Hiring a Coach is a Waste
“Research is really clear: information is important — sometimes it’s the missing piece that explains what’s going on. But on its own, it rarely changes behaviour. What drives change is support, repetition, and tools that help us bridge the gap between knowing and doing.” know what to do — but can’t seem to do it
1. Health information ≠ behaviour change
- Systematic reviews consistently show that simply providing people with health information (leaflets, advice, awareness campaigns) has little to no effect on sustained behaviour change.
- Example: A Cochrane review on dietary advice found that giving people general nutrition information improved knowledge, but the effect on long-term eating habits was minimal without additional support (Hartley et al., 2013, Cochrane Database).
2. The “intention–behaviour gap”
- Psychology research (Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour, 1991) shows that knowing and even intending to act doesn’t guarantee behaviour change.
- Example: Meta-analyses of health intentions (Sheeran, 2002) show that intentions explain only about 28% of actual behaviour. That means over 70% of the time, knowing what to do and wanting to do it isn’t enough.
3. Education vs. coaching / support
- RCTs in weight loss and smoking cessation show that education-only groups do significantly worse than those with coaching, counselling, or behavioural support.
- Example: The Diabetes Prevention Program (Knowler et al., 2002, NEJM) — lifestyle coaching reduced the incidence of type 2 diabetes by 58%, far outperforming the group who only received information.
4. Neuroscience of habit formation
- Habits are controlled by automatic processes in the brain (basal ganglia, dopamine reward loops). These do not shift simply because we know more.
- Example: Lally et al. (2010, European Journal of Social Psychology) showed it takes an average of 66 days to form a habit, and information was not the driver — repetition and environment cues were.
5. Public health messaging
- Anti-smoking campaigns show this clearly: information about risks (lung cancer, heart disease) had limited effect until paired with policy, environment changes, and support systems (taxes, smoke-free zones, nicotine replacement, group programmes).
