beacons behavior change model presentation

communications

1. © 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates.
BEACONS
Behavior
Change Model

2. 1| © 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
This guide is designed to help communicators assess their current knowledge of
what drives their stakeholders’behavior.
•What This Tool Helps You With: Assessing existing stakeholder knowledge, simplifying
consideration of different potential behavioral drivers, determining additional listening in the
BEACONS areas and understanding potential solutions to specific BEACONS behavior
obstacles.
•Benefits of Using This Tool: Successfully diagnose and resolve barriers preventing
stakeholders from changing behavior.
BEACONS Behavior ChangeModel

3. 2| © 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Understanding stakeholderbehavior
Individual behaviors are driven by
many factors —not just attitudes.
•Three critical drivers of human
behavior can be distilled from more
than three decades of behavioral
psychology research:
•Individual Attitudes: Individuals’
values and beliefs, which
determine how they want to
behave
•Capability: Individuals’ real and
perceived ability to undertake
different actions
•Social Cues: What individuals
infer from their environment
about what behavior is
appropriate
Source: Ajzen, Theory of Planned Behavior, 1986; Triandis, Theory of Interpersonal Behavior, 1977; Velk et al, Needs, Opportunities, Abilities Model, 1997; Malcolm Gladwell, The
Tipping Point, 2000; Goldstein N, Martin S and Cialdini R, Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion, 2007;
Graybiel, Habits, Rituals, and the Evaluative Brain, 2008; Thaler R and Sunstein C, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness, 2008; Darnton A, Behavior
Change Knowledge Review, 2008; The Art of Behavior Change, SMF, 2008; CEB analysis.
Individual Attitudes
(Think and Feel)
•Beliefs: “I think it’s the best thing
for me to do.”
•Opportunity: “I am okay with what
happens if I do it.”
•Alignment: “It feels right.”
Capability
•Control: “I think I can.”
•Opportunity: “It is easy for
me to do.”
Social Cues
•Norms: “Other people are
doing it.”
•Signals: “Others expect me
to do it.”
+
+ +

4. 3| © 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Capability and social cues mattermore
The relative impact of capability and
social cues is increasing.
•Analysis of Gartner quantitative research
shows that capability and social cues drive
almost three-quarters of stakeholder
behavior.
Behaviors Tested
•Adopting quality management practices
•Contributing product/service
innovation ideas
•Purchasing/repurchasing a product/service
•Recommending a product/service
•Following ethics/compliance policies
•Proactively adapting, seeking and sharing
feedback, and helping peers27%
Individual Attitudes
(Think and Feel)
30%
Social Cues
43%
Capability
Source: Ajzen, Theory of Planned Behavior, 1986; Triandis, Theory of Interpersonal Behavior, 1977; Velk et al, Needs, Opportunities, Abilities Model, 1997; Malcolm Gladwell, The
Tipping Point, 2000; Goldstein N, Martin S and Cialdini R, Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion, 2007;
Graybiel, Habits, Rituals, and the Evaluative Brain, 2008; Thaler R and Sunstein C, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness, 2008; Darnton A, Behavior
Change Knowledge Review, 2008; The Art of Behavior Change, SMF, 2008; CEB analysis.

5. 4| © 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
To understand stakeholder behavior, it’s important to listen for obstacles
relating to capability and socialcues as well asattitudes.
Potential Listening Techniques
•Focus groups
•Observation/ethnography
•Social media monitoring
•Quantitative surveys (data collection)
•Seek existing business insight
•Leverage existing relationships for knowledge
Diagnose behavioralbarriers

6. 5| © 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Drivers of
Stakeholder Behavior
Potential
Behavioral
ObstacleWhat You’re Listening For
Individual Attitudes
BeliefsWhat do stakeholders believe they should be doing?
ExpectationsWhat do stakeholders expect to happen as a result of their behavior?
AlignmentWhich stakeholder values align or conflict with the desired behavior?
Capability
ControlDo stakeholders see themselves in control of the desired behavior?
OpportunityAre stakeholders able to take the desired action?
Social Cues
NormsWhat behaviors do stakeholders see from their peers?
SignalsWhat messages about the behavior do stakeholders infer from
others’ actions?
Diagnose behavioralbarriers
Key Question: What’s stopping stakeholders from acting as we want themto?
Source: Gartner

