Here are 3 lessons from working in business/government transformation
I spent a few years working as part of a transformation team in government. The teams goal was to cause change within, to get others involved, to get people to adopt new technologies and ways of working
However that didn’t happen in the scale we wanted, as we didn’t think account as much for the different levers and influences on behavior that were at play. (This work is what kick started my path to behavioral science)
So here are 3 things I learnt:
1. People and the organization need to want to change - Your “startupy” looking environment is not going to make a difference if people have beliefs or there are norms about the change.
Think about AI these days - if people believe that using it will render their jobs irrelevant, they may just not adopt it...
2. Understand the need and behaviors of your employees.
What need are they trying to get done, how do they do it today, in what context - and how does that align to behaviors?
Make sure you think about the outcomes for both the org and the employees so they align with each other.
3. Design thinking about the system, policies, incentives, and for removing barriers.
There is no point in telling people they can do anything all while the incentives and policies say otherwise. You need to know which levers you have and use them - not putting all the responsibility on just the individual.
All this work needs to be done in a more evidence based, systematic and systemic way.
If you don’t know the root causes, you won’t address the right barriers, and your solutions will be a resource waste - low adoption, and no real change.
Ultimately
Think outcomes first, not solutions.
Think psychology first and not technology.
Think less in terms of “fixing people” and more in enabling them to succeed.
Take some time to learn:
-Jobs to Be Done -Psychology -Motivation Theories -Behavioral Science -Human Centred Design -Systems Thinking -Culture and Norms
Develop
Tools with the things you learnt, adapted to your context.
Test and Iterate
-Learn to enable others to make better decisions and get reach better outcomes
Do more critical thinking and less gut thinking...
This image was from my office's - it was a really great experience and I am so thankful I got to be part of it.