Produce and Drive: Two essential objectives for turning a behavior plan into real change

Produce and Drive: The Two Levers in a Clear, Action-Oriented Behavior Plan

Let me ask you something. When you’re mapping out a behavior plan for a certification context, what actually moves the needle—the plan on paper or the way you bring it to life? In many scenarios, the two essential aims aren’t just tidy goals; they’re the engines that push ideas from ink to impact. In the NCCM program certification landscape, the two key objectives are Produce and Drive. Put simply: you create solid, workable strategies, and you actively propel them into real practice. When those two pieces work in tandem, you’ve got a plan that not only looks good but also changes behavior in meaningful ways.

Produce: turning ideas into doable strategies

Here’s the thing about producing. It’s not about churning out more pages or more meetings. It’s about generating concrete methods, interventions, or activities that have a real chance of guiding behavior in the intended direction. Think of Produce as the part of the plan that answers, "What exactly will we do?" It’s where design meets practicality.

A few ways to elevate the Produce side:

• Ground your plan in clear, target behaviors. Start with specifics: “increase adherence to a protocol by 20% within three months,” or “reduce lapse episodes by providing timely prompts.” The more concrete, the easier it is to act on.

• Build a menu of evidence-informed interventions. Borrow ideas from behavior change tools—prompt reminders, task simplification, social support structures, feedback loops, and short, repeatable activities. You don’t need a grand program; you need a few focused, repeatable moves that fit your setting.

• Tie interventions to measurable steps. Each activity should map to a tangible action. For example, if you’re promoting a new safety protocol, an intervention could be a short, on-site drill or a checklist that’s used at the exact moments when decisions are made.

• Keep it adaptable. Real-world contexts shift. Build in small, testable adjustments so you can refine the approach as you learn what works and what doesn’t. In practice, this means you’re prepared to tweak timing, intensity, or the method of delivery without losing sight of the objective.

In this phase, you’re creating a practical toolkit. It’s not enough to dream up “better outcomes.” You need concrete steps that someone can take—today, tomorrow, and next week.

Drive: turning plans into momentum and sustainability

Now, let’s talk Drive—the motor that pushes those plans from concepts into consistent action. Drive is about motivation, accountability, and the environment that makes the desired behaviors more likely to occur. It’s not optional; it’s essential. If Produce is the blueprint, Drive is the scaffolding that keeps the building standing.

What makes Drive effective?

• Motivation that sticks. People don’t stay engaged with a plan because it sounds good; they stay because they see personal or professional benefit, and because the plan fits their daily rhythms. Use reminders, relevance, and small wins to keep motivation alive. Tie outcomes to meaningful rewards or meaningful professional identity.

• Clear ownership and accountability. Who is responsible for each intervention? Who checks progress, and how often? Clear roles prevent drift and create a sense of shared commitment.

• Environmental supports. The surroundings matter. If the goal is safer patient handling, make the workspace friendlier to safe practice—checklists at the point of care, visible prompts, and easy access to needed tools. If it’s a behavioral routine, remove barriers and make the desired action as effortless as possible.

• Feedback loops. Quick, specific feedback helps people see the impact of their actions. Short-term success feeds long-term behavior, and honest reflection helps adjust the plan when reality shifts.

• Social reinforcement. Peers, mentors, or teams can amplify momentum. A culture that recognizes progress, shares learning, and celebrates milestones makes Drive contagious.

In short, Drive answers the question, “How do we keep people engaged and the plan moving forward, day after day?” It blends psychology with practical infrastructure—motivation with mechanics.

Putting Produce and Drive together: a practical synthesis

Let’s connect the two ideas with a simple mental model. Start by outlining what you want people to do (Produce). Then ask, “What will keep them doing it?” (Drive). The best plans don’t stop at a clever list of interventions; they embed those interventions in routines, supports, and feedback that sustain behavior over time.

Here are a few ways to fuse the two:

• Map activities to real-world moments. Identify when decisions are made, when prompts are most effective, and when support is most needed. Design interventions that fit those moments rather than forcing people to fit into a rigid timetable.

• Build lightweight metrics. Track both process and outcomes. Process metrics tell you whether the plan is being carried out; outcome metrics show whether behavior change is occurring. If a metric indicates a gap, adjust the intervention rather than abandoning the goal.

