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Astrid Groenewegen

The Behavioural Design Blog - overview

The Behavioural Design Blog – overview

By All, Behavioural Science Insights

With this Behavioural Design Overview we want to help you to navigate through the Behavioural Design Blog. Our ambition with this blog is to explore how influence works by applying it to interesting real world problems. Most of these blogs appeared in  Behavioural Design Digest, our weekly newsletter. You can subscribe to the Behavioural Design Digest here.

Everything we write is in line with SUE’s mission: ‘To unlock the power of behavioural psychology to help people make better decisions in work, life, and play’. This is the guiding principle behind our Behavioural Design Method© we teach in our Behavioural Design Academy and that we apply in our Behavioural Design Sprints. Curious to find out more about us? Meet us at ‘We are SUE‘ or buy our book ‘The Art of Designing Behaviour‘.

Happy exploring!

 

behavioural design - illustration birdeyes

Essential Reads and Videos

These are blog posts and videos that are essential to our thinking on how to influence minds and shape behaviour.

Behavioural Science Explained

There are concepts and principles in behavioural science that are the foundation of behavioural change. We explain them here.

Customer behaviour

Whether you have clients or customers. Whether you want to attract more clients or want them to buy, click, recommend or return. Behavioural science can help you get the most out of a customer.

Leadership & Team Behaviour

Organisations are collections of human behaviours. These blog posts and videos shed a light on how to leverage behavioural science to achieve operational excellence.

Citizen and Public behaviour

If you want the general public to adopt policies or design behaviours that will creat more welfare or better communities this is the section to keep your eye on.

Personal Behaviour

If you understand key concepts of behavioural science it can help you make better decisions that will improve your life, your work, your happiness and habits. Stay tuned here for self-improvement insights.

Methodology

Behavioural Design is applied behavioural science. It is active and results in tangible insights and interventions. This section will highlight the methodologic part of Behavioural Design.

Applied Behavioural Science

The true value of Behavioural Design is that it is applied behavioural science. In this section you’ll find blog posts on how to unlock the power of behavioural science in practice.

BONUS: free ebook 'How to Convince Someone who Believes the Exact Opposite?'

Especially for you we've created a free eBook 'How to Convince Someone who Believes the Exact Opposite?'. For you to keep at hand, so you can start using our insights whenever you want—it is a little gift from us to you.

Download ebook

Go ahead, it’s completely free of charge!

How do you do. Our name is SUE.

Do you want to learn more?

Suppose you want to learn more about how influence works. In that case, you might want to consider joining our Behavioural Design Academy, our officially accredited educational institution that already trained 2500+ people from 45+ countries in applied Behavioural Design. Or book an in-company training or one-day workshop for your team. In our top-notch training, we teach the Behavioural Design Method© and the Influence Framework©. Two powerful tools to make behavioural change happen in practice.

You can also hire SUE to help you to bring an innovative perspective on your product, service, policy or marketing. In a Behavioural Design Sprint, we help you shape choice and desired behaviours using a mix of behavioural psychology and creativity.

You can download the Behavioural Design Fundamentals Course brochure, contact us here or subscribe to our Behavioural Design Digest. This is our weekly newsletter in which we deconstruct how influence works in work, life and society.

Or maybe, you’re just curious about SUE | Behavioural Design. Here’s where you can read our backstory.

sue behavioural design
17/04/2020
SUE | SWAC Tool© Explained

SUE | SWAC Tool© explained

By All, Behavioural Science Insights

Changing behaviour is challenging but certainly not impossible. With the right tools in your Behavioural Design toolbox, you can leverage the power of behavioural science to shape positive behaviours and influence better decisions. This blog post introduces you to the SUE | SWAC Tool©. An easy-to-use tool to develop interventions that will change behaviour predictably. It is part of our SUE | Behavioural Design Method© and the second step after unlocking human insights with our SUE | Influence Framework©. The SWAC Tool© will turn insights into tangible ideas to develop better products, services, policies, campaigns or living environments.

How to design behaviour: Moments that Matter

Behavioural Design is all about creating a context to trigger people to make a decision or take action towards their goals. So, what is needed at this point is knowing what makes up for this context.

The key in creating an influential context is timing: designing for the moments that matter.

When you want to influence choice and shape behaviour you are designing for moments that matter. When is someone most susceptible to change? Or what are the moments we have to make sure someone gets triggered into action? These can be existing moments or moments that we have to create. You will have gained valuable insight into these moments from the Influence Framework©.  But there is another way you have to look at moments that is related to the timeframe needed for behaviour to occur. This has to do with the type of behaviour you are designing for.

