🤓 A Dream is Just a Goal That Needs Task Analysing 📝✅💪🏻

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been fully immersed in my PBS headspace—marking Level 6 and Level 7 student assignments and working closely with my wonderful PBS supervisees across various organisations and provisions throughout the country.
 
Some are at the very beginning of their careers, taking their first steps into PBS practice. Others are further along, developing structures from scratch within their organisations, or navigating established systems, restructures, and the ever-evolving landscape of education and social care. No matter where they are on their journey, they all share a common drive: *to do the very best they can for the individuals they support and the staff teams around them.*
 
I have felt everything alongside them—the overwhelm, the frustration, the worry… but also the excitement, the passion, and the deep sense of compassion they bring to their work. I am constantly in awe of their dedication, resilience, and willingness to reflect, adapt, and grow. I feel an enormous sense of pride, respect, and inspiration as I support these incredible humans on their paths.
 
Some of my favourite stand-out quotes from this past fortnight include:
 
👉 “I’m looking after my bottom of the triangle too—I need to take care of my foundation.”
👉 “I’m so glad I have someone who sees it the same way I do and can help break it all down with me.”
 
In almost every supervision session, whether we were discussing conversations with senior leadership teams or strategies to better support staff, I found myself offering the same piece of advice—something that was shared with me years ago by my incredible supervisor and the queen of Behaviour Analysis herself, Dr Jane Howard:
 
“Ask yourself, ‘What’s their motivation?’ And how can we show that our contribution and interventions are in support of this?”
 
For PBS Leads and Practitioners, this is key when seeking buy-in for the development and implementation of strategies. Understanding what drives those we work with can make all the difference in how we communicate and collaborate.
 
Here are a few key motivations to consider (not an exhaustive list, but a good starting point!):
 
For Senior Leadership Teams:
✅ Reputation
✅ Financial considerations/budget constraints
✅ Avoidance of scandal
 
For Staff Teams:
✅ Making a meaningful difference
✅ Simply getting through the day
✅ Feeling acknowledged and recognised
✅ Avoidance of incidents
 
By taking the time to understand the motivations and contingencies of those we hope will support us (and those we aim to support), we can shape our communication in a way that fosters genuine collaboration. This, in turn, allows us to implement evidence-based, best-practice interventions more effectively.
 
Because at the end of the day, a dream is just a goal that needs breaking down into manageable steps—task analysing, if you will! 💡