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Changing behaviour

Six small and simple words – catch it, bin it, kill it – have transformed the way the UK population responds to a sneeze, causing the hand-gel and tissue industries to whoop in delight. Twelve months ago nobody had even heard this saying, which shows just how effective a well-planned behaviour transformation campaign can be.

At Triffid, we’re experts in changing behaviour. We’ve been doing it for years – in the workplace and in the classroom. And with three ex-teachers in the team, it’s safe to say we know a fair bit about how to turn it from bad to good. After all, the principles of changing behaviour are the same, whether working with people aged three or thirty and dealing with coughing or customer service.

We know that to make real, lasting change, the desired behaviours must be aligned with the culture of the organisation and employees must buy in to the how and the why. Otherwise, at best, people will change temporarily before going back to their norm; at worst, they’ll flat out refuse to comply and spread the bad feeling quicker than swine flu in a boarding school.

But, as those six little words have proven, changing behaviour is achievable as long as it’s backed by an aligned and carefully considered plan. And it’s certainly beneficial - after all, good employee behaviour is a sure-fire route to happier customers, more sales and, when it comes to health and safety behaviour, it may even be the difference between a colleague returning home at the end of the day...or not.

Nicola