What is one of the most powerful tools to implement change?

2026-11-02 · Justin Engel, Driven Intent

Last week I was working with a salesperson, and we got talking about keeping the CRM updated. He understood the benefits.

So I tied a cue to the activity, so the moment itself reminds him to do it.

When a customer walks out of the dealership, I go to my computer or my phone, log into the CRM, and update my notes and status.

When I hang up the phone with a customer, I log my notes in the CRM before I do anything else.

The cue does the reminding. When this happens, I do that.

The key is making the cue strong enough, repeatable and easy to see. It is more about the cue and using it as an anchor to initiate a behavior. In my experience, reminding a salesperson what he would gain from more sales is not as strong as a simple cue.

In my view, it is one sentence

Everyone agreed in the room. Then Monday came. In my view, the most powerful thing a team can do is write one sentence: "When this happens, we will do that."

What the research found

Planning "When this happens, I will do that" is one of the best-supported techniques in behavior research, tested in hundreds of studies.

Gollwitzer & Sheeran (2006); Sheeran, Listrom & Gollwitzer (2025)

Researchers call it an if-then plan, or an implementation intention. It links a specific moment to a specific response.

Gollwitzer (1999)

Two limits are worth knowing. The researchers report substantial publication bias, so treat the size of the effect with care. And it is for the hard moment, not for steps people already do easily.

Try this Monday

Pick one moment your team keeps missing and write it as "When ___, we will ___." It takes a minute. It is how every change in Initiative Playbook starts.

What would your line be?