Why behaviour feels like a policy problem

In this episode, featuring a webinar we ran this week, Tara Elie and Dr James Mannion explore a question that many school leaders are quietly wrestling with: Why do so many behaviour initiatives fail to deliver sustained change? Across the system, the signals are hard to ignore – rising suspensions, internal removals, persistent absence, staff exhaustion, and a growing sense that behaviour reform is absorbing huge energy without always shifting underlying patterns. In this conversation, we argue that two critical ideas are largely missing from the behaviour debate: - The psychology of mattering - Implementation and improvement science When combined, these lenses offer a more systemic, more hopeful way forward. Part 1: The psychology of mattering Tara introduces the concept of mattering, drawing on the work of Morris Rosenberg and contemporary positive psychology. Mattering has two components: feeling valued, and adding value. We explore: - The difference between mattering and self-esteem - What staff mattering looks like in practice - What “anti-mattering” feels like in schools - The emotional and behavioural consequences of quiet disengagement - Why belonging is an outcome of mattering – not the target itself We discuss how staff who feel unseen, unheard or replaceable may withdraw effort, reduce collaboration, and disengage in subtle but powerful ways. Conversely, when staff feel significant and influential, resilience, agency and motivation follow. The same applies to students. Part 2: Why behaviour reform so often stalls James explores a sobering question: What proportion of school improvement initiatives actually improve outcomes in a sustained way? We examine two core reasons change efforts frequently falter: - Teachers and leaders are rarely taught how to implement change effectively - Schools default to top-down, “black box” leadership models We unpack the risks of: - Compliance cultures - Groupthink - ‘Us and them’ dynamics - Initiative fatigue And we introduce a more transparent alternative: the slice team – a representative cross-section of the school community that improves decision-making and strengthens buy-in. Root cause analysis: looking beneath the surface We then turn to a practical example. A widely cited statistic suggests that seven minutes out of every thirty are lost to low-level disruption. Rather than treating this as a behaviour problem alone, we demonstrate how to conduct a root cause analysis: - Identifying the trunk (the presenting issue) - Mapping the consequences - Investigating the roots across physical, emotional, relational, cognitive, behavioural and navigational domains The key insight: the same visible behaviour can arise from very different root systems. Behaviour reform without diagnosis is guesswork. Key ideas explored: - Mattering as a driver of culture - Anti-mattering and quiet withdrawal - Why belonging runs downstream of mattering - Black box vs glass box leadership - Slice teams as a mechanism for distributed ownership - Root cause analysis in school improvement - Why policy launch is not implementation - Habit change and “tight but loose” planning If behaviour is live in your context We are currently offering 20-minute Behaviour Strategy Calls for school leaders who would value a structured diagnostic conversation about behaviour, mattering and implementation. You can book here: https://calendly.com/rethinkingjames/chat-with-tara-james Further resources Download the Rethinking Behaviour guide - https://www.makingchangestick.co/rethinking-behaviour-free-guide Explore implementation science tools from Making Change Stick - https://www.makingchangestick.co