Workplace Conversations 8.0: Policies vs Practice: How Behaviour Impacts Policies

Описание: This episode's theme — Policies vs Practice: How Behaviour Impacts Policies — is especially relevant in Nigeria and beyond, because:

1. A recent study, Evaluating the Agricultural Policy-Productivity Gap in Nigeria (2025), found that although policy incentives (credit, labour participation, capital formation) significantly correlate with productivity, inconsistencies in implementation (due to exchange-rate policy, inflation, unstable macroeconomic conditions) blunt their effectiveness.

2. In the dairy sector, for example, Integrated Dairies reports Nigeria consumes ~1.6 billion litres of milk annually, yet over 70% is imported, costing more than US$1.5 billion in foreign exchange each year. Local policy aims to reduce dependency, but practice (import dependence) remains high.

3. More broadly, the “theory-practice gap” is well documented in sectors from health to education — in Nigeria, many policies are well formulated, yet implementation lags due to behaviours: lack of follow-through, weak monitoring, informal norms, resource constraints. E.g. research on the theory-practice gap in Nigerian nursing and health systems reveals that even when knowledge of policy exists, perceived barriers (resources, leadership support, workload) prevent full compliance.

4. Research by Harvard Business Review found that 60–70% of corporate policies fail at the implementation stage, largely due to misalignment between formal rules and daily behaviours.

5. PwC’s Global Workforce Survey (2024) shows that 72% of employees believe there is a gap between what leaders say in policies and how the organisation behaves in practice.

6. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2024 highlights that when employees perceive alignment between policies and behaviour, engagement levels rise by 55% and turnover risk decreases significantly.

So, the question for us is clear: How can organisations ensure that the policies they design are not undermined by behaviours, but reinforced by them?

These examples show that policy alone isn’t enough. Behaviour — day-to-day actions, norms, leadership conduct — makes the difference.

Akinjide and Dr. Vanessa joined Dr. Oludayo to talk about how organisations can ensure their policy designs are lived out in practice, not just printed or posted.