Can behavioral science work alongside our existing change framework?
Yes, and it almost always should. Most organizations have invested significantly in a change framework, whether that is Prosci ADKAR, Kotter, McKinsey Influence Model, or a proprietary methodology. These frameworks are typically strong at communication planning, stakeholder alignment, and program governance. They provide the structure. Behavioral science provides the precision.
Think of it as a layer, not a replacement. Your existing framework tells you what to do at the organizational level: build sponsorship, develop training, communicate the vision, reinforce the change. Behavioral science tells you what to do at the behavioral level: diagnose why specific behaviors are not happening and design interventions that address those specific barriers.
In practice, integration looks like this. Your existing framework identifies that "manager capability building" is needed (ADKAR's Knowledge and Ability stages, for example). The SHIFT framework then asks: which specific manager behaviors need to change? What are the COM-B barriers for each behavior? The diagnosis might reveal that the barrier is not knowledge but social opportunity (managers not seeing peers model the behavior). That changes the intervention from more training to a peer coalition and champion network.
The value of behavioral science is in the diagnostic layer.
Most change frameworks tell you the right activities to do. Behavioral science tells you whether those activities are addressing the actual barriers. When a change program follows all the right steps and still fails, the missing piece is almost always diagnosis: the interventions did not match the barriers because the barriers were never properly identified.
The 33 strategy cards, the COM-B diagnostic framework, and the barrier classification system all sit underneath whatever change methodology an organization already uses. They do not require abandoning existing investments. They require adding a diagnostic layer that makes those investments more effective.
