Why most courses don't stick
Why knowledge about behaviour change rarely leads to behaviour change
Astrid Groenewegen wrote an article about it: informing doesn't work. You can tell someone everything about bias and motivation, and their behaviour stays the same. That goes for your customer, your colleague, and for you after a course that stops at theory.
01 - The information myth
Knowing more doesn't change behaviour
Most courses assume the information-deficit model: if people just understand it, they will change. That model is wrong. Knowing and doing run on two different systems in your brain.
02 - The intention-action gap
You get it, and still don't do it
That comes down to plain human nature: in the moment, the old habit beats the good intention you formed two weeks earlier in the training room.
03 - Back to the old context
The course changes, your work environment doesn't
You return to the same meetings, the same defaults, the same colleagues showing the old behaviour. Without an adjusted context, that environment beats your new insight.
04 - No diagnosis
Without a diagnosis, you reach for the wrong fix
A course that starts with interventions instead of asking why the behaviour is the way it is now usually solves the wrong problem.
05 - Someone else's case
Someone else's example doesn't teach you to solve your own problem
Until you practise with your own challenge, the method stays abstract. You learn to apply it by doing, not by watching.
06 - No measurement
Without measurement, you never know if it worked
A course without an experiment ends with a feeling, not proof. You only know an intervention works once you test it.
07 - System 1
96% of behaviour is automatic
Most courses only address the conscious, rational part of the brain. Behaviour change mostly lives on autopilot.
