perspective on behavior change and bringing some great insights to the nonprofit sector.
Why are we surprised when we want our learners to change something and they don't?
Behavior change is a funny thing and even a simple change can feel very complex. We have to intentionally design for behavior change at every step in the process.
Listen to the episode or scroll down to read the blog post ↓
Key Points:
05:19 The importance of focusing on behavior change in Learning and Development
09:50 The risk of not focusing on behavior change in Learning and Development
14:24 Deciding which behavior to focus on
17:51 Two things an L&D leader can do to make sure their training is creating behavior change
21:16 Getting as specific as possible with the behavior you're trying to change
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Two Ways an L&D Leader Can Make Sure Their Training Is Creating Behavior Change
I went to my primary care physician last year and they did some bloodwork. She called me after the appointment to say everything looked good.
So…
I didn't take any action.
I didn't do anything different because I wasn't aware there was any kind of problem.
Later in the year, I saw a specialist about something else. They pulled up my recent bloodwork and pointed out that my iron levels were a little low. They suggested I take iron at least every other day.
So…
I bought some iron. I took it when I remembered to but I wasn't super regular about it. I didn't have a sense of urgency motivating me to do it.
Then, I saw a different specialist about something else. They too pulled up my bloodwork from earlier that year, but this doctor paused. She told me that my iron levels were really low and if I didn’t get them up, she would want to start me on an IV to give me iron.
Well, that's a completely different picture. And you know what I did? I started taking my iron.
It wasn't until:
someone made me aware of the problem,
gave me instructions on how to fix it,
and made me uncomfortable thinking about the alternative
that I decided to change my behavior.
And even then I had to set an alarm on my phone to remind me to do it.
Behavior change is a funny thing. Taking iron is a simple task, yet I needed awareness, knowledge, a sense of urgency, and a prompt to do it. So why are we surprised when we want our learners to change something and they don't? Even a simple change can feel pretty complex.
We have to intentionally design for behavior change at every step in the process.
And while I do this in my consulting work with nonprofits, I wanted to bring you an outside perspective. Someone who has worked in other industries where behavior change came with a true sense of urgency, maybe even life and death urgency.
Matt Gjertsen is a former Air Force instructor pilot and ex-SpaceX learning leader and he had some great insights on designing training for behavior change. Matt is the founder of Better Everyday Studios and is on a mission to help companies develop top talent so that they can solve tomorrow's problems today.
In this blog post, we’re covering the following:
1) The Importance of Focusing on Behavior Change in Learning and Development
When Matt left the military, he went through a time of transition which was very stressful. He was moving states, he was starting a new job, and he and his wife had just welcomed their first child. To cope with all this change, Matt went through a big personal development journey.
He found something interesting in the personal development space.
“In the personal development space, there's lots of energy. And it is all about behaviors, right? Because you are going to do something new in your life. And so when we transition from personal development to talent development, for some reason, we all switch into school mode. And we're all talking about knowledge.” - Matt Gjertsen
Matt explains that with personal development and talent development, we are essentially trying to do the same thing except rather than doing it for ourselves, we're trying to do it for other people.
“This focus on practical behaviors, things you can see, it was the only way I could ground what we were doing.” - Matt Gjertsen
Plus, utilizing practical behaviors in your training makes it easier to measure impact on the other side of it.
Matt gives this example:
What are we trying to achieve today?
I want managers to be able to give feedback using the situation behavior impact model.
Can somebody give feedback?
I don't know.
Are they good at giving feedback?
I don't know.
Can they use this model?
Yes or no.
It's a very easy thing to measure.
2) The Risk of Not Focusing on Behavior Change in Learning and Development
I asked Matt what happens when L&D doesn't focus on behavior and rather takes a more school-like approach.
His answer… information overload.
Courses become way too long and filled with way too much stuff.
He gives the example of a health and safety training he worked on at SpaceX. He was going through the existing content on slips, trips, and falls. There was so much technical information about stairs included. For example when a railing is required, how many rails are needed, and when a kick plate is needed.
Great information if you’re building the stairs… but if you’re not building the stairs, all this information is just a distraction.
