Picture the scene.

You're at your desk, jumping from call to call, and working through a to-do list that never shrinks.

Stakeholders, deadlines, last-minute asks. Business as usual.

Ping! An email lands. There's a new change programme rolling out. Training attached.

You roll your eyes. Another one. From HQ, no doubt.

They never see what it’s like out here. Always pushing new ways of working like it’s easy.

You skim the summary. Bold vision. Big ambition. It sounds great.

But all you can think is: this is going to be disruptive.

You’ve just found a rhythm that works. Why fix what isn’t broken?

You flag the training for later. Quietly hope it disappears.

Spoiler: it doesn’t.

As the deadline nears, you squeeze it in between two meetings.

It paints an exciting vision for the future. 

But doesn’t explain how the company will get there. Or what it means for you. 

What do you need to do differently?

Oh well, can’t be that important then.

You complete it. Tick the box. One less thing to worry about.

You close the tab and carry on, unchanged.

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It’s the scenario every change leader dreads

A carefully crafted initiative, rooted in strategy and backed by leadership, is reduced to a tick-box exercise. 

One more email to ignore. One more training to rush through.

Not because people don’t care, but because change is hard, and business-as-usual is louder.

Sound familiar?

There are psychological headwinds that affect your people and get in the way when you’re trying to make change happen. To sail through those headwinds and beat the stats on failed change programmes, you need more than one-and-done training.

You need people to WANT to change their ways.

You need to give people the SKILLS to change their behaviour.

You need to REINFORCE their learning and behaviours, in an environment that strengthens the change over time.

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One-and-done training is a trap we’ve seen people fall into time and again

And frankly, we’ve had enough of it.

Ineffective courses have had their day.

It’s time to bottle the best of behavioural science, organisational psychology and real-world know-how into learning that makes change happen: Inspire, Train, Sustain.

Inspire

Why we need it

Before we attempt to learn any new skills and knowledge, we have to be ready and motivated to receive them.

Trouble is by default, we’re not psychologically ready to upend the habits we’ve built up over years.

So all too often, these challenges mean change initiatives fall flat before they even get started.

Here’s why, and what we can do about it.

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Psychological headwinds

Status quo bias

We prefer to keep things as they are, and so consistently resist change.
A big reason for that is:

Risk aversion

Most people avoid risks (like change and trying new things), because we feel the pain of losses about double as much as we feel the pleasure of gains. It’s far safer to keep things as they are and swerve even the chance of feeling the inevitable pain that comes with embedding new ways of working.

Ostrich effect

We avoid negative information when it becomes overwhelming – particularly when it’s about ourselves or our work – sticking our heads in the sand instead of engaging with it.

Reactance

When we feel forced or coerced into doing something, we reassert our freedom by rebelling - sometimes loudly, sometimes by ‘quiet quitting’.

Low salience

Our behaviour is most influenced by what we notice and understand. When we don’t notice something, it’s unlikely to influence our behaviour.

Low motivation

We put effort into things that we enjoy, identify with, or feel like we’ll be rewarded for. Without any of these, action won’t happen.

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You can see why many new initiatives fail 

Colleagues often don’t see the need to change their current ways of working.

They don’t want to be told they’re doing something wrong - especially from the mystery author of an elearning course!

They don’t want to be told how to do their jobs without having a say.

And they don’t have the motivation to tear down their current approach to do something new without being totally invested in the change first.
Put simply - by default, the psychological ground for change isn’t fertile. In fact, often it’s actively hostile!

Thankfully, psychology can do more than diagnose these headwinds. Decades of psychological research can help us solve them, too. 

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Behavioural solutions

Reframe the status quo as riskier

It’s like that old parable.
A CFO says, “What if we train everyone and they leave!”

The CEO replies, “What if we don’t and they stay?”

We have to reveal the face that standing still with the status quo while the world moves forwards means we’ll get left behind – and that’s much more risky than evolving.

Provide certainty

Ambiguity creates anxiety. But giving people evidence of a high chance of success is the antidote to risk aversion. Use social proof and authority figures, global trends, competitor benchmarks, expert analysis and internal data to paint a picture of success that we can achieve here too.

Give autonomy

A choice we make is more powerful than a choice we take. Let people choose how and when they learn to avoid reactance and foster a sense of ownership over their change.

Use framing and storytelling

An effective change story is: “We’re a [value e.g. frugal] company, so we were right to [make the incumbent choices we did at the time], and it’s served us well. Now the world has changed, a [value] company needs to evolve to stay ahead. [The change we’re looking to make]  can help us become a better [value] company, and hit new heights with new methods fit for a new age.”

If we can frame the change as a continuation of our pathway, i.e. changes goes with the grain of people’s confirmation bias, we have a much better chance of our people listening to us make the case for change.

Build intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

We feel intrinsically motivated when we feel competent, in control, and connected to others.  We feel extrinsically motivated when we receive tangible rewards, or avoid punishments.

