In other words, in addition to current efforts, what can be done to encourage the desired behaviour change? Some ideas will arise naturally and may already have been generated as part of the mapping of behaviours, whilst others may require more creative thinking. Brainstorming and persona exercises carried out at this stage can enable greater creativity, thinking outside-of-the-box, and a more thorough understanding of key stakeholders.

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Each workshop should start by reviewing the ISM factor sheets for 40 minutes: 30 minutes were devoted to the review of each of the ISM factors and 10 minutes to capturing the key points raised in relation to the different factors. It should be noted that the ISM behaviour mapping was a key start for the development of the workshops.

Afterwards, brainstorming and persona exercises were conducted for another 40 minutes. The objective was to enter into a creative mode and to think outside of the box, quickly generating ideas without criticising each other’s suggestions. The persona exercise was particularly useful at this stage of the policy design process, since it helped us to empathise with key user groups and shed light onto which problems to prioritise as well as identify previous un-considered issues and challenges. Examples of user groups or personas considered include unemployed people, students, families, women and disabled people. Finally, 10 minutes were devoted to formulating and recapitulating the ideas generated. In total, each ideation session, including the review of the ISM factor sheets and the brainstorming exercises, lasted approximately one hour and a half, and established more than 25 measures per target behaviour.