It is important to realise that not all behaviour is created equal. Sometimes you need someone to engage in entirely new behaviour (could be going on a sugar-free diet after being diagnosed for diabetics or doing banking online for the first time) and sometimes you need someone to pick up abandoned behaviour they were already familiar with, but somehow stopped doing (could be exercising or going to dentist appointments). Sometimes you need someone to do something once in a one-off behaviour (sign-up for organ donation, apply for university, register online on your website) but often we want someone to engage in the repeat behaviour (showing up at doctor’s appointments on time, not using their phone in traffic, buying multiple products or services from you, making donations). To make things somewhat simpler again, the best starting point is to separate two types of behaviours:

– One-off behaviour (such as registering for organ donation)
– Repeat behaviour (such as a healthy eating habit)

You can imagine if you want someone to only do something once you have less convincing to do and it most probably can be done in a shorter timeframe. On the other hand, routine behaviour takes some more effort and you need to be at someone’s side a bit longer. So, you need to know which one of the two behaviours you are dealing with in the first place.

What about the new and abandoned behaviour then? Well, the fact is, if you want someone to show different behaviour (the whole point of coming up with interventions is causing a behaviour shift) it means he or she has to stop what he or she is doing now. Therefore, you have to consider all desired behaviour as a new behaviour. Even if the behaviour is obvious to someone (such as going to school) or someone knows he/she has to do it (such as paying taxes). But what about the abandoned behaviour then? This is actually a very important notion to consider.

A key in successful Behavioural Design is the acceptance that people will have moments of weakness or forgetfulness and slip into old behaviours again.

So, to get back to routine behaviours just a bit. I know a lot has been written and said about building habits and routines. Some tell you to stick to behaviour for 21 days, others claim that 30 or 90 days are needed to create routine behaviour. I am not sure what is the magic number. The only thing I am sure of (or have experienced myself) is that:

There is a dark side to goals, plans and habits: they are very fragile and therefore you need to be prepared for failure.

Failure seems to hit us time and again. That’s why I love Buster Benson’s ‘Chaos Monkey’ approach to life: don’t ignore the fact that we are vulnerable to having our goals, plans and habits being disrupted by ‘the first rainy day, sick day, vacation day, holiday, grumpy day, low-energy day, or otherwise non-standard day’. The Chaos Monkey comes and disrupts us time and again. If you are designing choice and behaviour, you also have to do this with the Chaos Monkey in mind. People will trip despite their good intentions and slip back into old behaviours. You need to be there at the tripping points, aka (yes you know what’s coming) moments that matter.

Change doesn’t happen overnight for any behaviour.

That’s why you should integrate multiple moments that matter into your intervention strategy. We always like to think about ‘onboarding’ someone. Making sure you stick by someone multiple times, especially in the beginning, and design for those moments that someone will find it hard to show the desired behaviour.

Let me wrap this up by giving you an example about designing an intervention strategy for one of our clients, a national fitness chain. From the membership data, we learned that people continued coming to the gym once they exercised a minimum of two times a week for three months. This is the point that they would actually come to the gym on a regular basis (members have to check in with their membership card at every visit, this is how the data is collected) and renew their memberships. Therefore, we knew we were designing for routine behaviour. We also knew them that the three-month timespan was needed to turn exercising into a habit instead of a strenuous to-do. We looked within that timespan for the moments that matter. Some came from our research. For instance, we found out that making sure you pack your sporting bag the evening before highly correlates with actually going to the gym the next day. But other moments we had to create. The real job of the gym was to keep onboarding people who failed to build up a routine.

You have to design a series of specific, new behaviours for any new behaviour to become a routine.

That’s why we came up with interventions that not only helped someone pack their sporting bag, but we looked into the entire three-month timespan and made sure we designed interventions to help someone make it through successfully. We helped someone book a personal trainer intake, we phoned them after a few weeks, we helped them join classes, we helped them exercise at home, just to name a few. The interesting insight for our client was that they were not in the business of gyms, but they are in the business of building an exercise routine. This opened up a world of different interventions (and new business ideas as a matter of fact).

Want to learn how to shape behaviour and decisions?

Then our two-day Fundamentals Course is the perfect training for you. You will learn the latest insights from behavioural science and we'll teach you how to use tools such as the SWAC Tool© to apply the best of behavioural science in practice right away!

Download the brochure

Go ahead, it’s completely free of charge!

How to design behaviour: SWAC

A lot of very interesting research has been done in the behavioural change field of expertise. And it can get quite complicated. That’s why we simplified it again. Without further ado let’s take a look at the SUE | SWAC Tool©. It is foremost a very easy-to-use tool. It explains which four pieces of the puzzle you need to solve to create a context that will persuade someone into doing something and to have them keep doing it. What makes the tool so easy to use in practice, is that anytime you want to design for behavioural change, all you have to do is ask yourself four simple questions:

When the new behaviour does not happen, at least one of those four elements is missing. The most important implication of this is that by using the SUE | SWAC Tool© as a guide you can quickly identify what stops people from performing the behaviours that you seek.