• Create a cadence of review. Schedule regular check-ins to see what’s working, what isn’t, and why. Use those insights to refine both what you Produce and how you Drive.

A couple of quick, practical examples help illustrate the point:

• Example 1: A plan to improve adherence to a new clinical guideline. Produce would include daily micro-teaching sessions, a simple one-page protocol card, and quick-reference checklists. Drive would involve daily nudges (electronic or in-person), peer champions who model the behavior, and weekly progress dashboards that show individuals how their teams are performing.

• Example 2: A behavioral plan for change management within a department. Produce might lay out a short set of actionable steps—communication briefs, role-specific checklists, and a pilot run in one unit. Drive would layer in leadership sponsorship, visible progress updates, and peer feedback loops to keep momentum high.

Common pitfalls to sidestep—and how to avoid them

Even the best intentions can stall if you’re not careful. Here are a few traps, along with plain-spoken fixes:

• Too many interventions, too soon. It’s tempting to pile on ideas. Start small, with a couple of high-leverage actions. You can scale up as you learn what sticks.

• Losing sight of the human side. A plan can look technically perfect but fail if it doesn’t feel relevant to the people involved. Always anchor interventions in real needs, preferences, and daily routines.

• Weak feedback cycles. If people don’t hear back about progress, motivation wanes. Build in regular, specific feedback that highlights both wins and opportunities for refinement.

• Ignoring context. What works in one setting may not in another. Adapt, don’t assume universality. Use a flexible framework and tailor it to local realities.

• Overemphasis on metrics without culture. Numbers matter, but so does culture. Pair metrics with stories of impact to keep people emotionally connected to the change.

Real-world echoes: how this mindset shows up in NCCM-related work

In the certification realm, the Produce-Drive mindset helps professionals translate knowledge into practice. When you design a plan for behavior, it’s not enough to know the right steps—you must shape how those steps land in daily workflows. Produce becomes the ready-to-use toolkit: concise procedures, prompts, and checklists that make the desired behavior feasible. Drive becomes the ongoing energy behind those tools: the reasons people care, the structures that support them, and the feedback that keeps everyone aligned with the goal.

This approach also aligns with a healthy, results-oriented mindset that many professionals bring to the NCCM space. It’s one thing to understand theory; it’s another to apply it in a way that feels natural to teams and individuals. The Produce-Drive pairing helps bridge that gap by offering a clear pathway from concept to consistent action.

A quick, reusable blueprint you can carry forward

• Define the target behavior with crisp clarity. Make it something a person can actually do and measure.

• Design a short list of interventions that directly support that behavior. Keep it lean and testable.

• Build in motivation and accountability. Create moments where people can see progress, receive feedback, and feel supported.

• Establish simple metrics for both process and outcomes. Use them to guide tweaks rather than to grade people.

• Schedule regular reflections. Use what you learn to refine both the “Produce” elements and the “Drive” levers.

Let me explain with a simple thought experiment. Imagine you’re organizing a small team effort to adopt a new safety ritual. Produce gives you the ritual card, a brief training snippet, and a reminder cue. Drive adds a weekly shout-out for teams hitting the target, a mentor system to answer questions, and a dashboard that shows how close each unit is to the goal. The plan becomes less about “we should do this” and more about “we’re doing this, together, with clear reasons and good support.”

Bringing it home: your next steps

If you’re drafting a behavior-focused plan for NCCM-related work, start with Produce—sketch the practical steps you’ll take. Then layer in Drive—design the motivation, accountability, and environment that will sustain those steps over time. It’s this blend that turns ideas into consistent, meaningful changes.

As you move through official resources and reference guides, keep returning to the core idea: Produce and Drive. Let that dual focus guide your decisions, from which interventions you choose to how you measure success and how you share progress with stakeholders. The result is a plan that feels both workable and enduring—one that stands up to real-world challenges and keeps pushing toward better outcomes.

If you’d like, I can help you sketch a lightweight, two-page framework that centers Produce and Drive for a particular scenario you’re working with. We can tailor the interventions to the setting, map them to concrete timelines, and draft a simple feedback loop you can start using right away. After all, the best plans are the ones you can actually put into motion—and keep putting into motion, day after day.