As it's my first column of the new year, it would seem remiss not to talk about behaviour change. It's the time of year we all think about our behaviours and how to improve them. That's the nature of resolutions, no?

Granted, the majority of us will see that as an extra (ok, maybe a first) trip to the gym. Eating more healthily, or being less short tempered.

Whatever your poison when it comes to resolutions, they all take time to become a positive habit. Determination and focus is needed.

Yet changing the behaviours of our teams, organisations or departments is not an entirely dissimilar challenge – behaviour change, on a bigger scale.

We enter the new year with a growing recognition that a behavioural approach to change is essential, not only to our council but to achieving the impacts we need in our communities.

When iESE asked the chief executives of 26 councils to rate the importance of changing behaviours to the success of their future plans, they all regarded it as essential.

Achieving behavior change that really impacts services is no small task.

Firstly, you need to be able to identify the behaviours you need in order to deliver future outcomes. Then you need the means to actually develop those behaviours, and finally you must be able to assess the success of the change programme.

That also means planning for that success in advance – moving towards not just implementing behaviours, but measuring and managing staff by them too. Simply developing the behavior framework alone isn't enough – it must be embedded into policies, procedures, and rewards.

Admittedly, for those of us still wincing at the thought of that extra trip to the gym, this might seem like a bit of a more complicated resolution for 2018. But HR teams are responding fantastically across councils. And its becoming clear across the entire sector how much public services can benefit from a new approach to behaviours.

At iESE we specialise in shaping, delivering and supporting you through strategy to implementation of behavoiural frameworks. So if you feel a new year resolution coming on, give us a call.

Web: iese.org.uk Twitter: @ieseltd

Dr Andrew Larner is chief executive of the Improvement & Efficiency Social Enterprise (iESE), which supports public sector transformation

This column is brought to you by iESE