Ik geniet ervan om weer eens op de OEB in Berlijn te zijn. Ik ga niet alle sessie bloggen maar de sessie van Julie Dirksen over de Elephant en de Rider vond ik wel een topper. Met de manier van Julie kun je effectief leren ontwerpen in L&D. Niet meer alleen kennis spuien en geen problemen met transfer. Ik heb haar boek Talk to the Elephant overigens al gelezen. Ik was vooral onder de indruk hoe zij op vragen uit de zaal zo een goede aanpak uit haar mouw schudde. Deze aanpak is dan echt gericht op gedragsverandering.

Julie: Back in the mid-2000s, I worked on an AIDS prevention program. It seemed straightforward: people knew condoms were effective, and they understood how to use them. Yet, behavior wasn’t changing. The strategies we implemented—communication campaigns, workshops, and incentives—failed to move the needle. It was a puzzling and frustrating realization: they knew what to do but still didn’t do it.

Years later, I came across a powerful metaphor in Jonathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis: the rider and the elephant. The rider represents our rational brain, the part that sets goals and analyzes information. The elephant is our emotional brain, the part driven by habits, instincts, and feelings. Much of our behavior stems from the elephant, yet within L&D we often focus only on convincing the rider.

This disconnect between knowing is a challenge in workplace learning and development. Take texting while driving: intellectually, we know it’s dangerous. But we are tempted to do it, even more when we have done it before without consequences. The visceral experience helps us to convince the rider: in a research on using less paper the people who had been in a powerful virtual reality simulation with tree cutting—were more often saving on paper than the group who had not. If we want to shift workplace behavior we need to engage both the rational rider and the emotional elephant.

Julie gives a nice example of how we or experts often talk to the rider with bullet slides

So why are people not doing as you expected?

* intellectual knowledge versus visceral experience – visceral wins (eg texting while drive)
* Ration versus emotions – emotion wins (eg. bungee jumping)
* Deliberate action versus automatic habits- automatic habits win (going into town on the automatic pilot whereas you had to go somewhere else)
* Future benefit versus present bias- the present wins (doing 100 crunches today versus a great body in summer)

Why immediate rewards in learning matters

Humans have a natural tendency toward hyperbolic discounting: we overvalue immediate rewards and undervalue future ones. For instance, given a choice between €10 today and €11 tomorrow, most people will take the €10. But shift the timeline—€10 today versus €11 in a year—and suddenly the future reward becomes more attractive.

This principle highlights why long-term learning goals often fail to stick. If learners don’t see immediate, tangible benefits, the elephant loses interest. How can you design experiences that deliver instant wins alongside long-term gains?

Understanding where learners get stuck

When designing learning programs, it’s essential to pinpoint where people are stuck in the behavior change process. Sometimes it is the information or knowledge. Here’s a simple framework to map the journey:

  1. Doesn’t know: They lack the information.
  2. Knows but doesn’t get it: They don’t truly understand the implications.
  3. Gets it but doesn’t believe it: Doubt holds them back.
  4. Believes it but has other priorities: Competing demands win.
  5. Prioritizes it but doesn’t know how: The next step is unclear.
  6. Thinks it’s too hard: The task feels overwhelming.
  7. Lacks confidence: They fear failure.
  8. Ready but needs a push to start: Activation energy is missing.
  9. Started but inconsistent: New habits haven’t solidified.
  10. Consistent but struggling to maintain: Long-term motivation fades.

Where are your learners? Identifying their stage helps you tailor solutions effectively.

Lessons from Behavioral Science: The COM-B Model

To systematically address behavior change, Julie often turns to the COM-B model developed by Susan Michie and colleagues. This model identifies three essential elements for behavior:

  1. Physical Capability: Do learners have the physical ability to perform the behavior? This includes factors like strength, dexterity, or other physical attributes required for the task.
  2. Psychological Capability: Do learners have the knowledge and mental skills? For example, do they know how to recognize their own learning gaps and practice effectively?
  3. Physical Opportunity: Are the physical resources and environmental conditions available? For instance, is there access to the tools, spaces, or time required for learning?
  4. Social Opportunity: Are the social conditions supportive? Is there protected time for learning? Are there visible role models and supportive communities?
  5. Reflective Motivation: Does the behavior align with their values, goals, or identity? For example, do they see learning as central to being good at their job?
  6. Automatic Motivation: Are there habits or emotional responses driving the behavior? For example, does the new behavior feel natural or automatic over time?

By applying the COM-B model, we can design interventions that go beyond intellectual knowledge to address real barriers to behavior change.

Applying this in practice

Julie used the COM-B framework to respond to a few challenges in the room:

  • Moving teachers to flipped classrooms: Traditional teaching habits are deeply ingrained. By starting with small, low-stakes experiments, teachers can test flipped learning strategies and build confidence over time.
  • Students are using AI tools to do their assigments: Instead of enforcing rules against AI, encourage students to reflect on their learning goals. Help them explore how tools like ChatGPT align with their aspirations for knowledge and growth.
  • Scaling behavior change in MOOCs: At scale, it’s critical to create opportunities for learners to connect with their own context and values. For example, framing a coding exercise as a question learners discover for themselves plus it creates ownership and deeper engagement.

Designing for the Elephant

Ultimately, lasting behavior change happens when the elephant—the emotional, habitual part of us—gets on board. This means creating visceral experiences, reducing effort, aligning behaviors with identity, and making rewards immediate and visible.

So, the next time you’re designing a course, training or learning trajectory ask yourself: Have I spoken to the elephant?