How-to: an introduction and guide to Behavioural Systems Mapping for the public sector
Whether you are working in the NHS, local government, or the wider civil service, you are likely dealing with ‘wicked problems’: complex challenges such as improving preventative health, reducing waste or improving community wellbeing. These are issues that are unlikely to be solved by a single policy or a simple behavioural ‘nudge’.
We’ve collected all the lessons from our trial of Behavioural Systems Mapping and developed guidance to help public sector teams utilise the method in their work.
Our guidance provides a practical framework for the integration of systems thinking and behavioural science. It is designed to help teams work within the complex and messy reality of public services, understand why certain behaviours persist, and identify exactly where to intervene for maximum and sustainable impact.
Why Behavioural Systems Mapping?
Understanding complex systems by breaking them down into manageable parts.
Behavioural Systems Mapping is a structured method for understanding complex problems by examining the behaviours that shape them and the systems in which those behaviours take place.
Behavioural Systems Mapping can help practitioners move beyond isolated explanations of issues and instead build a richer picture of how different parts of a system interact.
“The structured and independently facilitated Behavioural Systems Mapping workshops gave us the mental space to really focus as a team -addressing one complex problem and getting into the details of relationships and challenging our assumptions.”
"I really felt the benefit of a very systematic approach that drives us to focus on the specific objective, as well as challenging our assumptions about what interventions might have the highest impact for our digitally excluded residents."
How this guidance can help:
Behavioural Systems Mapping offers an alternative way of looking at complex challenges and provides a step-by-step approach to helping stakeholders, partners, and the public to explore issues openly. There are several benefits:
- Move from reactive to preventative approaches: Understand the root causes and feedback loops that drive demand on services.
- Break down silos: create a shared language that brings together multidisciplinary teams, from council officers and social workers to local businesses and policy makers.
- Find the right points in which to create lasting change: make better use of resources by finding the leverage points through which to deliver the structural changes that will genuinely shift the system.
- Avoid unintended consequences: explore the opportunities and challenges in an open way to ensure you get a fuller picture of the system.
Ready to start mapping?
Download our Guide, which includes step-by-step instructions, facilitation guides for workshops, and real-world examples of behavioural systems mapping in action.
About the project
