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Diagnose105 min · v1.0

Behaviour and barrier diagnosis

Original workshop design for pilot use. This format has not been validated for effectiveness.

Summary and decision

Identify the conditions that make a critical workplace practice feasible.

Decision: Select the barriers to address and the hypotheses to test.

Preparation

  • Select one observed problem from W03 and bring direct examples.
  • Include someone who experiences the barrier directly.

Audience

6-12 people who perform, support and manage the selected practice.

Agenda

Agenda in minutes
#BlockMinutes
1Opening10
2Evidence15
3Exercise A25
4Break10
5Exercise B30
6Decisions15
Total105

Exercises A and B

Exercise A: Behaviour specification

  1. Describe who needs to do what, where, when and with whom.
  2. Compare the current and desired practice using an actual episode.
  3. Identify what would make the desired behaviour observable.

Exercise B: COM-B barrier worksheet

  1. Ask whether capability, physical/social opportunity or motivation explains the pattern.
  2. Record at least one alternative explanation and evidence against your preferred explanation.
  3. Match each priority barrier to a change in conditions and a small test.

Worksheets

Worksheet A

Actor and action
Context and timing
Current pattern
Observable desired practice

Worksheet B

Barrier and COM-B dimension
Supporting and contrary evidence
Condition to change
Test and evidence owner

Illustrative example

Illustrative, not a real case

  • Illustrative: staff take video calls at open desks despite knowing the rules.
  • Observation shows enclosed rooms are unavailable at peak times.
  • Test capacity and booking changes before commissioning more training.

Completion criteria

  • The target is a specific observable practice.
  • Each barrier has evidence or an explicit hypothesis label.
  • At least one system condition is examined.

Follow-up

  • Validate the diagnosis through observation or interviews.
  • Take confirmed barriers to W07 intervention design.

Points of attention

  • COM-B categories are prompts for diagnosis, not employee labels.
  • A workshop agreement does not establish causality.

Workplace phase and change activities

Workplace: Diagnose (phase in the Workplace method)

Change Management

  • Diagnose

    Why this workshop helps: Identifies the conditions that make a critical practice feasible and the barriers to address.

    Adapting outside a workplace setting: Choose a critical practice from your own change; the open-desk example is illustrative only.

These links and notes are editorial guidance of the Codex, not a new or validated template. The workshop text and files on this page are unchanged.

Planned sessions

No sessions are planned.

Sources and downloads

Sources

S01Framework developmentNot effectiveness evidence

Michie, van Stralen & West (2011). The behaviour change wheel

Why here: Informs the COM-B lens used to examine capability, opportunity and motivation behind an observed pattern. The worksheet is our own synthesis; this source does not validate the workshop.

Finding:
COM-B organises behaviour diagnosis around capability, opportunity and motivation.
Limitation for workplace:
A framework for analysis does not establish which workplace intervention will succeed. Our worksheets are original adaptations.
Reviewed 2026-10-02

Downloads

Last reviewed: 2026-10-02