How we change what others think, feel, believe and do

The Behavioral Audit

Disciplines > Coaching > Process > The Behavioral Audit

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

A Behavioral Audit is a systematic capturing of how a client behaves in a given set of contexts and situations.

Start by identifying target situations and potential behavioral issues. These may be identified through the initial brief, 360-degree assessment, prior observation or discussion with the client.

The next question is how to collect the data. The very best way is to use a video which you can analyze and discuss with your client later. This is not always possible, however, and your being there in person is often the most practical approach. If this is also not possible, then you will need someone else to act as your proxy. You can even, with appropriate agreement of course, get an entire team to collect data on a person (including the person themself).

The actual audit may be done at a single situation, but is often best done in a range of contexts and situations, even informal ones, for example to find out where the person displays different behaviors around the same notional event.

A checklist or other structured format is a useful tool, especially when someone else is doing the data capture. This can include lists of behaviors to watch for, though do be careful not to make the form difficult to use. It may ask questions such as 'How often?', 'When?', 'Why?'

Finally, the analysis and results should be targeted and carefully used to a positive purpose, often in reducing or eliminating dysfunctional and unhelpful behavior.

Example

A mother asks for help from a life coach in coping with her children's bad behavior. The coach arranges for covert video cameras to be set up in in the house, then reviews and analyzes these later. These are then reviewed with the mother and specific words and body language identified which act as triggers of undesirable behavior by the children. They then agree a program of practice to reduce these. A later video analysis confirms that the mother has succeeded in changing her words and actions to more effective forms.

Discussion

One of the biggest problems of the behavioral audit is that, when the person knows they are being observed, they may change their behavior. This is one reason to observe over time, as the person will eventually start slipping into everyday ways.

The key to a good behavioral audit, after good data, is a good analysis. This requires perception and knowledge about how people behave. If you do not know what you are seeing you likely will not see it. The trick then is to reduce the swathe of data into a few key points that the person can work on. It is not a good idea to flood them with bad actions as this can cause overwhelm, retreat or defensive attack.

It can also be useful to do both 'before and after' audits. In this way you can demonstrate to them the success of the treatment (or perhaps the need to keep working on it!).

See also

Behaviors