When the Plan Isn't Working, Look at the Person's Day First

Dinner in his house is served at 4:45pm because that's when the afternoon shift overlaps, and he has never been hungry at 4:45pm in his life.

The plan says to offer a calm, predictable mealtime with his preferred foods. The plan is right. The staff are trying. And every evening he pushes the plate away, leaves the table, and comes back at 7pm looking for something to eat, when there's one worker on and the kitchen is closed.

The incident reports say staff "aren't following the mealtime strategy". The real story is in the roster.

Why staff "aren't following the plan"

When I hear that staff aren't following a strategy, I want to know what part of his day makes it hard to follow. Sometimes teams genuinely need more training or clarity. Often, the strategy has been dropped into an environment that can't hold it.

Dr Jeffrey Chan put this well in episode 5 of Scaffolding PBS, our podcast series with ABC Behaviour Support: a plan is only as useful as the environment's capacity to implement it. The ecology around the plan matters. Staffing systems, supervision, buy-in and the rhythm of life in a service all decide whether a strategy survives contact with a Tuesday.

For the person, that environment is his whole day.

What the plan assumed and what his day looks like

Here's a simple way to map it. Put what the plan assumes next to what actually happens.

•         The plan assumed dinner when he's hungry, around 6:30pm. His house serves dinner at 4:45pm to fit the shift overlap.

•         The plan assumed familiar workers he trusts. He's met three new casuals this month.

•         The plan assumed a slow, unhurried morning. There's one worker for three residents before the bus.

•         The plan assumed staff debrief after hard moments. Handover is ten minutes in a busy kitchen.

•         The plan assumed a quiet room to retreat to. He has a shared lounge with the TV on.

Each of those gaps makes the strategy harder to follow. None of it comes from staff not caring.

Five places to look in the person's day

1.       Rosters. When do shifts change, and what happens to him in the overlap? Shift changes are often the loudest, busiest moments in a house.

2.       Turnover. How many unfamiliar faces has he met this month? Each new worker means he starts building trust again.

3.       Supervision. Do workers have someone to talk to after a hard shift? Supported workers stay calmer, and he feels that calm.

4.       Buy-in. Do the workers believe the strategy makes sense? A strategy staff don't understand gets applied half-heartedly, and he notices.

5.       The rhythm of the house. Meals, outings, visitors, TV, bedtimes. Is the day built around him?

What changed for him

In his house, the fix was small. Dinner moved to 6:30pm, with a snack at 4:45pm to bridge the overlap. Twice a week the afternoon worker stayed for the start of dinner. The mealtime strategy stayed exactly the same, and it started working, because the environment could finally hold it.

He eats with everyone now. Most nights he stays for dessert.

What to do this week

Before your next review, spend one hour mapping a real day in the person's life against their plan. Use the list above as a guide. Bring it to the team and ask, "What would make this strategy easier to follow here?" Then listen. The best answers usually come from the workers on shift.

Common questions

Why do behaviour support plans fail in practice?

Often because the environment can't support them. Rosters, turnover, workload or routines make the strategies hard to carry out consistently.

What is the implementation gap in PBS?

The distance between a well-written plan and what actually happens in the person's day. Closing it means looking at the systems around the plan.

How can managers help staff follow a behaviour support plan?

Adjust rosters and routines where possible, keep familiar workers with the person, provide supervision, and involve staff in shaping strategies.

Work with us

If you're a practitioner who wants to work this way, with supervision and senior clinicians who think about the whole environment, visit our careers page. If you manage a service and want help closing the gap, email intake@bespokebehaviour.com.au.

Stories in this post are composites, shared with details changed to protect privacy.