If a sufficient degree of capability (CAN) to perform a behaviour is matched with the willingness (WANT) to engage in that behaviour, all that is then needed for the behaviour to occur is to set someone into action (SPARK) at the Moments that Matter.

Maybe you notice that in the tool it says moments that matter. Not one moment, but moments. As we learned, behavioural change doesn’t happen overnight. Most of the time someone needs to be reminded of the desired behaviour more than once for it to happen in the first place. Furthermore, behaviour becomes easier when repeated. Therefore, we have to make sure we SPARK someone AGAIN and again to activate the desired behaviour. So, you need to design several interventions at multiple moments that matter. In practice your intervention strategy will look something like this:

The objective of most intervention strategies is not only to change behaviour but to change this new behaviour into a routine behaviour (a habit), so the new behaviour will stick.

Remember, your desired behaviour is new behaviour for people and that’s why it is important to spark behaviour AGAIN and again. Only then the behaviour will take place, as illustrated above as the BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE THRESHOLD. When your objective is to design repeat behaviour, it almost goes without saying that you have to make sure the desired behaviour is performed repeatedly. If you can make someone perform new behaviour over and over AGAIN, it can become automatic.

The result being that someone doesn’t have to think about the new behaviour anymore, he or she simply does it. This way it can become habitual. Illustrated above model as the HABIT THRESHOLD. As Aristotle already stated:

We are what we repeatedly do.

He added ‘Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit’. To sum it up: The more often you do something, the easier it gets. So, there you have it: the four elements you need to change behaviour.

Aristotle quote, ancient Greek philosopher, scientist and physician, 384 BC-322 BC, no original source known.

 

How to design behaviour: Capability

Before we start working with the tool, let’s go back one little bit.  As Behavioural Designers our outset is to design for someone’s system 1.

Our job is to help people make better decisions without them having to think.

This is the foundation of this model. When you look at willingness (WANT) and capability (CAN) there is something very interesting and important going on. We are all so used (and trained) to have the best arguments, deals, offers, rewards or promises to convince someone (or ourselves). Historically, we are all shaped around motivation (WANT). If we need to sell something, we are hardwired to try to create willingness to buy. If a personal resolution fails, our first (conditioned) conclusion is that we must not have wanted it badly enough to keep up the self-discipline.

 

What if I tell you that making sure someone wants something often isn’t the most powerful starting point to change behaviour? Making someone WANTs to perform the desired behaviour is just one side of the medal in getting things done. In fact, it even isn’t the shiniest side of the medal. Here’s why. There is something particular going on with people’s willingness to change; It goes up and down. When relating this to our fundamental know-how on human decision-making this makes perfect sense, as:

Willingness to change requires cognitive action.

It is a system 2 activity like self-control and focus. You cognitively decide you want something. You decide this consciously. I want to lose weight, I want to save money, I want to recycle, I want to spend more time with my kids. We have learned that our system 2 has only limited bandwidth. Therefore, your willingness to change falters, it goes up and down in waves. This is the reason why most new year’s resolutions fail. On January 1st you WANT to lose weight, or you WANT to stop drinking or you WANT to go to the gym. And then comes along your best friend’s birthday. Or you’ve pulled a whole-nighter because that precious offspring of yours refused to sleep. And now you don’t WANT to exercise and not drink anymore. You want to vegetate on the couch (sleep deprivation isn’t a walk in the park) or have a blast (hey your friend only turns 40 once). You feel so deserving (your system 2 post-rationalisation working full speed for you) and so you will start next month. You simply CANnot do it today. Your willingness to change behaviour has dropped like a mic on an empty stage. This is perfectly human, but something we have to take into account when designing for behaviour change. Chaos Monkey Galore!

Luckily, as Behavioural Designer, you have an ace up your sleeve by making behaviour very simple. Our brain LOVES simple. Bonus is that when things are simple, we are able to do things without needing that much willingness. That’s why we always start with thinking about possible CAN interventions. This is designing for system 1. The best behavioural change ideas are in their core capability ideas.

Making something very easy to do is something that requires little or no cognitive action from someone.

Let me illustrate how this can work with a real-life example. Most people WANT to save money, but many of find it hard to do (CAN). You could design saving behaviour without having to really stress the willingness to save too much but by focusing on making saving behaviour easier instead. This is exactly what Bank of America did. Their human insight was that people wanted to save money, but never did especially making regular contributions was very hard. They have introduced a program called ‘Keep the Change’. What it boils down to is that every time a client pays with his or her debit card for daily purchases like buying coffee, going to the dry cleaners and so on, they round up their purchase to the nearest dollar amount and transfer the change from someone’s checking account to their savings account — or to their child’s savings account.