Extrinsic rewards (like bonuses) are a great way to break the inertia of the status quo and get people started on a new path.

Then intrinsic rewards need to pick up the baton – fostering a sense of satisfaction and mastery that keeps people enjoying performing and professing long into the future.

Shifting from one to the other is key to lasting change.

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A cautionary tale on how extrinsic motivation can crowd out intrinsic motivation: 

An old man was constantly teased by a group of ten-year-olds who passed by his house every day after school. They mocked him, saying he was old, dumb, and ugly.

Tired of their insults, the man came up with a plan. On Monday, he met the kids outside and told them that if they returned the next day to insult him again, he would pay each of them £1.

Excited, the children showed up early on Tuesday and shouted even more insults. The man kept his promise and paid them each £1.

He told them to come back the next day, but this time they’d only get 25p each. The kids still thought it was worth it and returned on Wednesday to taunt him.

After paying them again, the man said he could only offer 1p if they continued. 

The children scoffed at the low reward. ‘1p?! That’s nowhere near worth our time!’

And they never bothered him again.

The moral of the story?
Leave nice old men alone. But also, make sure extrinsic motivations, like bonuses, don’t crowd out intrinsic motivations, like a sense of belonging and mastery.
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This is how we create fire in our people’s bellies

Storytelling, framing, identity, evidence, ownership, and control. The key elements of motivation we need on our side.

We create urgency by explaining that standing still while others move on is riskier than forging ahead.

We nurture identity and confirmation bias, by framing the change as the natural evolution of our values – something we’ve been working towards all this time.

We provide control, allowing our colleagues to choose how to express our shared identity and reach the change goals we set. “We’ve always been at the forefront on data. So managers, how might we help our teams apply our data-centricity to AI?”

We show the pathway to success, minimising uncertainty, and giving people the sense that this change is possible – tried and tested even. Not some pipe-dream from on-high.

We kick-start change via rewards for trying new techniques. Then keep them going long-term by making them satisfying; even enjoyable to do.

Communications that Inspire could look like…

• Diagnostic tools reveal the risks of staying the same in a changing world.
• Animations or videos that tell your change story. 
• Branded email templates that create a visual, collective identity around the change initiative.
• Webinars/Town Halls that deliver messages of confidence and certainty.
• Pre-change manager packs that give managers support and autonomy over driving change in their teams
• Podcasts that engage in two-way conversation with employees.

Train

Why we need it

Feeling inspired isn’t enough on its own.

It’s all very well getting fired up to run a marathon. But without decent running shoes, a solid training plan, and plenty of practice, going the distance is going to be painful!

Motivation has to be backed up with capability – the skills and tools we need to change our behaviour. 

All too often, we flood people with information and hope they’ll turn it into capability themselves. But research shows they won’t.

Here’s why, and what we can do about it.

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Psychological headwinds

Cognitive overload

When we receive too much information, we simply avoid engaging ​with it unless we're highly motivated to wade through it all. ‘TLDR’ is a well-known phenomenon for a reason!

Confirmation bias

We only notice, interpret, recall and favour information that supports our existing beliefs. If new training doesn’t follow principles we already believe, we’ll ignore it.

Psychological safety

We need to feel secure enough to voice our concerns, share ideas, try new things, and fail publicly to change effectively.

Dunning-Kruger effect

We overestimate our abilities in areas where we lack expertise. "I don’t need to be taught that. How hard can it be?" This often means we don’t take learning seriously.

Low self-efficacy

On the flip-side, if we don't believe we have the capacity or confidence to change or improve, we're unlikely to try.

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This is where a lot of training falls flat

Huge swathes of long paragraphs and endless clicks. It makes us zone out.

Whenever we’re presented with giant slabs of information to process, our motivation levels have to be sky-high for us to take them in.

Training has to feel relevant to the real practicalities of our jobs, or we just won’t focus on them – it’s just not valuable enough to our personal development for us to bother.

And today, we have an attention economy to battle against, too.

When people are taking our training, their email and Teams chats are only a tab or a tap away, not to mention their TikTok, Instagram,or  LinkedIn, which each spend billions to deliberately distract them from the task at hand.

Today’s training can’t be complacent. 

Colleagues expect the kind of drab training we’ve all dragged ourselves through at some point.

But, like we might expect our train to be delayed, that’s not what we want.

What we want is for training to be valuable. And interesting. And relevant. And practical. And useful. To drive our career forward. And maybe even be fun, if we’re lucky.

In fact, it should be. Since research shows we learn best when we’re enjoying ourselves.

Luckily, behavioural techniques give us brilliant building blocks to hold people’s attention, and maximise its use once we have it.

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Behavioural solutions

The generation effect

We remember information far better when we have to deduce it or apply it for ourselves, than when we passively read, see, or hear it.

Chunking

Break complex subjects into manageable chunks. Like the ones you’re reading now.

Sequencing

Spread complex ideas out over time and across different media so varied learning preferences are catered for, and each concept has a chance to crystallise in people’s minds before being built upon with new information.

