Over the past month I ran a call for ideas in
our office, on how we can reduce costs and work smarter. Some very cool
behavioural insights application came up! Practical tip – how to change your
habits!
We received a lot of suggestions – and the
majority required people to change their behaviour. As they were coming from
colleagues as opposed to the management very few were relying on heavy-handed
traditional measures – like banning flying by the business class, restricting
choice of dinner options or making people pay for their phones. Instead, most
were, well, nudges – changes in communications and environment to influence
choices, but without imposing significant costs for making the “wrong” choice. Smack
on for this blog!
Some suggestions are specific to the
organisation I work in, but a good share can be applied universally. Here are 3
of my favourites
1. Inform people about their
telecom expenses, comparing them with their peers. Once a month people will be getting a “bill” comparing
them with an “average” user from their peer group, and also to the “best practice
user”. If they are below average they would also get a sad smiley L. The basic psychological principle behind this idea is “social proof” –
people do what others are doing. It was brilliantly demonstrated by the UK
Nudge Unit to reduce late payments of taxes; and also by an American utility
“oPower”. (http://economicspsychologypolicy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/nudge-database_3441.html
- see points 5 and 11)
2. Introduce “office miles”
system for booking flights. Many times people do not have an incentive to look at the costs of the
flight they are booking – and optimise for personal rewards (i.e. points). The idea is to introduce
“office miles” for booking cheapest possible flight, and then reward people
with token signs of appreciation.
3. Clearly mark the path to
stairs. Having a sign
indicating the way to the stairs, like footsteps on the floor, will make the
option of using stairs more salient. The signs themselves can be done in
behavioural-friendly way and follow the cue – action – reward principle of
habit formation. Sign will be the cue, climbing up or down the stairs could be
action, and you can place a smiley face (or some nice quote) on the inside of
the staircase door, to reward the person!
And the tip of the post is exactly on changing
your habits. Follow cue-action-reward. Your running shoes by your bed can be a
cue, jogging the action, and getting tasty glass of vegetable juice the reward.
If you want to know more about it – highly recommend book “The power of habit”
