Lou is 43 years old and works for a life insurance company near Chicago. The company is 150 years old and for many years its success was based on consistency, conservatism and the trust that comes from knowing that it will always be there. But times have changed, and Lou’s company is seeking to operate in a much more agile and flexible way to deliver a much easier and more responsive customer experience. Lou is proud of his successful career, with regular promotions and increased responsibility over the years. Now he is struggling with frequent changes and an uncomfortable, and unfamiliar, level of uncertainty. Lou is careful, organized and measured. He’s used to structure and leads in a more traditional style of being the ‘boss’. He is now hearing that he needs to ‘be willing to test and learn’ and to ‘empower teams to respond to the customer’. He’s struggling to change his own behaviors and habits.

How do we help him?

Lou is a hypothetical character – but based on several very real ones we know. And the question of how to help him is a question that has vexed both leaders within businesses and external consultancies for many years. How do we help people like Lou change and adapt with the world around them? What is the secret to making behavioural change stick?In this paper, we’ll explore the academic research behind this question. What do the greatest minds believe is the answer? We’ll also add in the BTS perspective based on our work and our research. At the end we’ll highlight the big four elements leaders and practitioners should bear in mind when helping people like Lou change the way they think and act.