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Behavioural Change on a global scale

Behavioural change on a large scale is a tough challenge, but there are ways in which it can be made easier. Could combating climate change, following COP28, adopt insights from behavioural change in organizations?

Much of my career has been devoted to helping clients bring about organizational change. Sometimes that change is imposed (for example, a merger of two firms, or changes in market conditions). At other times, the change comes from within, driven by identified opportunities to collaborate more effectively, or to communicate and share information better. In either case, such initiatives almost always require that people in the organization alter their behaviour. They need to start doing things they were not doing, quit doing some of the things they were, or do some of the things they were doing in a different way. And while this is a bit of a tongue twister, it is still easier said than done.

Imagine you’re a team manager participating, with dozens of your peers, in some plenary session concluding several days workshopping the ins and outs of a proposed change initiative in your place of work. A subgroup has produced a common, aspirational but somewhat vague statement capturing the essence of what should…