7. 6| © 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Use this listening guide to understand the real obstacles to
stakeholder behavior.
•What this tool helps you with: Helps to identify underappreciated obstacles
to stakeholder behavior.
•Benefits of using this tool: Most communications tactics address
stakeholder attitudes when, in actual fact, social cues and capability are
significant drivers of stakeholderaction.
Behavioral listeningguide

8. 7| © 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Drivers of
Stakeholder Behavior
Potential Behavioral
ObstacleWhat You Might Hear When Listening
Individual Attitudes
Beliefs: Beliefs that conflict with
desired behavior
•That’s not what I should be doing.
•I don’t think that’s important.
•I am not comfortable doing that.
Expectations: Stakeholders’ ignorance of
the consequences of their actions
•Doing that won’t change anything.
•I don’t see how what I did impacts the bottom line.
•I don’t see how what I do harms anyone.
Alignment: Actions that go against things
that stakeholders value and consider
important
•I care a lot about…
•I am a…person.
•That’s just not who I am.
Capability
Control: Stakeholders’ sense that they don’t
have the autonomy to take action or
implement changes
•That’s not in my control.
•That’s someone else’s job.
•I don’t see how that relates to me.
Opportunity: Stakeholders’ ignorance of
how to take actions based on the available
information
•I don’t know how to do that.
•The information I get tells me nothing about how I should actually do that.
•I don’t have the skills (resources, time) to do this.
Social Cues
Norms: Cues and actions of others close to
the stakeholders that steer them toward
undesirable behavior.
•That’s not what I see everyone doing.
•That’s how everybody around here does it.
•No one here would like it if I did that.
Signals: Conflicting messages and
incentives that lead stakeholders to choose
an undesirable path
•I would like to do that, but my manager tells me to do something else.
•Leadership says it’s important, but we don’t see them doing it.
•I am only paid for doing the other stuff.
Behavioral listeningguide
Directions: Use this guide to direct how you listen to stakeholders and identify barriers to specific behaviors. Most
listening approaches focus on stakeholder attitudes, rather than capability or social cues.
Key Question: What’s stopping stakeholders from acting as we want them to?
Source: Gartneranalysis

9. 8| © 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Solving for specific behavior changebarriers
Potential Behavioral ObstaclePotential Solution During Organizational Transformation
Beliefs: Stakeholders’ misperception of essential facts cause them to
resist the desired behavior
Reframe: Challenge flawed assumptions underpinning
current beliefs.
Expectations: Stakeholders’ ignorance of the consequences
of their actions prevent them from behaving in the new way
Context: Explain the negative impact of current behaviors as well as
organization or market conditions (e.g., risks, macro trends, customer
trends) that make new behaviors necessary.
Alignment: Stakeholders’ deeply held values are incompatible with
new behaviors
Resonant Appeal: Frame the action in terms of stakeholders’ values, the
outcomes they care about or their social image.
Control: Stakeholders’ sense that that they don’t
have autonomy prevents them from taking action or implementing
changes
Vicarious Success: Provide a vicarious experience of successful change
to boost stakeholders’ self-confidence.
Bounded Discretion: Provide multiple options within boundaries to
empower stakeholders to exercise autonomy.
Opportunity: Stakeholders’ limited access to information
and ignorance of how to take action prevent them from changing
behaviors
Practical Tools: Connect stakeholders to information and support to help
them learn and practice new behaviors, take action and build judgment. †
Norms: Stakeholders’ observation of the cues and actions of
others steers them to undesirable behaviors
Positive Peer Pressure: Publicize evidence of peer actions
to nudge stakeholders toward the desired behavior.
Signals: Stakeholders’ awareness of conflicting messages and
incentives leads them to choose an undesirable path
Feedback: Provide feedback to help employees understand the impact of
their behaviors and gauge the consistency of their signals.†
Source: Gartner
Approach to
Behavior Change
Stop tellingemployees
to change their
behaviors
Start figuring out
what’sgetting in
theway
Solutions to Specific BehavioralObstacles
Source: Gartner† This solution is best suited foremployees.

10. © 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates.
To find out how Gartner
can help you drive
stakeholder behavior,
contact us today:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: [phone]
Web: gartner.com/go/communications