From a JTBD point of view, I find the last brilliant by the way: a lot of parents want to save money to for their children to have a little money in the bank once they go to college or need some extra funds otherwise. So, let’s say you have to pay something of $ 4,60 then $ 0,40 is automatically transferred. You don’t have to think about it, it just has been made very simple for you. The result of this behavioural design intervention has been very impactful. Ever since the program launched in September of 2005, more than 12.3 million customers have enrolled, saving a total of more than 2 billion dollars. Of all new customers, 60% enrol in the program and Bank of America reported that 99% of the people who signed-up with the program have stayed with it.

Would you like to power up your team with Behavioural Design?

If you wish to add behavioural intelligence to your team, be sure to check out our in-company training. Bringing your talent up to speed with the latest in behavioural science and teaching them hands-on methods and tools to apply this in practice right away. Tailormade to your organisation.

Check out in-company training

PS. We've trained many teams already! From leadership to project teams.

Designing behaviour: Willingness

But mind you, the behavioural change medal still has two sides. One cannot live without the other. If you WANT to perform a behaviour, but you CAN’T nothing will happen for sure. If you CAN perform the behaviour, but you don’t WANT to, well that’s a tough battle to fight too. So, the best chance for successful outcomes is when capability and willingness are sparked at the same time. There should always be both willingness and capability, but you do not need to always maximise the two. There are two simple guidelines:

  1. When someone’s really WANTS to change, someone CAN perform even hard behaviour
  2. When someone CAN easily perform the behaviour, someone doesn’t have to WANT it so badly

I have a system 1 cue for you to remember these four blocks of behavioural change: To design someone’s behaviour you need to have SWAC. Sounds like swag (which is a bonus), but it stands for this easy to remember formula:

Behavioural Change = Spark * Want * Again * Can

If you want to make somewhat of an impression on someone you can always tell them SWAC stands for sparking willingness again and capability. Whatever works for you, as long as it helps you remember what four elements you need to include in your ideation for lasting behavioural change.

Let’s showcase how this interplay of the four elements works by discussing an example. Think about quitting smoking. If someone doesn’t WANT to stop smoking. You can SPARK them him all you want, but nothing will happen, as quitting smoking is very hard to do (CAN). You could try to boost his or her willingness to quit, but this will only have an effect if you make the quitting as easy as possible for them at the moments, they are most seduced to light up that cigarette (Moment that Matters). The same goes for someone who does WANT to stop smoking. You might not have to work as much on their willingness to quit, but even then, they will have indecisive moments in which they will struggle to keep their back straight to withstand temptation.

Think about that Friday drink when you have that glass of alcohol in hand. Helping someone to quit smoking is a typical example of helping someone change behaviour that CAN be very hard to change. So, you need to make sure you continuously help them by making quitting smoking as easy as possible. You have to make sure you are by their side at those moments of weakness AGAIN and again. Make it easy to resist temptation. For example, vapors/e-cigarettes or nicotine gum can provide an alternative to smoking at the moments that matter. And the longer you can help someone fight the urge to light up that real cigarette by using SWAC, the more that person becomes a non-smoker and passes the habit threshold. That new habit becomes not smoking instead of smoking.

This shows that, by adding repetition to the mix (AGAIN), yes you probably know what is coming, you hardly have to think about the behaviour anymore and it becomes a system 1 activity. Task accomplished! We designed for system 1 and helped people make better decisions without them having to think. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?

Working on capability (CAN) is designing for system 1.

Designing behaviour: Behaviour has to be sparked

Let me wrap up with the sparks. A spark is easily put a cue or call to action that drives desired behaviour. Roughly there are three kinds of sparks:

  1. Reminders: you can remind someone of the desired behaviour
  2. Obstructions: you can pause the undesired behaviour
  3. Interruptions: you can interfere with automatic behaviour

Without a spark, someone may WANT and CAN perform the behaviour but there’s simply no call to action.

A very good example of this is that little optic in your car dashboard that shows you how much full you have left. I think none of us WANTS to run out of fuel and we all CAN fill up our gas tank quite easily (on European motorways we have gas stations everywhere). But if we didn’t have the SPARK, that little red light flashing up when it is really time to pull over and fill up your tank, I guess a lot more people would be needing to call road assistance.