Fluency

Make sure ideas are written and designed in ways that are easy to understand. No blinding with science or insider jargon.

That doesn’t mean dumbing down. As Einstein once said, “Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler”.

Go with the grain of confirmation bias

Show people they're right in their values/beliefs, but that those same beliefs can be channelled in new directions to reach new heights.

Provide implementation tools

A series of bitesize, active learning experiences where colleagues DO rather than READ.
The closer these can be to real-world application, the more we’ll give people the  belief they can apply these new skills with aplomb.

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Training that drives change looks like…

• Real-world simulations that provide a chance to practice and receive feedback.
• Podcasts that tackle nuanced subjects.
• Playbooks that embed new concepts firmly in day-to-day activities.
• Scenario and activity-led digital learning that challenges employees to figure things out for themselves.
• Explainer animations that land complex concepts in a visual way.
• F2f training for discussion-based or experiential moments.
• Facilitator guides that ensure consistency across F2F delivery.

Sustain

Why we need it

We forget 80% of what we learned after 30 days.

Yep. When there’s no attempt to retain information we learn, that knowledge ebbs away incredibly quickly. 

For learning to take root long term, it needs to be reinforced – with opportunities to recall it, and most importantly use it consistently over time. 

If it’s not, our audiences will forget what they learned in days, and start to believe the business wasn’t serious about implementing this change in the first place. 

Here’s why.

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Psychological headwinds

Forgetting curve

Retention declines over time when there's no attempt to retain it. Like we said above, we forget around 80% of things we learn after 30 days. In fact the studies show we forget around 60% after just 1 day! It’s little wonder one-off courses rarely change behaviour on their own.

Habitual inertia

We default back to our prior habits unless we're reminded to implement new knowledge in situ.

Inhospitable social norms

If those around us aren't changing, and the business isn’t pushing it, we’ll assume the training was just a passing phase that leadership isn’t serious about, and fall back to our previous ways of working.

Sunk cost bias

When we've put a lot of effort into the old ways of working it can be hard to let them go when we’re back at our desks – even when we know changing would be better.

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This is a recipe for change fatigue

A dash of apathy here, a sprinkling of old habits there – in circumstances like these, even the most compelling training can't make change happen on its own. 

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If people go back to their desks and nothing has changed and there’s nothing to remind them of what they learned, it’ll gently trickle out of their ears over the next 30 days.

This is what leads to cynicism and a long-term belief that change initiatives don’t achieve anything.

We have to nip this cynicism in the bud.

Making sure training is recalled, reinforced, applied, adjusted, and rewarded – consistently, long after the initial training, so it can not only take root, but bloom into results.

Here are some key behavioural science principles that can help us do just that.

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Behavioural solutions

Spacing effect

Using micro-learning moments to reinforce information across time and media, and maintain recall of key points before we lose the information forever.

Back-at-the-desk tools / interventions

Making sure the new way of working is integrated into existing processes right at the moment they’re needed. Like meeting formats, briefing templates, and practical on-the-job reminders.

Use social network effects

Creating communities and safe spaces to ask questions, and help desks for live queries.

Social proof

Surrounding people with evidence of the change making a positive influence on the metrics that matter. Celebrating those who achieve success. Making the change aspirational. Through events, communities, and manager packs for reviews and recruitment.

Feedback loops

Constantly providing timely feedback on decisions to encourage new behaviours, re-steer the old, and celebrate wins.

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B = f(P, E) – Behaviour is a function of people and their environments

So said the great psychologist Kurt Lewin.

For people to flourish and change and evolve, they not only need the motivation and capability to change, they need a nurturing environment that facilitates change too.

Our work environments are made up of our people, our processes, and the tools we use every day.

Get them all firing, and encouraging people along the new path, and we make the journey to sustained behaviour change so much easier and so much more enjoyable, and best of all – so much more likely. 

Environments that sustain change include…

• Case studies and user-generated content that demonstrate success as it happens.
• Communities of practice that keep new ways of working alive.
• Meetings-in-a-box that make it easy for managers to keep the initiative or new behaviours in the spotlight.
• Just-in-time tools and reminders of new skills at exactly the moment they’re relevant.
• Cheat sheets so employees can refer back to the ‘how’ in the moment of need.
• Sharing evidence of the change with before and after benchmarking.
• Sequenced microlearning that combats the forgetting curve. 2 or 3 minutes at a time is enough. 

That's all folks! Thank you for reading.

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Want to know how we created Inspire, Train, Sustain?

Hard-won experience gave us the instinct that this was the way to go, but we had to validate our bias with the rigour of research! So we started digging into the best frameworks out there to see what we could learn and feed into our own.

Download the PDF version of the whitepaper to access the appendix, which includes the five frameworks we looked into, and the lessons we took from them.

Thank you for reading!

Georgie Cooke, Learning Experience Consultant, Lima Delta

George Quicksmith, Creative Behavioural Scientist, Quicksmith Consulting