Behaviour Change Wheel
The Behaviour Change Wheel is a framework for diagnosing why a desired behaviour is not happening and choosing interventions to change it, published in 2011 by Susan Michie, Maartje van Stralen and Robert West. At its hub is the COM-B model, which says that a behaviour occurs only when people have the capability, the opportunity and the motivation for it; around the hub the full wheel arranges nine intervention functions and seven policy categories. In the workshop form described here, adapted for service design by the studio oblo, a team sorts the blockers found in research under the three COM-B conditions and designs an intervention for each.
Facilitation script
- 1
Introduce the COM-B idea: a behaviour needs capability, opportunity and motivation, and a gap in any one is enough to stop it. Give one example of each from everyday life.
10 min - 2
Define the target behaviour together as who does what, when and where. Rewrite it until everyone agrees it could be observed.
15 min - 3
Participants go through the research material, write one blocker per note and place it under capability, opportunity or motivation. Mark notes that are assumptions.
20 min - 4
Review the board together. Merge duplicates, move misplaced notes, and identify the blockers that matter most.
10 min - 5
Generate interventions for the most important blockers, individually first and then in discussion. Place each idea next to the blocker it addresses.
25 min - 6
Select the interventions to prototype or test, and note for each the observable sign that the behaviour is changing.
10 min
Tips
Spend real time on the first step, because a vague behaviour such as "use the new system more" cannot be diagnosed while "ward nurses record observations at the bedside during each round" can.
Ask for the evidence behind every blocker note, and mark the ones that are assumptions so they can be checked.
Watch for the common reflex of answering every blocker with information or training: those only address capability, and a blocker in opportunity or motivation needs a different kind of response.
Common pitfalls
Defining the behaviour too broadly, so that blockers from different people and situations are mixed and no intervention fits any of them
Filling the categories with the team's opinions about the target group instead of research findings, which gives the diagnosis an authority it has not earned
Treating the three areas as a checklist and inventing blockers to fill an empty one, which dilutes attention from where the evidence points
Answering every blocker with more information or training, including those caused by the environment, the workload or what colleagues do
Designing interventions that pressure or manipulate people without discussing whether they are acceptable to the target group, which creates ethical problems and resistance
Variations
Remote: set up the three areas on a shared whiteboard and have participants add blockers from their own research notes before the call, so the session starts with the review. Without research: the same structure can be used to collect hypotheses about blockers, but label the output clearly as assumptions and plan interviews or observation to test them. Full framework: the complete wheel goes further than this workshop by linking the COM-B diagnosis to intervention functions and policy categories; teams working on public-health or policy programmes should work from the authors' own guide for that step. Several behaviours: run one board per target behaviour and per target group, as blockers differ between them.
Where it fits
When to use it
A service, product or policy only works if a specific group of people starts, stops or changes a specific behaviour
Research has produced a pile of observations about why people do not do something, and the team needs a structure to sort them
A rollout relied on communication and training and adoption is still low, so the cause is probably not a lack of knowledge
Team members hold competing theories about the target group ("they don't know how" versus "they don't want to") and need a neutral frame to compare them
You are choosing which interventions to prototype and want each one tied to a diagnosed blocker
When not to use it
The target behaviour cannot be stated as who does what, when and where: frame the problem first, for example with Abstraction Laddering or How Might We
There is no research on the target group at all: run User Interviews or observation first, since sorting guesses into three categories does not make them findings
The problem lies in a process or a technical system and not in what people do: use an Ishikawa Diagram or process analysis
The group wants a quick overview of forces for and against a change inside its own team: Force Field Analysis is lighter and needs no research base
A formal public-health intervention has to be specified and evaluated: a two-hour workshop is no substitute for applying the full published framework with specialist support
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is the Behaviour Change Wheel?▾
The Behaviour Change Wheel is a framework for understanding a behaviour and designing interventions to change it, published by Susan Michie, Maartje van Stralen and Robert West in 2011. At its centre is the COM-B model of capability, opportunity and motivation. Surrounding layers of the wheel describe nine intervention functions and seven categories of policy that can support them.
What does COM-B stand for?▾
COM-B stands for Capability, Opportunity, Motivation and Behaviour. The model holds that a person carries out a behaviour only when they are able to do it, their surroundings allow or prompt it, and they are more motivated to do it than to do something else. If any one of the three conditions is missing, the behaviour does not happen.
How do you use the Behaviour Change Wheel in a workshop?▾
Define the target behaviour precisely, then sort the blockers found in research under capability, opportunity and motivation. Identify the blockers that matter most and generate interventions for each. Finish by selecting interventions to prototype and agreeing how you will see whether the behaviour changes. Plan 60 to 120 minutes for four to ten people.
Do you need research before a COM-B session?▾
Yes, if you want a diagnosis and not a list of guesses. The session works best with interview notes, observations or survey data about the people whose behaviour is in question. Without research, you can still use the structure to collect hypotheses, but they should be labelled as assumptions and tested before interventions are built on them.
Is the workshop version the same as the full Behaviour Change Wheel?▾
No. The workshop version covers the COM-B diagnosis and an ideation step. The full framework continues by matching the diagnosis to intervention functions and policy categories in a systematic way. For formal programmes in health or public policy, use the authors' published guide for those later steps.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Susan Michie, Maartje van Stralen and Robert West (2011); workshop adaptation by oblo (Service Design Tools).