The Risks of Misinterpreting 'Behaviour'

Let’s start with the most important skill in behavioural design: communication.

Unhelpfully the word ‘behaviour’ is one of these words that means A LOT of different things to a lot of different people.

And it can lead to boundless friction and frustration in our projects.

The Unwanted Effect of Misinterpreting 'Behaviour'

Differing interpretations can stealthily sabotage our best efforts.

Here’s how:

• Chasing Shadows: Without a clear understanding, teams can end up pursuing misaligned goals.

• The Communication Maze: Discussions become longer and more confusing when everyone interprets 'behaviour' differently.

• Missing the Mark: Misinterpreting behaviour can lead to targeting wrong issues, wasting both time and resources.

It’s our role as behavioural designers to see these misunderstands and diverging misinterpretations before the cause a problem.

So we need to explore a way to make sure that we understand and communicate ‘behaviour’ effectively and quickly.

But how?

We’ll that’s the focus of our next few lessons.