If you work in Learning & Development, you know the dirty secret of our industry: We are really good at stuffing facts into people’s heads, but we are often terrible at getting them to actually do anything differently.

We build beautiful eLearning modules. We write pristine learning objectives. We create assessments that people pass with 100%. And then? They go back to their desks and do precisely what they did before.

Why? Because, as Julie Dirksen argues, we are designing for the wrong part of the brain.

In Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behaviour Change, Dirksen doesn’t just explain why training fails; she hands you the toolkit to fix it. If you are an Instructional Designer (ID) or eLearning Developer tired of being an “order taker” for courses that don’t work, this book is your new bible.

Here is how you can take Dirksen’s theory and immediately implement it into your workflow.

The Core Concept: You Are Talking to the Wrong Guy

Dirksen anchors the book on Jonathan Haidt’s metaphor of the Rider and the Elephant.

• The Rider is the rational, verbal brain. It loves bullet points, data, and logical arguments.
• The Elephant is the emotional, visceral, automatic brain. It responds to stories, habits, and immediate gratification.

The Implementation: As an ID, stop designing text-heavy slides that argue logically for compliance. That is talking to the Rider. The Rider already knows safety is important. The Elephant is the one taking the shortcut because it’s tired and the safety gear is in the other room. You need to design experiences that appeal to the Elephant’s need for ease, emotion, and tangible outcomes.

1. Revolutionise Your Needs Analysis with COM-B

Most training requests start with “We need a course on X.” Dirksen argues that we should stop jumping to solutions. When diagnosing friction points, you can use strategies like Action Mapping to identify necessary behaviours, but Dirksen takes it a step further. She introduces the COM-B model (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation – Behaviour) as a diagnostic tool.

How to Implement It: Before you open Evolve or Storyline, bring the COM-B framework to your stakeholder kickoff meeting. When they say, “They aren’t filling out their timesheets,” don’t assume it’s a knowledge gap. Ask:

• Capability: Do they physically/psychologically know how to do it?.
• Opportunity: Is the system broken? Is the login page impossible to find? (If so, no amount of training will fix it; you need to fix the environment.)
• Motivation: Do they care? Is the immediate pain of logging in greater than the delayed reward of getting paid?.

The Win: You stop building training for problems that require software fixes or management interventions.

2. Design for “The 37 Other Things”

Dirksen reminds us that our learners aren’t just sitting around waiting to be enlightened. They have “37 other things” competing for their attention. If the value of your training doesn’t outweigh the effort required to engage with it, you lose.

How to Implement It:

• Calculate the Value Equation: Value – Effort = Probability of Action.
• Tangibility Audit: Review your course script. Are you promising abstract rewards like “better organisational synergy” (Dissertation), or tangible rewards like “getting home 10 minutes earlier” (Kettle Bell)?. The Elephant only cares about the kettlebell.
• Reduce Friction: As a developer, look at your UI. Are you asking the learner to click 12 times to find a PDF? That is friction. If you want a behaviour to happen, you must make the path of least resistance the right path.

3. Move From “WIIFM” to “WCIDWT”

We all know “What’s In It For Me” (WIIFM). Dirksen upgrades this to “What Can I Do With That?” (WCIDWT).

How to Implement It:

• Immediate Use: Don’t front-load theory. Give the learner a broken scenario immediately (e.g., “Here is a broken printer. Fix it.”). This is the “Test Then Tell” approach. Interest spikes when there is a problem to solve.
• Job Aids Over Memorisation: If a task is rare or complex, do not force the learner to memorise it. Create a checklist or a “big red line” for them to follow. Your eLearning should teach them how to use the job aid, not how to memorise the manual.

4. Leverage Social Proof and Identity

The Elephant cares deeply about what other Elephants are doing. If your training says “Wear safety goggles,” but the senior foreman never wears them, your training is dead on arrival.

How to Implement It:

• Use Influencers: Don’t just use a generic narrator. Get the “Tim” of your organisation (the person everyone trusts) to voice the importance of the behaviour.
• Identity Framing: Frame the behaviour as part of their professional identity (e.g., “Good nurses wash their hands” is more powerful than “It is a rule to wash your hands”).

5. Prototype and Iterate

Dirksen emphasises that we cannot guess what the Elephant wants; we have to ask.

How to Implement It:

• The Pilot Test: Before you roll out a massive curriculum, test your “behavioural assets” with a small group.
• The “Dark Pattern” Check: Ensure you aren’t manipulating users. Are your nudges ethical? Are you respecting the learner’s autonomy?.

The Verdict

Talk to the Elephant is not just a book about theory; it is a permission slip for Instructional Designers to stop building “click-next” courses and start solving real problems.

Dirksen bridges the gap between behavioural science and the messy reality of corporate training. If you want to move from being a content creator to a behaviour architect, buy this book, highlight the COM-B sections, and leave it on your desk where your stakeholders can see it.

Rating: 🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘 (5/5 Elephants)