 

Summary: Designing behaviour is a matter of having SWAC

When you want to develop interventions that shape decisions and influence behaviour the SUE | SWAC Tool© is a very helpful tool. It brings down designing behaviour to asking the right questions:
  • CAN: can someone perform the behaviour?
  • WANT: does someone want to perform the behaviour?
  • SPARK: is someone set into action at the right moment?
  • AGAIN: more than once?

However, understanding is one thing, making it work is another. We had to design behaviour in practice, we had clients who came to us with real behavioural challenges that needed real answers. So, we wanted (and needed) more. We wanted to know how you can boost willingness to change or how to grow capability using the power of behavioural science. How we do this is the subject of the blog post that will come up the blog soon.

 

Astrid Groenewegen

BONUS: free cheat card 'The SUE | Influence Framework© explained'

Especially for you we've created a free 'SUE | Influence Framework©' cheat card. For you to keep at hand, so you can start using our insights from whenever you want—it is a little gift from us to you.

Download cheat card

Go ahead, it’s completely free of charge!

How do you do. Our name is SUE.

Do you want to learn more?

Suppose you want to learn more about how influence works. In that case, you might want to consider joining our Behavioural Design Academy, our officially accredited educational institution that already trained 2500+ people from 45+ countries in applied Behavioural Design. Or book an in-company training or one-day workshop for your team. In our top-notch training, we teach the Behavioural Design Method© and the Influence Framework©. Two powerful tools to make behavioural change happen in practice.

You can also hire SUE to help you to bring an innovative perspective on your product, service, policy or marketing. In a Behavioural Design Sprint, we help you shape choice and desired behaviours using a mix of behavioural psychology and creativity.

You can download the Behavioural Design Fundamentals Course brochure, contact us here or subscribe to our Behavioural Design Digest. This is our weekly newsletter in which we deconstruct how influence works in work, life and society.

Or maybe, you’re just curious about SUE | Behavioural Design. Here’s where you can read our backstory.

sue behavioural design
27/09/2021

1,5 Minutes on Influence: An Overview of our Newsletters

By 1.5 minutes on influence, newsletter

1,5 Minutes on Influence: An Overview of our Weekly Newsletter

Happy 1,5 Minutes on Influence!

Here is an overview of our weekly 1,5 Minutes on Influence newsletter. Every Thursday, we share 1,5 minutes of insights to explore compelling questions and uncover strategies to positively impact decision-making by applying Behavioural Design.

Astrid

1,5 Minutes on Influence:Negotiation and Happiness

1,5 Minutes on Influence:Motivation and Live to a 100

1.5 Minutes on Influence: Curiosity and Coffee

1,5 Minutes on Influence: Kahneman and Achieving Your Goals

1,5 Minutes on Influence: Negotiation and Getting What You Want

1,5 Minutes on Influence: Forget Benefits and Knowing Which Books to Read

1.5 Minutes on Influence: Fighting Unproductive Meetings and the Kahneman Spiral Effect

 

 

Further learning:

More about identifying and removing obstacles to change in my book ‘The Art of Designing Behaviour’ or ‘De Kunst van Gedrag Ontwerpen‘.

Are you interested in mastering the skill of pinpointing psychological barriers to change and selecting the right interventions to effectively overcome them? Join our two-day Behavioural Design Fundamentals Course and we will teach you (Dutch and English editions).

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in our popular email newsletter ‘1,5 Minutes on Influence’. Every Thursday, we share 1,5 minutes of insights to explore compelling questions and uncover strategies to positively impact decision-making by applying Behavioural Design. Enter your email 👇 and join over 15.000 other forward-thinking professionals.

03/04/2024

1.5 Minutes on Influence: Fighting Unproductive Meetings and The Kahneman Spiral Effect

By 1.5 minutes on influence, newsletter

1.5 Minutes on Influence: Fighting Unproductive Meetings and The Kahneman Spiral Effect

Happy 1,5 Minutes on Influence!

Here is your weekly dose of applying the psychology of influence
to positively impact choices and behaviours.

Looking forward to sharing insights with you!

Warm regards,

Astrid

1 MINUTE:
INSIGHT OF THE WEEK

Have you ever had a week where most of your schedule was filled with meetings? Imagine if your company announced that all regular meetings with more than two people were canceled. Shopify did exactly that a while ago, putting the whole company on a ‘meeting diet.’

My first reaction was, “Wow, that would free up a lot of space.” However, from a behavioural psychology standpoint, this isn’t just a gentle nudge; it’s a strict limitation.

I don’t know about you, but I struggle with restrictions. Behavioural psychology explains this through reactance theory, which suggests that when our freedom is limited, it negatively affects us psychologically. Often, we might ignore the rules or even do the opposite, similar to how we’re tempted to pick the forbidden fruit.

Yet, the issue of meeting fatigue is real and widespread. So, I started thinking. Could other research from behavioural science help us address this problem?

