Books, rooms, timers, post-it’s and now fancy AI alone aren’t enough to drive change.
Why? - well let me explain...
Most of you know me for sharing my work in behavior and change, but before that I set up and ran an innovation lab - which while it seemed to be delivering value - it was not delivering on real lasting change within the organization.
The goal was always to cause change within, to get people involved, to enable them to make better decisions, to enable the system and ultimately to make myself redundant.
Ultimately the change did not really happen in the way we wanted it to...
I think this is what drove me to reflect, ask why and to go deep into behavioral science - because while I had all the right tools and resources - I did not really understand people and change - not deeply....
Let me share a few lessons I learnt:
1. You can make the rooms in organizations as “startupy, and cool” as you want, and buy the fanciest software - these days AI'ing everything - however if the people aren't intrinsically motivated to change, it won’t in the end drive the change you are looking for.
Tip: Understand what groups want to change and work with them to help start the change...
2. Understand the real outcomes/needs/behaviors of your employees.
What “jobs” are they trying to get done, how do they do it today, in what context.
What are the behaviors we want to enable to help us reach the outcomes
How do all of these play a role in the system of an organization, which has its own set of rules, policies and culture
Tip: Don’t impose your solutions - just because you think they are better, instead be evidence based, so you have a solid hypothesis.
3. Design to address the drivers
To help enable people to make better choices, you have to understand what is stopping them. At work it might be skills or knowledge, or it could be lack of time, resources, lack of confidence in doing something - or the policies and incentives.
If you don’t know, you won’t address the right things, and your solutions will fail.
Tip: Be systematic about how you approach your solutions.
Ultimately, if you want to get change right
Think less in solutions and more in outcomes.
Think less in AI and more in psychology.
Think less in terms of “fixing people” and more in enabling them to succeed.
Learn:
-Jobs to Be Done -Psychology -Motivation Theories -Behavioral Science -Human Centred Design -Systems Thinking .....
Create:
-A Tool box with the things you learnt, as you can’t possibly remember it all.
Apply:
-What you learn and enable yourself and others to get better outcomes
Do change for good!
P.S - Skip learning the cognitive biases and making everything a habit - real change requires real effort!
And remember - We as people aren’t irrational, or unsophisticated, we are in fact amazing - and contextual....