Change as Process: Stages, Ladder, and Learning Journey

Key Principle

Change is a process, not an event. Learners arrive at interventions at different points in their change journey and require different support at each point. Designing a single training event for all learners simultaneously fails because what a Contemplating learner needs (salience of consequences, value communication) is the opposite of what a Maintaining learner needs (habit reinforcement, social support, refreshing).

The Four Stages of Change (adapted from Prochaska & DiClemente):

1. Considering: Aware of the behavior but not yet committed. Needs: Why this matters, evidence of consequence.
2. Planning: Intends to change. Needs: How to start, barrier removal, implementation planning.
3. Making the Change: Actively working on it. Needs: Practice support, feedback, skill development.
4. Maintaining: Behavior is established but vulnerable. Needs: Habit reinforcement, refreshing, social accountability.

The 10-Rung Change Ladder (more granular than four stages):

• Rung 1: Doesn't know about the behavior
• Rung 2: Knows about it, doesn't see personal relevance
• Rung 3: Believes it's relevant but has questions
• Rung 4: Intends to change but hasn't started
• Rung 5: Has tried, relapsed
• Rung 6: Has started but inconsistently
• Rung 7: Doing it consistently but effortfully
• Rung 8: Behavior is becoming habitual
• Rung 9: Behavior is habitual but occasionally slips
• Rung 10: Consistent, automatic, but still needs occasional support

The specific intervention differs by rung. A learner on rung 2 needs consequence salience. A learner on rung 7 needs friction reduction. A learner on rung 9 needs BCT 8.4 (Habit Reversal) and social accountability.

The Learning Journey Framework — Seven Design Categories:

Why This Matters

The single-event training model (a 2-hour course, a workshop, a mandatory module) implicitly assumes all learners are at the same stage and will move to behavior change in a single session. This is false. Behavior change — especially for complex or emotionally loaded behaviors — takes months to years and requires support at each transition.

The practical failure: learners who attend training as Contemplators will not execute. Learners who attend as Maintainers will find the training remedial and disengaging. Stage-mismatched design wastes both the training investment and learner goodwill.

Training Wheels vs. Guardrails (Dave Ferguson): Job aids that are training wheels (temporary scaffolds removed as proficiency builds) should be distinguished from guardrails (permanent performance support for genuinely complex tasks). Conflating them causes either over-dependence (failing to remove training wheels) or premature removal (eliminating guardrails people will always need).

Good Examples

Jane and Henry personas (Chapter 3): Jane is a Contemplator who hasn't seen any reason to change her documentation habits. Henry is in Maintaining mode — his behavior has lapsed under workload. The same training event cannot serve both. Jane needs consequence salience; Henry needs barrier identification and habit restoration support.

Tobacco cessation digital tool — Truth Initiative (Chapter 15): The app assigned each user to a stage-matched track based on a COM-B-informed behavioral interview. Users who were Contemplating received content about consequences and social norms; Planning users received implementation intention prompts; Maintaining users received relapse recovery support. Static content for all users would have been useless or actively counterproductive for most.

The Learning Journey in practice (Chapter 3): A handwashing initiative that consists of one hand-hygiene module addresses only the "Learning" category. A complete design includes: Prelearning (data showing current compliance rate), Learning (how germs transmit), Practice (simulation of critical moments), Job Aids (gel dispenser placement), Refreshing (monthly compliance feedback), and Developing Further (mentoring for new staff).

Counterpoints

"One module covers it" treats behavior change as an information transfer event. Even if the information is learned, the Elephant has not been engaged, the habit has not been built, the environmental supports have not been installed, and the learner has received no feedback on real-world execution.

"They can come back if they need more" misunderstands the nature of just-in-time need: people who are struggling in the Maintaining stage rarely self-identify and return for training. They quietly relapse. The Refreshing category must be designed proactively, not offered reactively.

Key Quotes

"Change is a process, not an event. Design for the whole journey, not just the learning event." — Julie Dirksen, Chapter 3: Moving Along the Change Path

"The question isn't 'did they learn it?' — it's 'can they do it, will they do it, are they doing it, and will they keep doing it?'" — Julie Dirksen, Chapter 3: Moving Along the Change Path

Rules of Thumb

• Before designing any learning experience, identify where your learners are on the Change Ladder. Design for that rung, not for the theoretical average.
• Map your design to all seven Learning Journey categories and deliberately decide which to include and which to defer. "We don't have time for Refreshing" is a decision — own it.
• Stage-mismatched design is not neutral. Content pitched at the wrong stage actively undermines motivation (Contemplators bored by skill practice; Maintainers condescended to by awareness content).
• Design for the transition between stages, not just within stages. What triggers the move from Planning to Making the Change? That transition often needs its own intervention.

Related References

• COM-B Diagnosis and Behavior Analysis — Change Ladder diagnosis fits within the broader COM-B motivation analysis
• Communicating Value: The Value–Effort Equation — What Contemplating learners need: Elephant-accessible value communication
• Planning, Practice, and Feedback BCTs (Chapter 10) — BCTs for Planning and Making the Change stages