Most of us started 2022 with some kind of change in mind. From personal health to political action, we set out to do something to make life better. By now, we likely learned that change was harder than we expected. So, I thought it might be a good time to share one of my favorite tools to better understand what’s getting in the way of making the change we want.
Whether you’re a public official attempting to implement a recycling program or an individual trying to change your diet, lasting change requires understanding why the status quo exists and the personal or community environment that sustains it. It’s tempting to ignore this part of the change process, choosing instead to increase the pressure and try to force change.
It’s taken many failed attempts to learn that I don’t have that kind of willpower to make changes in my own life, and in public leadership, whether you have the will to change or not, dictating change for others should never be your go-to method. For many reasons, #1 – it rarely works.
So, if you’re running into roadblocks trying to change a behavior, don’t waste time trying to “sheer will” yourself or your community to change, step back and try to understand the enabling environment you’re working in so you can focus your efforts on identifying and reconfiguring the barriers in your way.
A cornerstone for many Social and Behavior Change theories, the Social-Ecological Model is a way to make sense of the environment that influences our behavior. It begins by looking at the individual level with the personal characteristics of the person trying to change a certain behavior. Then, it looks at the social environment around that person, like their family, community, and workplace, to see what social norms and internalized beliefs might be influencing their ability to make the change. Finally, it looks at the structures like governments that allow or restrict that person’s ability to make a change.
It sounds technical, but I’ve found it very useful in trying to understand my own behaviors so to make this easy, I’ll use my own change goal as an example.
MY GOAL: Send my book proposal to 5 agents this week.
MY CURRENT PROGRESS: None.
So, using this model, I’m going to first look at my own characteristics to see what might be getting in the way. Here are a few things I can consider:
- Intent: When I set this goal, did I intend to complete it? Not really, it was aspirational. I intended to complete at least 3.
- Self-efficacy: Do I believe I am able to send my proposal? Not really, I need to complete a synopsis first, and I’m struggling to finish it. The right words aren’t coming.
- Goals: Does this fit into my broader goals? Yes, I want my book to be published.
Judging from this list, I’ve already uncovered some barriers I can work to change. First, I should set goals I believe are achievable – if I intend to complete three, my goal should be three.
Second, I can identify what needs to be done in order to send my proposal. If I need to finish the synopsis first, I will need to re-frame how I’m thinking about the synopsis – writing doesn’t come from somewhere outside of me, I have control over what I write.
Third, since my goal fits into my broader goal, I should place a sticky note or some other reminder on my computer so that I remember why I need to send my book proposals. Completing difficult tasks gets a lot easier when we remember why we want to complete them.
In my next post, I’ll go through an example to illustrate the social and structural levels of the Socio-Ecological Model. But, this is already getting really long so I’ll stop here!
Read more about the Socio-Ecological Model & UNICEF’s Behavioural Drivers Model here.