Not so long ago, we had a discussion with Julie Dirksen about how to help people learn at work, with Julie mixing in stuff from her classic book Design for How People Learn along with additional helpful tips.
In that discussion, there were some times we talked about desired behavior changes and how some times, learning along won’t contribute to that behavior change. That’s usually because the “problem” isn’t an issue of a knowledge or skills gap, but other factors are driving the behavior or lack thereof.
This is something Julie covers in some detail in her book, and it’s also something she’s planning on covering in a lot more detail in an upcoming book (stay tuned for that one). But she was nice enough to join us and talk about it here, and in particular to talk about the COM-B behavior change model, which is also sometimes called the Behavior Change Wheel.
Check out the recorded discussion below, and then scroll down to see a series of related links and resources.
Of course, we appreciate everything Julie’s doing–the great books, the discussions, the sharing of information, etc.–and we thank her. Be sure to buy her Design for How People Learn book and keep an eye out for the upcoming book on supporting behavior change.
Links and resources below!
- Learning Management Systems
- Online Workforce Training Courses
- Workforce Scheduling Software
- Mobile Training & Performance Apps
Here are links to things we talked about…
- Julie Dirksen’s book Design for How People Learn
- Julie’s UsableLearning website
- Our previous recorded discussion about designing for learning
- Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point, which includes a summary of the vaccination study Julie mentioned
- Atul Gawande’s book Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance, which discusses some of the struggles with getting doctors and nurses to wash their hands
- The University College London Center for Behaviour Change
- Susan Michie’s COM-B Behavior Change Model
- The Behavior Change Wheel
- The Behavior Change Technique Taxonomy (BCT) app at the Apple Store and the Google Store
- Julie’s Design for Behavior Change slide share
- More behavior change resources at Julie’s website/blog
- Steve Krug’s book Don’t Make Me Think
- Amy Edmonson’s book about psychological safety called The Fearless Organization (I don’t believe we ever used the words “psychological safety” but I often felt it hovering just off-stage)
- The Behavioral Insight Team’s EAST Model
- Dan Ariely
- Daniel Kahneman
- Some thoughts on performance support and job aids
- Poka-Yoke
- Prevention through Design
- Thomas Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model (BEM) for HPI Performance & Cause Analysis (this seems to me somewhat similar to COM-B so I’m tossing it in here)
- Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us on motivation (Julie began touching on issues related to this while talking about financial incentives v. intrinsic motivation)
- Commonly Used Training Evaluation Methods (with Dr. Will Thalheimer) and Will Thalheimer’s LTEM Learning Evaluation Model
- Julie’s course on Designing for Engagement
- Julie on Twitter
- Julie’s Facebook group
Feel free to download the Mager/Pipe Problem-Solving Analysis Flowchart Infographic below while you’re WAY DOWN HERE!
Analyzing & Solving Workplace Performance Problems Flowchart
Download this free infographic, based on the famous Mager/Pipe flowchart from their book Analyzing Performance Problems, to determine the cause of workplace performance problems and then select the appropriate solution/intervention.
