Behavioural Change

The purpose of judicial education and training is ultimately transformation, of systems and people. Judicial education is thus closely linked and supportive of judicial reform – to bettering justice. There can be judicial education that targets – knowledge, skills, and behaviour. However, while any and all of these can potentially lead to transformation, this is not always so. That is, the acquisition of knowledge, the mastery of skills, and/or apparent behavioural change may not necessarily be indicative of integral transformation. A dressed-up caterpillar is simply not a butterfly! 

Our experience is that transformation that is sustainable, because it is integral and so enduring, requires education and training in all three (3) domains – knowledge, skills, and behaviour; as well as inner orientations that truly support the process of transformation. Transformation is also an ongoing developmental spiral process that aspires to: whole self/system growth, improvement, and transformation. It also admits to regression, resistance, inertia, insecurity, avoidance and other fear, credibility or conditioning based responses. It can and most often does consolidate and manifest at different developmental levels. As such it requires continual interventions to promote continuous change. 

Thus its spiralling nature; developmentally, it continually returns to the ‘same’ basic themes, but does so at different levels as it unfolds along its spiralling progression. Developmentally, transformation occurs along identifiable individual and collective developmental lines, such as knowledge, skills, behaviour; and systems, rules and culture. These two features, developmental lines and levels, allow for both targeted educational interventions, as well as specific monitoring and evaluation. The spiralling nature of transformation explains why generally one-off educational interventions do not always effect the desired transformation and instead multiple (increasingly nuanced) interventions are necessary.

Experience has also shown that without certain Inner Orientations, transformation is unlikely. This is based on the principle that the Outer mirrors the Inner. Thus, inner orientations such as humility, intention, integrity, and awareness, have found to be key.

Humility

Humility here is defined as openness to change, recognition and acceptance that all relative truth is perspectival and hence partial; hence the willingness to consider other perspectives, and to critique, review, and revise one’s own in light of these others, and the commitment to action aligned with newly acquired insights, is an essential character and cultural trait for successful behavioural change.

Intention

Intention gives direction to one’s will. It indicates WHY one is really doing WHAT one is doing. It is thus revealing of MOTIVE. We ask: Why am I really doing this? What are my deepest motives? Clarifying and becoming aware of our true intentions and motives, helps one achieve the avowed aim of transformation. Eg. If we do not really want to be gender sensitive (and say, only appear to be so), then genuine and sustainable transformation in this regard is unlikely.

Integrity

Integrity speaks to the alignment of inner and outer values and behaviours, both in relation to individuals and institutions. Integrity is both an inner and outer quality. Persons and institutions must not only behave with integrity, but must also exist in integrity. Too often there is a facade of integrity in which individual and institutional behaviours appear to meet aspired values and principles, but in fact on closer examination the entire system is not in integrity, because as a single cohesive whole-system all parts are not aligned (inner and outer) with these values and principles. For example, a judicial system may decide cases and publish judgments on the inherent dignity of persons, fundamental fairness, and equality of treatment, yet in its own internal systems and cultures these values are not wholly present in relation to say, the treatment of staff. Such a system is not existing in integrity, even though an individual decision may appear to be aligned with the value and principle under consideration.

Awareness

Without conscious awareness, any change is often only going to be ad hoc and not sustainable. One needs to constantly be aware of: What I am thinking/feeling/saying/doing? Why am I thinking/feeling/saying/doing this? What do I need to change? Why do I need to change? Awareness allows one to know why one is doing what one is doing, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, to be able to consciously CHANGE.

Essentially the process of Transformation involves two continuously repeating movements, that must occur both internally and externally – RE-EVALUATION & REFORM. One re-evaluates and out of this reflective exercise, reforms – literally re-shapes oneself and the system.

This theory of behavioural change is thus comprised of five essential stages, which though often experienced as progressive are also fluid and dynamic in operation: 

1. Pre-Awareness

The condition of being unaware. There can be degrees of pre-awareness, from total unknowing to degrees of knowing, but always such that there is no sufficient or full recognition or acknowledgment of the phenomenon being considered and examined.

2. Awareness

The condition of being aware. There can be degrees of awareness. There can be some overlap between pre-awareness and awareness. This stage is a threshold, marked by recognition and crossed when acknowledgment occurs.

3. Acceptance

The condition of accepting the validity, relevance, aptness, and inherent imperative of the phenomenon being considered and examined. Again, there can be degrees of acceptance, from partial to full.

4. Choice

The condition of freely resolving, at least as an act of will, to modify and change pre-awareness attitudes, mind-sets, behaviours, rules, systems, cultures so as to bring them into greater degrees of alignment with the imperatives of the phenomenon being considered and examined.

5. Action

The condition of taking specific and concrete steps to actualise one’s acceptance and choice of and alignment and identification with the imperatives of the phenomenon being considered and examined, so as to achieve effective and sustainable transformation of the whole self/system as is (collectively) deemed relevant and necessary.