Because people make the difference

Henk’s Behavioral Change ​(HBC) model focuses on the ​people that need to adapt.

Check it out if your change ​does not realize its full potential ​or your project’s success ​depends on a human adoption.

We love to come by and discuss your ​change journey or come by for a free ​initiation workshop.

Sustainable business change requires people to ​adapt their usual way of working, their behaviors. ​By understanding the drivers of these behaviors, ​you can support people to embrace the change and ​break down barriers.

henk consulting is a cooperation between Hendrik, ​marketing scientist and Katrien, transformation and ​change expert both putting their Heart and ​Knowledge on the table to drive change.

Business behavior change in short

Scientific research and literature indicates that behavior is influenced by two key factors: the external environment and internal thoughts, which ​together drive how people act. By understanding how the work environment and internal reflections interact to shape behaviors, you can design ​interventions that help people embrace change and break down barriers. The end goal is to make lasting impacts in this interacting system.

We target three critical areas to ensure successful, lasting change:

1. People are convinced and motivated to change.
   
2. They have the necessary skills and ability.
   
3. They work in a supportive environment.
   

Using Henk’s Behavior Change Model, managers can select the most effective techniques to guide people in adopting change and making it a ​natural part of their daily routine.

Check out Henk’s Behavior Change model

He​nk’s Behavior Change model

Business change too often depends on self-discipline of individuals leading to inconsistent success.

Henk’s behavioral change (HBC) model provides a structured approach focused on the people that need to adopt the change and their manager ​who needs to guide and support them.

Our strength are light-weighted and pragmatic tools based on academic research, practices and own experiences to bring the model alive in ​your organization. The HBC model is universal with customizable tools and as such applicable on different scales and across industries.

4 steps model to drive behavior change

*Translating the desired outcome in target behavior allows us to define markers of changes - that is, determining a list of measurable actions or behavior by ​which to evaluate if the changes have taken place. As such making the success measurable.

Meet Hendrik and Katrien

Katrien’s main experiences lies with business transformations. She gained a solid business knowledge as well as on influencing ​and communication skills while working as a risk and internal audit manager. Her journey into the world of transformation and ​change began in 2018 when she took on the role of Program Manager within the strategic transformation team at bpost NV. Since ​then, she has played a key role in various change projects and successfully guided multiple teams and organisations in adopting ​new ways of working.

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As Associate Professor of Marketing at Ghent University, Hendrik is a multidisciplinary researcher with a special interest in ​sustainable practices in entrepreneurship and consumer research. He is also co-founder of the knowledge centre 'Behavioral ​Economics For Life' (BE4LIFE), which focuses on academic and practice-oriented research to promote behaviours that increase ​the well-being of individuals and society. The behavioural science approach is the guiding principle of both his academic and ​professional experience. Hendrik joined henk consulting to combine his academic research with a business environment.

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Example - Ensuring adoption of a new tool

A company wants to introduce a new project management tool to help teams work together better and organize tasks more efficiently. For this to ​work, employees need to start using the tool regularly to update project information and communicate through it, instead of relying on emails or ​other methods.

To encourage this change, it’s important to consider the work environment. The tool’s design will play a big role—things like how easy it is to use, ​how fast it works, and how accessible it is. Also, how the tool is introduced and marketed to employees, their experiences with it, and the training or ​support they receive are all key factors that can influence whether they embrace this new behavior.

Internally, employees’ thoughts and feelings will either help or hold them back from adopting the tool. They might think, "I’m too old to learn ​something new," or feel like they’re too busy to spend time on learning it, which can make them stick to old habits.

To help people make this shift, leadership can use strategies that address both the external factors and the internal concerns such as:

• Marketing the Tool: Present the tool as something that makes work easier and improves collaboration. Share stories of how it has helped save ​time and made projects more successful, helping employees see the benefits.
  
• Making It Easy to Use: Set up simple templates and workflows in the tool, so it’s easy for employees to get started and doesn’t feel like an extra ​burden.
  
• Training and Support: Offer quick, hands-on training sessions that break the tool down into simple steps. This makes learning less ​overwhelming and saves time.
  
• Peer Support: Create a buddy system where employees who are familiar with the tool can help others. This can make learning easier and more ​comfortable through positive peer influence.
  
• Recognition and Rewards: Acknowledge and reward employees who use the tool effectively, motivating others to follow suit.
  

We use a variety of tools to support change people's behaviors, each matched to what influences them most. With Henk’s Behavior Change ​model, managers can easily choose the best tools to help people accept the change and make it part of their everyday work.

Example - Encouraging healthier behavior that reduce stress

The HR department wants to encourage exercise breaks as a mean to reduce stress. The goal is to encourage employees to adopt this healthier ​behavior that improve both their well-being and work performance.

Several environmental factors contribute to unhealthy behavior (e.g., not taking breaks, working late) such as the company culture: there may be ​an unspoken rule that being busy equals productivity. Other external factors might support taking exercise breaks like having a ping-pong table in ​the coffee area, access to affordable fitness programs, or working in an office near green spaces. On the other hand employees might perceive ​work pressure and think they have too much work to take breaks or need to work longer hours to succeed. Or they may not know how stress ​affects their performance or how exercise breaks could help.

To encourage exercise breaks, the company needs to design interventions that target both the physical environment and employee mindsets:

• Protected Breaks: Introduce short, scheduled wellness breaks during the day (e.g., 15 minutes for stretching or mindfulness). This takes ​away the “lack of time” excuse since the breaks are built into the workday and are non-optional.
  
• Lead by Example: Managers should join these wellness activities and openly discuss the importance of taking breaks, tackling the mindset ​that "taking a break means slacking off."
  
• Education: Provide stress management workshops to show how regular breaks, exercise, and mindfulness can actually boost focus, ​productivity, and mental health.
  

We advice organizations to focus on changing one behavior at a time. By focusing on one behavior, companies can create a smoother, more ​sustainable path to change. In step 1 of Henk’s Behavior Change model, we use a structured approach to find the key behavior which will have a ​ripple effect making it easier to address related behaviors. For example, encouraging regular breaks may naturally lead to healthier eating habits or ​improved time management.

This will minimize the efforts while maximizing the impact.