First, we need to understand the problem correctly. It’s not that we have meetings; it’s that we have ineffective meetings. They are often unprepared, focus too much on trivial details, or include people who don’t contribute.

Looking at it from a ‘job-to-be-done’ perspective, meetings have much more potential. They can inspire us, spark collaboration, and help us make progress.

What if we prioritized these human needs? For example, what if part of the company culture was to hold shorter meetings? This would change the social norm. Making it much more encouraging for employees to come up with ways to implement this themselves. This could activate the Ikea Effect: if you invest effort in creating something yourself, you’re more likely to appreciate and follow through with it.

Perhaps we could also make the desired behaviour easier, rather than mandatory. I appreciate how, when you schedule a meeting using Calendly, the default meeting time is set to 30 minutes. You can change it, but the default encourages shorter meetings.

Consider Jeff Bezos’ ‘six-pager memo’ approach at Amazon, which transformed the way meetings are conducted. These memos establish a new standard for presenting ideas and facilitate deeper, more informed discussions on complex topics. Each meeting begins with a 30-minute period dedicated to reviewing the memo, ensuring all attendees are well-prepared and aligned. This setup leads to focused discussions, with time for thorough questions, analysis, and debate.

We at SUE, have decided not to share any to-dos in meetings, but to only discuss where we need help from other team members. This has made our meetings much shorter but foremost much more valuable.

Further reading:

McGregor, J. This company is canceling all meetings with more than two employees to free up workers’ time.

Reactance Theory

The Ikea Effect

Jeff Bezos Six Pager Memo.

 

Wish to learn more about how our brain works and how behaviour is shaped: download the brochure of our Behavioural Design Fundamentals Course here.

0,5 MINUTE:
NOT TO BE MISSED THIS WEEK

I can’t help but remember Daniel Kahneman again. I read a wonderful article featuring 30 short reminiscences from some of those closest to him. One memory was from Danny Lovello. He was frustrated because Kahneman often changed his mind, sometimes returning to where his thinking had started. Kahneman’s response (quoting the article), which I loved, was:

“Dan, that’s when I learn the most.” Then, using his finger, he drew a circle in the air. “I don’t just go around and around a problem. It might seem like it, but I am actually going deeper and deeper.” He added, “I’m more like a spiral than a circle.”

I have named it the Kahneman Spiral Effect. Let’s all try to spiral a bit more sometimes to deepen our thinking. Who knows where we might end up.

 

Want to share this week’s newsletter on your website, on social media or email? Just copy and paste this link: https://suebehaviouraldesign.com/meetings-and-spiral-effect/

Until next week,

Astrid Groenewegen

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in our popular email newsletter ‘1,5 Minutes on Influence’. Every Thursday, we share 1,5 minutes of insights to explore compelling questions and uncover strategies to positively impact decision-making by applying Behavioural Design. Enter your email 👇 and join over 15.000 other forward-thinking professionals.

17/04/2024

1.5 Minutes on Influence: The Effect of Sound and Charlie Munger

By 1.5 minutes on influence, newsletter

1.5 Minutes on Influence: The Effect of Sound and Charlie Munger

Happy 1,5 Minutes on Influence!

Here is your weekly dose of applying the psychology of influence
to positively impact choices and behaviours.

Looking forward to sharing insights with you!

Warm regards,

Astrid

1 MINUTE:
INSIGHT OF THE WEEK

Do you like the sound of this?

As I am typing this, I am listening to some techno on my Apple AirPods. I haven’t turned on noise cancellation, though, because I always feel awkward shutting myself off completely in public. Silence can be very uncomfortable.

But coincidentally, as I was listening and browsing, I came across an article about the effect of sound on our brain and how it influences our health, buying decisions and learning capabilities.

With noise pollution becoming a more frequent issue, I was curious if there are behaviours that can help us cope. Here’s what I learned:

Several studies have shown a correlation between noise and health. Overexposure to noise can induce stress and anxiety.

An even more shocking study was conducted on children in noisy school environments, showing that they had lower reading levels and speech problems. The upside is, once noise was reduced, the children’s performance returned to average.

But there’s is more. Did you know that the type of music we hear in shops shape our buying decisions? An experiment at a supermarket showed that playing French or German music influenced customers to buy wines from the respective countries. On days when French music was played, 77 percent of the wine purchased was French, whereas on days when German music played, customers predominantly bought German wine.

So, what’s happening here?

Our brain is wired to pick up sound very easily, but this blocks other cognitive abilities. It can only focus on so much at the same time. So, that is a plea for silence. However, silence can also be uncomfortable.

But there’s an upside.

You can use sounds to foster more positive behaviours.