“Cognitive overload, I think, is the number one risk when you forget about behavior and you think about things from a knowledge perspective. Just by its nature, you're going to lead to cognitive overload for everybody taking the content. They're not going to know what to focus on.” - Matt Gjertsen
By focusing on behavior, you can strip out all the unnecessary information.
Matt explains that this cognitive overload is a waste of time, effort, and money for an organization. And it’s hard to measure if you are having an impact.
I always say knowledge doesn't equal behavior change.
For example, I know I should do my laundry every day if I don't want it to pile up. And yet, there are weeks when I question how many people live in my house because the laundry has piled up. I haven't done it every day even though I KNOW that I should.
And so knowledge, that's not the same as behavior change. And if you're looking for that action, you're looking to be able to measure that impact.
“For people who want to get in shape, everybody knows what that takes. Move more, eat less. [...] It's not a knowledge issue, it's something else. That's why personal training is such a big industry because they help you unlock that other thing that's missing, to change your behavior, rather than just giving you information.” - Matt Gjertsen
3) How Do You Know Which Behavior to Focus On?
Matt explains that this is so simple. You have to ask the question:
What behavior are you trying to change?
“Asking them that question, can very often just completely reframe the whole conversation.” - Matt Gjertsen
Matt gives us an example:
He worked on a project where they were trying to create a sales onboarding program. A lot of what these programs focus on is knowledge. For example knowledge of the script or the product.
“But at the end of the day, especially if you're a new SDR, that is going to be doing outside sales on the phone a bunch, talking to a lot of people, sometimes it just comes down to comfort on the phone. That's the behavior.” - Matt Gjertsen
And so in the training program that they built, they got learners used to that physical behavior of picking up the phone, holding it, and practicing with it to help build muscle memory.
That's a great example of a behavior that you're looking to improve or change and then a way of helping people learn that behavior.
4) How to Ensure Your Training Is Creating Behavior Change
Matt recommends two things that an L&D leader can do to make sure their training is creating behavior change.
Ask the question: What behavior are you trying to change?
Starting with the end in mind
This is a mistake so many people make.
“You have an idea for a course. [...] And then you get to the very end, you've made all the slides, you've made all the recordings, and then you're like, so what should the quiz be?” - Matt Gjertsen
You need to identify the behavior change at the very beginning BEFORE you do anything else.
This is one thing that Matt says will dramatically change all of your learning.
“Now, whenever we start making an outline for a course, the first thing on every outline is behavioral objectives. So doing that right from the get-go is 100% the most important thing that you can do to really change the outcomes of your training, and make sure they're more behavior-focused.” - Matt Gjertsen
Matt recommends starting small.
Start with a single leadership development session of 60 minutes and approach it from a different angle. Instead of speaking for 50 minutes and having a breakout session for the last 10 minutes, speak for 20 minutes and spend the rest of the time on breakout sessions and practicing behaviors.
5) Get as Specific as Possible With the Behavior You’re Trying to Change
Matt has developed a framework for behavior change - specificity, context, and connection.
“By specificity, what I mean is just getting as specific as possible with the behavior you're trying to change.” - Matt Gjertsen
Matt emphasizes that this can be so simple.
Narrow down: “We want people to be good leaders.”
To: “We want people to be able to give feedback.”
And then even further to: “We want people to give feedback using the SBI model.”
“The more you can narrow down to a specific behavior, the easier it is to create the training, the easier it is to measure success, the faster you can move, the more engaged people will probably be because they clearly know what they're trying to get. If there's a piece of advice I would give, it's narrow in your focus on things.” - Matt Gjertsen
This may feel crazy because you think you have so much to do and that there is so much going on.
“I think a lot of times we're wasting a lot of time and effort when with a behavioral lens of focusing on the right things, it can honestly be surprisingly simple and surprisingly minimal of what you need to provide.” - Matt Gjertsen
If you want some more information on behavior change, take a look at these past episodes:
Episode 16: Use THIS Process if You Want to Create Behavior Change with Training
Episode 32: 5 Coaching Questions to Spark Behavior Change in Your People Managers
To hear the full conversation I had with Matt Gjertsen on the Learning for Good Podcast, scroll all the way up and tune into episode 85.
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