Most change programs start with the solution, why is that?

A new system gets rolled so you build a training program, but you notice adoption is low, so you send more comms... and so on.

The problem isn't that these are bad ideas.. the problem is they're usually guesses, because rarely are we thinking abou tthe diagnosis layer, the one that asks what's actually making the current behavior harder than the new one.

When we start working with a client, the first thing we do is diagnose barriers for behavior we're trying to encourage.. not with gut feel or a stakeholder workshop where the loudest voice wins, but with a structured way of looking at three things:

a) Does the environment support it?

This one gets put last most of the time, remember people don't behave in a vacuum... they work inside structures that either make the new behavior easy or make it nearly impossible.

Think about the norms on a team, what the manager actually rewards (not what the policy says), whether the tools support the new way of working, whether there's time in the day to do what you're asking... if you don't fix this first, the rest will be tough.

b) Can people actually do it?

This is about capability... here we want to know if the person knows what's expected of them? Do they have the knowledge to make the right call in the moment? Can they remember to do the new thing when the pressure is on?

A lot of change programs assume that training solves most problems... sometimes it does, but often the issue isn't skill, it's something else.

c) Motivation is the one everyone jumps to first... and it is actually the most difficult one to deal with.

People just need to want it more is not a strategy, motivation includes emotions, beliefs, identity, meaning and so on..sometimes the motivation is there but the environment wont allow it.

These three areas give you a starting point to structure your diagnostic, the one missing layer in most change programs.

Without it...a team spends months building a change program around motivation, we need buy-in, we need engagement, when the real issue was that the system made the new behavior imposible to do.

Getting the diagnosis right doesn't guarantee the intervention will work... but getting it wrong almost guarantees it won't.

Where in your current change work do you have your diagnostic layer?