Behavioural Evaluation and Modification

To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: DOWNLOAD

Looking at past behaviour is the best means for predicting future behaviour. Why is that? Because how we respond in certain types of situations is most often a result of adapting behavioural responses from our past. Therefore, how we have responded in past situations is a good predictor for understanding and evaluating our conduct in the future.

In order to acquire new skills to deal with challenging or negative situations and to respond differently in the future, we first have to learn how to evaluate past behaviours. By teaching students behavioural evaluation techniques, we are equipping them with the tools to respond more positively in future situations.

Behavioural interviewing is a process being used by some employers to help them determine the conduct of potential employees. This technique relies on the candidate’s responses in past experiences, because of the assumption that past behaviour is the best means for measuring future behaviour.

This style of interviewing is often called the STAR approach. The acronym stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result, and is a very good tool for anyone wanting to evaluate and modify their reactions and problem solving strategies.

When we teach students to use the STAR technique, it is important to help them stay focused on themselves and not the other person, the class or the team. They need to identify the results they achieved from the situation being discussed and evaluated. What happened? What did they accomplish? How did that event end? What did they learn?

Situation: what happened?
Task: what was needed (by them and by others)?
Action: what did they do and/or accomplish?
Result: what did they learn?

Students can use situations experienced in their activities at school, in class, with school projects, team participation, community service, hobbies and any other experience as examples of past behaviour.

Because most behavioural interviewers’ questions try to understand how the interviewee responded to past negative situations, teaching our students this evaluative approach about their challenging and/or negative situations at school, provides them with the tools to adjust their behaviour if needed.

Using employment seeking situations to help students understand the importance of their behaviour helps to demonstrate to students the value of these strategies. In the job interview scenario, the prospective employee is asked to answer certain situational questions about their past experiences. Not how they would act, but how they did act. For instance, if a young person were seeking entry level employment they might be asked to: “Describe a situation where you were late, why you were late, and how you handled this situation.” Another typical request is: “Describe a situation in which you failed to meet a deadline.” In determining how they might react in challenging personal situations with others, they would be asked: “Describe an instance where a person criticized you in front of others. How did you respond, and what did you learn about this experience?”

In working with students to identify the STAR parts of any situation, we are helping them to develop an alertness for these situations as they arise in the moment and how to draw upon the effects of behaviours from the past. Over time, students learn to stop, think, and respond from a more conscious state.

To use this technique in the moment we would evaluate accordingly:

Situation: what happened or what is going on?
Task: what is my need and the needs of other(s)?
Action: what is the best way to address everyone’s needs?
Result: what have I learned from the past? What is the likely result?

Teaching our students to think about the Situation, Task, Action and Result is giving them strategies that will positively affect both their personal and employment interrelations for the rest of their lives. We don’t want them to be judged on ineffective behaviour from the past, but rather to learn from what they have done, so no matter what they experience in the future, they can respond in a positive way.

Julie Thomas is a communications and mediations consultant and author of Mind Works—the Communications Course, a teacher’s resource published by Pacific Edge Publishing (see: www.PacificEdgePublishing.com). Julie also is a school trustee in Cowichan Valley, British Columbia, School District #79.