Association for Behavior Analysis International

The Six Boxes Model is a plain English derivative of Thomas F. Gilberts Behavior Engineering Model (BEM). Easier to comprehend and communicate to clients than the BEM, this framework provides a container for all the factors that influence behavior in a work environment. It also serves executives, managers, and performance improvement professionals as a simple but powerful tool for improving many management and performance development functions, including: organizational alignment, needs analysis, performance design, training support, implementation planning for new systems/programs/strategies, management development, and individual or group performance problem-solving. This tutorial introduces the model and provides an overview of each of its cells and the interdependencies among them with the plain English vocabulary that one might use with our non-technical clients and colleagues. The presentation will outline some key applications for this model and point to bodies of research and application from both behavioral and non-behavioral sources that can be encompassed and better understood in the context of The Six Boxes. Finally, the session will touch on our more recent applications of the model as a tool for enabling performance thinking across functions and levels in organizations to facilitate organizational agility and management effectiveness.