The POD Method
TM
Understand behaviour. Make better decisions.
Potential | Opportunity | Drive
The POD Method provides a practical framework for understanding what shapes behaviour. Rather than focusing on individuals in isolation, it examines the interaction between Potential, Opportunity and Drive to identify why behaviours occur and what would make change possible.
Before You Change Behaviour, Understand It.
When behaviour creates a problem, organisations often reach quickly for familiar solutions: training, communication, new processes, incentives or sanctions.
What is overlooked is that the same behaviour can have very different causes. Without understanding what is shaping it, an intervention can address the wrong problem, or produce unwanted results.
Effective intervention starts with
understanding what is actually shaping behaviour
How POD Works
Three Forces Shape Behaviour
Opportunity
Drive
Can it happen under these conditions?
The environmental, organisational and situational conditions that enable or constrain the behaviour.
Is there sufficient reason to do it?
The commitment, motivations, priorities, incentives and sanctions that make the behaviour more or less attractive.
Potential
Can they do it?
The capability, knowledge, skills and psychological readiness required for the behaviour
The same behaviour can have different causes
A required procedure is not being followed routinely
Potential
Can they comply?
Staff may not fully understand the requirement, may lack the necessary skills, or the procedure may be too complex to apply in practice
Opportunity
Is Compliance Enabled?
Workload, systems, time pressure, competing procedures or conditions can make compliance difficult even when it is intended. Equipment, technology and the environment can inhibit compliance.
Drive
Is compliance driven?
Are staff motivated, committed or incentivised to comply? Are there competing drives towards non-compliant behaviours?
The observed behaviour is the same: non-compliance
The appropriate intervention may be completely different
More training will not fix an Opportunity or Drive problem
Developed Through Practice,
Proven Through Research.
POD was developed to help practitioners apply behavioural science to complex, real-world problems.
It was subsequently evaluated through doctoral research, demonstrating measurable improvements in the quality of problem-solving and decision-making.
MORE ADAPTIVE | MORE COHERENT | MORE NOVEL | MORE FEASIBLE
All organisational problems have
a behavioural element.
