Change can be a confusing journey at times, particularly when it is or requires behavioural or sustained cultural change. The questions can overwhelm, what does success look like in the short term, the long term, for stakeholders, for clients. What interventions will be most effective, for how long, for whom? Who is accountable for what, who gets the credit for what, what are the casual linkages, what kind of evidence is credible? Along with how we work across boundaries and an eco-system that is vast and ever changing itself.
Trying to manoeuvre through behavioural change territory is likely to encounter mountains of data, valleys of uncertainty and lots of dead ends. Unless, you have a map.
A strategy map for behavioural and cultural change clarifies your intention, such as the why, who, what and how along with the partnerships needed. Like a map, it also has way-points along the journey and details of the specific organisational practices that will be added, changed or subtracted and how the change can be objectively monitored and sustained.
A key difference with a behavioural strategy map, is that it needs to cope with the complexity of open systems and hence is not linear by design and also iterates with feedback. A bureaucratic or programmatic approach that focus on results and impacts can reduce success when it comes to behavioural or cultural change as it reduces risk taking, innovation and shared ownership. Things that are all essential for behavioural change. In contrast, a behavioural strategy map takes into account the organic contributions and conditions necessary for sustainable cultural change and creates commitment to long-term, large-scale change with local ownership.
