When building a service, product or process think about making it - Normal, Easy, Attractive, and/or Routine - This is a checkpoint I like to use when working with teams.
The principles sound straightforward, they are basic, however, we may forget these when we are busy designing and building solutions.
Let me illustrate with an example from my working experience:
The Company: 📍 A Large Organization working on a Transformation (internal):
The Scenario: 🦄 A transformation team is brought in (or could be new CEO, CX, EX, etc team) and they want to make quick wins.
They identify that there are systems that need to be replaced and modernized, and kind of force the rest of the organization to adopt these new systems.
What I have personally seen happen is that the systems get implemented, and no one really adopts them.
Why? - well let's look at the NEAR Checklist:
N- Make it Normal - A new team or consultants tell us to use this new software - but we don't really identify with them, so our brain tells us to skip it.
E- Make it Easy - though the system may seem easy to an expert, vendor, or consultant - your organization may not think it is that easy. They may lack the skills, and knowledge to master it, and worse, they may be embarrassed to ask for help, as they may not want to seem like they don't know what they are doing.
A - Make it Attractive - If the new process, software, or way of working is not enjoyable or if your organization does not perceive it will serve a useful purpose, then friction will be high.
Think about it this way, your teams are asked to work in a new way, yet they are measured in other ways, quarterly targets, performance reviews, etc.. they may not find your new ways of working attractive enough in the short term to provide a reward.
R- Make it a Routine - If you are bringing in new ways of working, are they going to be something your team is going to be doing on a regular basis, or are they just something they get nagged to do?
If they don't become a part of the daily ways of working, then it will be really hard for teams to find value in them.
If you want to read more about NEAR-AFAR I'll leave a link in the comments.
#behavioralscience #behavioraldesign #servicedesign #productinnovation #changemanagement #digitaltransformation