Behavioural Innovation

To create meaningful change in the world, we must first understand the messy, multi-layered humans that live in it.

Humans are unpredictable, irrational things. We respond very differently depending on where we are and what we want.

And yet, work in areas like health, education and climate is often designed as though the world was a neat and linear place, populated by utterly rational people.

At Brink, we believe that challenges like the climate crisis, food insecurity, infant mortality, learning poverty and wealth inequality are preventable.

What's missing is the ability to take human behaviours into account when designing solutions that can make a real dent in these challenges.

Behavioural Innovation is our proven method for unlocking the human behaviours capable of making real dents

B.I. combines the behavioural sciences with innovation methodologies.
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It gives teams the framework they need to anticipate the unpredictable, work with the irrational, and design for the volatile.

It’s an approach that encourages a move away from dogmatic theory and rigid programmes, towards creative and frequent iteration.
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As part of our mission is to make Behavioural Innovation available to the world’s changemakers, we’ve created this page to share what we know about Behavioural Innovation, how it can be understood and how it can be applied.

Imagine you are running a team tasked with finding new ways to meet complex challenges.

You might not think to start with the unsexy business of procurement processes, performance reviews and budget sheets.
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But, if we want people to perform at their best then we have to design systems that give them the permission and impetus they need to experiment, learn and adapt.

By baking incentives and encouragement into the mechanics of your organisation you not only drive individual behaviours, you demonstrate how much you truly value the hard work of innovation.

Or maybe you are designing a fund seeking to address some of the world’s most complex issues.

You probably wouldn't be questioned if you started by putting a handful of recognised experts in a room together.

But what if you instead began by designing ways to encourage multiple ideas from a more diverse range of sources? Developed learning networks, encouraged collaboration across disciplines, and then formed a powerful, collective voice.

Then you could create far greater impact and start driving positive change in entirely new ways.

If your team was working towards a bold, long-term vision you might be expected to start by creating grand, complex strategies.

But rigid plans inevitably falter at the first hurdle because they crowd out the humility you need to keep course correcting.

Real impact comes when you’re able to ditch the ego so you can create an environment in which innovators are comfortable flexing their thinking.

Then they become secure enough to adapt their approaches as new evidence and insights arise.

More than a theory

Here are some of the positive, lasting changes Brink has created through Behavioural Innovation:

Brought together innovators to develop new kinds of oxygen concentrators that are capable of saving lives in low-resource settings.

Transformed the behaviour and culture at Oxfam America, leading to radical new ways of working and creating the potential to make a bigger difference in the world.

Worked with Macmillan Cancer Support to address health inequalities, beginning with those in marginalised communities.

Created environments for the testing of new educational technologies that can deliver better learning outcomes for all children, including the most marginalised.

Developed a supportive and dynamic community for humanitarian innovators working in unpredictable and extreme environments.

BI Tools & Guides

Below are some of the tools and frameworks we’ve created and adapted, that you can use to apply Behavioural Innovation methods at different stages of your work.

Setting teams up for success

Mindset, Mechanisms and Methods checklist Use this tool before tackling a complex challenge to make sure you have the mindset, mechanisms and methods in place so you can make a real impact.
Mindsetting Dojo Use this tool to cultivate an innovation mindset in a team by practising the ability to listen, learn, share & build.

Shifting people’s behaviour

Incentives Cards Use these cards to consider different internal and external incentives that motivate people to act.
MASTER Framework Cards Use these cards to design ways to shift behaviours based on what we know motivates and influences people.

Testing and growing new ideas

Experiment Method Cards We created these method cards as part of our work with the Frontier Tech Hub. They are designed to give you ideas for experiments you can run to test your thinking and validate hypotheses.
6Ps Audit Tool We use this tool to assess programmes and interventions in the EdTech Hub, so we can identify things that need testing. You can use it whenever you are trying to engage and integrate with all parts of a system in order to make an impact at scale.

Discover more about Behavioural Innovation

‍‍Choosing without choosing
How the defaults around you are shaping what you do and who you are... And how you can rethink them.

How to get people to do what you want
The power of using incentives to shift human behaviours.
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Creating psychological safety
What a culture of psychological safety looks like, and how you can develop it.
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‍To create anything, first build a team
As a culture we don’t really enjoy it when people change their minds - but that's what learning is.‍
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‍I disagree
The dangerous business of sharing ideas and giving feedback.

‍Hear this
Why innovators need to be better listeners.