What is Organisational Behaviour Management (OBM)?

OBM can be used when an organization needs to change behaviors in order to achieve a specific business objective. This could involve, for example, improving safety, sales, customer service, collaboration, innovation, quality, or employee engagement. The method is also relevant when implementing new strategies, work methods, or systems, where new behaviors need to be established for the change to take effect in day-to-day operations.

We begin by clarifying the organization’s goals and the results you want to achieve. We then identify the situations and aspects of the business that have the greatest impact on those goals. Through interviews, observations, operational data, and dialogue with managers and employees, we identify the specific behaviors that need to increase, as well as competing behaviors that may need to decrease.

All of our initiatives drive behavioral change and are measurable. Behavior can be measured in several ways, based on both frequency and quality. The measurement can be tailored to a group of employees or to individual development plans for leaders. We choose the method that best suits the organization’s goals and circumstances, so that the measurement is as simple, relevant, and accurate as possible.

Managers and employees are involved early on to contribute their knowledge of the organization, identify relevant situations, and define behaviors that work in practice. Employees actively participate in shaping the initiative so that it fits their areas of responsibility, challenges, and day-to-day work. Managers are responsible for prioritizing the work, ensuring that the right conditions are in place, encouraging and reinforcing the behaviors, and monitoring progress.

How quickly results become visible depends on the scope of the initiative, the behaviors to be changed, and the organization’s circumstances. Changes in specific behaviors can often be tracked relatively early on through ongoing measurements. Effects on overall business results—such as sales, safety, or employee engagement—may take longer to materialize. At the start of the engagement, we establish relevant metrics and a realistic timeline.

We integrate the new behaviors into the organization’s standard work processes, structures, and follow-up procedures. Often, internal staff are trained, and department heads, HR, or occupational health and safety specialists, for example, are given responsibility for driving the work forward. Through knowledge transfer, clear ownership, and the right organizational conditions, the change can continue to evolve after our engagement has concluded. Of course, this is done in consultation with the client, and we can offer ongoing support, either on an ongoing basis or as ad hoc initiatives. 

Our method—Organisational Behaviour Management (OBM), including its Behaviour-Based Safety (BBS) branch—can be applied in all industries and situations involving people and behaviour. That is why our range of services and our experience are so broad. We work on everything from increasing sales, improving collaboration, and fostering innovation in business, healthcare, and education, to enhancing safety in the construction and manufacturing industries.

Behaviour-Based Safety (BBS) is an approach within OBM where we focus on safety culture by promoting safe behaviours and thereby measurably reducing the number of accidents and near misses. BBS follows the same change process as OBM, with the difference that the goal is specifically to improve safety and strengthen safety culture. Our BBS projects also involve creating favorable conditions for safe behaviours by analysing and influencing organisational, competency-related, and structural factors.

Schedule an initial meeting with Behaviour Design Group, and we’ll discuss how we can best work together based on your needs. In our organisational development initiatives, we follow the 4-step SAFE model to implement OBM in practice—read more about this under Our Method.