Listening to classical music, audiobooks, birds chirping, or podcasts can have a positive effect. For instance, listening to classical music can help you absorb new information better.

And if you want to improve your thinking? Silence is golden; it helps you process and focus. So, next time someone asks you a question, make sure to pause for a moment and embrace the silence. It will help you come up with better answers.

I immediately started organizing my Spotify playlists in a “job-to-be-done” manner. I now have playlists called #writingtunes, #cookingtunes, and, truth be told, #esgehtlos techno tunes. My advice is to experiment which sounds work for you and when.

I can just hope you like this item, otherwise I have to skip my techno when writing and that would honestly hurt.

Further reading:

Wish to learn more about how our brain works and how behaviour is shaped: download the brochure of our Behavioural Design Fundamentals Course here.

0,5 MINUTE:
NOT TO BE MISSED THIS WEEK

I want to wrap up this week with a book recommendation: “Poor Charlie’s Almanack.” It compiles the worldly wisdom of the late, brilliant, and utterly witty Charlie Munger. For years, it was out of print but has now been republished and is an absolute gem. Just to share two brilliant quotes from Munger already:

“If you don’t adapt, you’re like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.”

“A great business at a fair price is superior to a fair business at a great price.”

Here you can get your copy: English edition.

 

Want to share this week’s newsletter on your website, on social media or email? Just copy and paste this link: https://suebehaviouraldesign.com/the-effect-of-sound-charlie-munger/

Until next week,

Astrid Groenewegen

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in our popular email newsletter ‘1,5 Minutes on Influence’. Every Thursday, we share 1,5 minutes of insights to explore compelling questions and uncover strategies to positively impact decision-making by applying Behavioural Design. Enter your email 👇 and join over 15.000 other forward-thinking professionals.

17/04/2024

1,5 Minutes on Influence: Forget Benefits and Knowing Which Books to Read

By 1.5 minutes on influence, newsletter

1,5 Minutes on Influence: Forget Benefits and Knowing Which Books to Read

Happy 1,5 Minutes on Influence!

Here is your weekly dose of applying the psychology of influence
to positively impact choices and behaviours.

Looking forward to sharing insights with you!

Warm regards,

Astrid

1 MINUTE:
INSIGHT OF THE WEEK

I wanted to share a thought that hit me while looking back at all the problems we’ve solved at SUE and studying other projects in behavioural design.

We often think the best way to persuade people is to show them the good things they’ll get if they change their behaviour. We do this by highlighting the benefits or pointing out the unique selling points.

However, I’ve realized that influencing people effectively goes beyond just showcasing the benefits. It’s crucial to remove the barriers to change.

Let me explain with an example from our work. During the Covid pandemic, a local health service sought our help to increase flu vaccination rates among healthcare workers. They were worried about a Covid surge happening at the same time as the flu season, and they wanted healthcare workers to be as protected as possible (to be clear, this initiative was about protection, not obligation or coercion).

When we talked to the healthcare workers, Most healthcare workers understood the flu vaccination’s benefits. They even said it would help them keep working, which was their main goal during the tough Covid times. They wanted to stay healthy for their patients and colleagues, who were all under a lot of stress.

However, the very motivation to be a stable contributor to the workforce faced a significant barrier— an obstacle that hindered the desired behaviour of getting a flu shot, which needed to be addressed.

The obstacle to vaccination wasn’t doubt about the flu vaccine’s benefits, but the inconvenience of accessing it. Many healthcare workers hesitated to leave their busy workplaces and colleagues to get vaccinated.

We tripled the number of healthcare workers getting the flu shot by directly addressing this barrier: introducing mobile vaccination teams to their workplaces. This straightforward and effective strategy eliminated the hassle of getting vaccinated,

This experience underscored a crucial lesson:  before you start talking about the good things that come with a behaviour change, first think about what might be stopping people from making that change.

With this insight, what steps can you take on your own? To boost your success in behavioural change, reflect on these four categories of potential obstacles in your projects:

·  Barriers from within: These are internal anxieties such as a lack of self-confidence, misalignment with one’s self-image or beliefs, feelings of insecurity, or simply not seeing oneself as the type of person who engages in the desired behaviour.

·  Barriers from others: This category includes anxieties about what others will think, the perception that the majority are not engaging in the behaviour, or that it contradicts what one has been taught by others.

·  Barriers from you: Anxieties can also stem from a lack of trust in the person or organization advocating for the change, not liking them, or not knowing them well enough.

·  Barriers from the desired behaviour itself: Doubts about one’s ability to perform the new behaviour, previous failures, disbelief in its effectiveness, or concerns about affordability are also significant sources of anxiety

Remember, making things easy for people is often more effective than trying to boost their motivation. Capability to change eats willingness to change for breakfast!

