January 21, 2022

188. Behavioral Blueprint, including COM-B and MOVE models with Elina Halonen

56 minutes

Today I am very excited to introduce you to Elina Halonen, a behavioral insights strategist who has worked in the space for 15 years and co-founded a London-based insights consultancy working with global brands on branding, communications, and product/service development projects. She has expertise in behavioural analysis & design, consumer insights & market research, Cultural understanding, desk research & trends, branding & marketing strategy, and more.

Today on the show we talk a little about the COM-B and MOVE models, as well as Elina pre-committing to us all that she is going to write a book, called the Behavioural Blueprint!

COM-B is for: Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behavior.

MOVE is for: Meanings, Observations, Viewpoints, and Experiences. We dive into what these models mean, a couple of examples, and so many other great topics.

Show Notes:

[00:40] Today I am very excited to introduce you to Elina Halonen, a behavioral insights strategist who has worked in the space for 15 years and co-founded a London-based insights consultancy working with global companies on branding, communications, and product/service development projects.
[03:13] Elina and Melina have been connected on LinkedIn for years and officially meeting for the first time for this interview!
[03:53] Elina shares about herself and her background.
[05:15] For the last couple of years she has worked as an independent consultant and has worked with various research agencies.
[08:02] Tips for starting a business in an emerging market? Find a niche where you can raise awareness for what you do. Some areas are easier than others. Find a way to educate the market.
[09:52] You will need a lot of creativity to promote yourself and what you do.
[12:07] If you pick what you are going to do, you have to be all-in on that thing for at least a year to give it a chance to be successful.
[14:55] Elina’s first degrees were in marketing and it was always about consumer behavior.
[16:42] All of business is a long game.
[17:22] Give information generously. Make sure you add value to people.
[20:31] She works with market research agencies and brings her behavioral science expertise.
[22:19] There are different ways of talking about behavioral science depending on what it is you are doing. It is not one size fits all.
[23:01] When they do a project, they think about the target behavior, what is the business objective, and what behaviors do they want to influence or change.
[25:04] Elina shares her commitment to writing her book, Behavioral Blueprint. Hold her accountable on Twitter. (handles below)
[27:51] Melina shares her tips for writing a book, including to break it down and just get started.
[28:39] Break it down into chapters and look at what content you already have that fits that information and start segmenting it in.
[31:34] Bringing cultural psychology into behavioral change is becoming increasingly important.
[33:45] She has an intuitive process of looking at things in a certain way that is her Behavioral Blueprint.
[35:02] Start by looking at the situation and accessing what you are up against.
[35:44] She is a big fan of the COM-B model: Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behavior.
[36:46] There is a huge amount of context that applied behavioral science often ignores.
[39:11] When she is analyzing or trying to organize things she likes to make it logical.
[41:54] Solving the wrong problem is very common and very human. Not spending enough time identifying the problem is the biggest mistake Melina sees companies make.
[43:37] Elina shares her blog post that she wrote about Netflix solving the wrong problem.
[45:10] Everything you do has an opportunity cost. We need to be sure we are solving the right problem first. It is the foundation of everything we do.
[48:03] We need to understand someone’s logic empathically, putting ourselves in their shoes before we try to change their behavior.
[50:53] There are just some ways of spending money that is socially acceptable and some that aren’t.
[51:15] Never assume you understand why someone does something because you don’t.
[53:45] It’s not about you, it’s about the audience. Could it help someone else?
[54:35] Melina shares her closing thoughts.
[56:19] If you enjoy the experience I’ve provided here for you, will you share about it? That could mean leaving a rating/review or sharing the episode with a friend (or 10!)

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