Do you ever feel that you’re just ticking the box? The business has asked for training. Maybe it’s to meet a mandatory requirement? You’ll do your best, but you know that learners (and probably management) aren’t that interested. It just has to be delivered and recorded. Job done. Box ticked.

Nobody wants to be just a box-ticker, do they? Learning and development professionals are in the business of behaviour change. Whether the need is induction, compliance, specialist skills, leadership or personal development, we want to help people do more of the things that make them successful, less of the things that cause problems, and sometimes help them do new things altogether.

But achieving behaviour change is difficult because learners are human beings and are subject to lots of normal human biases and barriers. We like to take short cuts. We find it hard to change from established practice. We’re influenced by peers. And we frequently overestimate our own capability. So how can we design training interventions that overcome these biases and barriers? Interventions that help to change behaviour and deliver impact – for learners and the organisations they work for?