About the framework

Our 5 E’s Framework is one of the strategies we’ve developed to help you identify the likely effectiveness or stickiness of a solution.

Our five categories are divided according to:

• Whether your solution focuses on the individual or the company/culture

• Whether the environment is likely to support the previous behaviour or the desired behaviour

What are the 5 categories?

Elimination

The top tier solutions sit within the elimination category.

Here the environment (both physical and behavioural) is changed so much that the previous behaviour can no longer exist in it.

Examples of elimination include:

• Company culture with a zero tolerance approach to abusive behaviour

• Utilisation of AI and automation to remove the need for repetitive, low value work

• Scheduling of changes so staff won’t be overwhelmed

Environment

Environment tier solutions look at how you can change the physical environment to encourage the desired change and discourage old, unwanted behaviours.

This strategy is steeped in behavioural science and focuses on one of the three keys which can be influenced to make change more supported and long lasting.

Examples of Environment solutions include:

• Automatic switches for lights to conserve electricity

• Processes for running meetings that promote inclusiveness by ensuring everyone gets to be heard

Empowerment

At the empowerment level, we shift our attention from the collective to the individual. The highest form of change that sits with the individual, empowerment looks at how we can equip people with the confidence and experience so that they as individuals are able to embody the change.

Examples of empowerment include:

• Simulated learning to practice and embody new skills

• Processes and platforms on which individuals can report actual and near miss incidents

• Inclusion of change affected individuals in solution design so they can tailor the change to meet their needs.

Education

Where Empowerment looks at embodied change, education is the provision of resources to enable change. This exists lower down because it doesn’t guarantee that the resources will be accessed or that if accessed, they’ll be used in the way you intend them to.

Examples of education include:

• Provision of information about a change on the intranet

• One off or infrequent training programs

Extraction

Extraction is the least effective tier and is often reserved for situations where there is so much overwhelm that the primary focus needs to be on helping people out of a reactive state and into a state where they can be more receptive to change.

Examples of extraction include:

• Team activities, after work drinks or away days to bolster a culture of unity and provide relief