12. Dr Mark Boulet on behaviour change
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Episode show notes
Today's episode is a deep dive with Dr Mark Boulet on the fundamentals of behaviour change and how researchers can move beyond simply communicating their findings to actually influencing actions and driving change.
Mark is the Environment Portfolio Lead for BehaviourWorks Australia, which is based in the Monash Sustainable Development Institute, and it's the largest applied behaviour change research unit in Australia.
Mark shares insights from his work, including how to design research with behaviour change in mind, the importance of understanding your audience, and the role of timing and context in successful interventions. We also dive into one of Mark’s passion areas, food waste, using it as a case study to illustrate these principles in action.
If you’re a researcher looking to have a real impact with your work, or if you’re part of a team aiming to change behaviour through your research, this episode is packed with practical advice and strategies that can help you achieve those goals.
Our conversation covers:
Changing behaviour ≠ increasing understanding.
The fundamentals of behaviour change and why understanding human behaviour is crucial for effective research communication.
How to design research with the goal of influencing behaviour, not just spreading information.
The importance of identifying the specific behaviours you want to change and tailoring your strategies accordingly.
Insights into how context, timing, and audience understanding play critical roles in successful behaviour change interventions.
The concept of "action-close" interventions and how they can be more effective than traditional communication methods.
When to call in the experts, and practical advice on how researchers can partner with communities and organisations to amplify the impact of their work.
The challenges of changing behaviour across different groups and strategies for addressing these challenges effectively.
Find Dr Mark Boulet online:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-boulet-78a65846/?originalSubdomain=au
https://www.monash.edu/msdi/about/people/research/mark-boulet
Resources mentioned:
BehaviourWorks INSPIRE framework
https://www.behaviourworksaustralia.org/blog/inspired-communicationsUse it up tape https://www.ozharvest.org/use-it-up/tape/
Practical tips from this episode:
Designing for behaviour change:
Start with a clear goal: Identify the specific behaviour you want to change. Be precise about what action you want your audience to take.
Understand your audience: Take the time to learn what motivates your audience and what barriers might prevent them from changing their behaviour.
Effective communication strategies:
Use "action-close" interventions: Align your communication with moments when your audience is already thinking about the issue. For example, talk about food waste when people are looking at their food.
Be targeted and strategic: Rather than trying to reach everyone at once, focus on key groups who are most likely to change and can influence others.
Building partnerships:
Engage with stakeholders early: Collaborate with communities, organisations, or policymakers from the start to ensure your research is relevant and actionable.
Start small and grow: You don’t need a massive partnership to make an impact. Begin with modest engagements and build relationships over time.
Adapting to feedback:
Test and refine your approach: Behaviour change is rarely a one-time effort. Be prepared to adjust your strategies based on feedback and results.
Leverage early adopters: Focus on those who are most likely to change first. They can become champions of your message and help build momentum.
Credits:
Hosted and produced by Chris Pahlow
Edited by Laura Carolina Corrigan
Consulting Producers Maia Tarrell and Michelle Joy
- Public engagement
- Storytelling
- Career development
- Team alignment
- Your pitch
- Making your work relatable
- Talks and presentations
- Strategic comms
- Communicating in different formats/mediums
- Stakeholder/audience mapping
- Listening
- Strategy
- Mentorship
- Collaborating with professional staff
- Comedy
- Failure
- Interdisciplinary collaboration
- Philanthropic funding
- Relationship management
Quotes:
"I think even a researcher just taking a little bit of time to inform themselves around how humans tick can give them some insights around how they communicate their research. And that's really at the heart of it."
"One of the things that we often say at Behaviour Works, particularly when we're working with research partners or when we're teaching courses is, you are not your target audience. What motivates you is more than likely not gonna motivate the people that you're engaging with..."
"If you want someone to take up a behaviour, make it easy for them to do so. Make it attractive so they can see the benefits to themselves. Make it social and make it timely."
"It could even be being a little bit more target about when people may actually be paying attention to the thing that you're interested in... This is why a lot of groups talk to people about a particular issue on days, you know, biodiversity day or forest appreciation day or all that sort of stuff. It's because you know that you've got a greater chance of talking to people about your issue when they're actually paying attention to it. "
"We often talk about, we need to create culture shift within an organisation or we need to create a social norm around this sort of thing. You can't create a social norm within a day, right? A social norm is a cumulative thing. And I would say that's the same thing with amplifying research, right? It's a cumulative thing. And most of your guests, you know, when you listen to their stories, it's been repeated attempts to engage, and then as a result, they've had an impact, right? And it's been a big, exciting impact, but it's very rarely just, wow, they just got up one morning and thought I'm going to be really impactful, right?"
"Sometimes with these research partnerships, and suspect it's also when it comes to questions around communicating and amplifying research, we need to take our research hats off sometimes... And realise that the things that motivate your colleagues in the discipline, the things that motivate the reviewers of your papers, the arguments that you have and the things that make you get very excited at conferences are probably the things that are going to bore and annoy the people that are outside of your discipline."
"As a general idea, you know, even being a little bit more nuanced in how universities see and define impact could be helpful. You know, we have this sort of general expectation that we need to be impactful, but what does that mean? Is impactful a conversation article that you've had half a dozen comments on? Or is being impactful the fact that you've worked with a community organisation for two years and you've generated a number of useful reports for them? A little bit more nuance around how we understand and define impact within the university sector, and then obviously how we recognise it... I think the university sector and the research sector talks good game around impact. And yet still it's the traditional metrics of research income and publication that gets you promoted."