Further learning:

More about identifying and removing obstacles to change in my book ‘The Art of Designing Behaviour’ or ‘De Kunst van Gedrag Ontwerpen‘.

Are you interested in mastering the skill of pinpointing psychological barriers to change and selecting the right interventions to effectively overcome them? Join our two-day Behavioural Design Fundamentals Course and we will teach you (Dutch and English editions).

0,5 MINUTE:
NOT TO BE MISSED THIS WEEK

Do you also have so many books you still want to read? But don’t find the time to do it? I read this great insight from Thoreau about books that really resonated with me that will get you reading but also will help you select the books worth reading.

The ‘what to read’ selection is basically quite simple. Sometimes you have books that might as well could have transferred the main ideas into a blog post. So, ask yourself why delve into hundreds of pages when a brief article could summarize the book’s main ideas?

However, there are books out there that are more than mere conveyors of information; they are tools for thinking with new ideas. And yes, it may strike some as a drag the time it takes to engage with the ideas that are put forward. But hold on, it makes sense to do so. To paraphrase Thoreau,

“Every tool has its challenges: The time given to working through new ideas, adopting and adapting, developing or discarding, changes our minds, changes us. This process of thinking, changing our minds, or even saying no to some ideas, really helps us grow. The true worth isn’t just in what we learn, but in the understanding we grow by thinking deeply about these ideas.”

This really opened my eyes to which books I own and actually want to read. I hope it does the same for you.

Further reading:
My book ‘The Art of Designing Behaviour’ was meant to be a tool for you. To kickstart your growth in Behavioural Design you can download the first part here for free (scroll down a bit on the page). Dutch or English.

Want to share this week’s newsletter via social media or email? Just copy and paste this link: https://suebehaviouraldesign.com/forget-benefits-what-books-to-read/

Until next week,

Astrid Groenewegen

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in our popular email newsletter ‘1,5 Minutes on Influence’. Every Thursday, we share 1,5 minutes of insights to explore compelling questions and uncover strategies to positively impact decision-making by applying Behavioural Design. Enter your email 👇 and join over 15.000 other forward-thinking professionals.

03/04/2024

1,5 Minutes on Influence: Kahneman and Achieving Your Goals

By 1.5 minutes on influence, newsletter

1,5 Minutes on Influence: Kahneman and Achieving Your Goals

Happy 1,5 Minutes on Influence!

Here is your weekly dose of applying the psychology of influence
to positively impact choices and behaviours.

Looking forward to sharing insights with you!

Warm regards,

Astrid

1 MINUTE:
INSIGHT OF THE WEEK

This week, our 1 minute is dedicated to Prof. Daniel Kahneman, who we sadly lost yesterday. A titan in the field of behavioural economics, Kahneman’s work has profoundly influenced us at SUE. Often hailed as the ‘grandfather’ of behavioural economics, he was actually the grandfather figure I would have wished to have.

These are 5 reasons why he was so special:

1.     The Simplicity of His Groundbreaking Theory
Kahneman showed us that human thinking could be divided into two systems: fast, intuitive thinking (System 1) and slow, logical thinking (System 2). This elegantly simple idea revolutionized our understanding of decision-making. Dr. Kahneman discovered that people often rely on mental shortcuts, leading to decisions that go against their own best interests. This know-how helps us make better decisions and understand how we can shape behaviours for the better.

2.     The Wit of His Quotes
Kahneman had a way with words that captured complex ideas in a nutshell. Consider these gems:

“Human beings are to thinking as cats are to swimming.
They can do it, but they prefer not to.”

or

“We’re blind to our blindness. We have very little idea of how little we know. We’re not designed to know how little we know.”

 

3.     The Creative Genius of His Experiments
Kahneman’s experiments, a fusion of intelligence and curiosity, explored the unique aspects of the human mind. Take his revealing study on colonoscopies, for instance: he found that if the discomfort decreased towards the procedure’s end, people remembered the entire experience more favorably, even if it lasted longer. This insight into the selective way we remember things sheds light on the intricate workings of human psychology, highlighting how our final impressions can profoundly shape our memories.

4.     His Special Work Relationship with Amos Tversky
Kahneman and Tversky’s partnership was nothing short of legendary. They shared a typewriter and would toss a coin to decide whose name would be listed first on their collaborative papers, as their ideas had become indistinguishably intertwined.

5.     The Range of Domains He Influenced
From the military to helping baseball scouts to evaluate talent, from governments making better public policies to leadership teams to become less leaderless, the impact of his work was widespread.

Daniel Kahneman’s legacy is a testament to the transformative power of curiosity, creativity, and collaboration.

Let us all strive to embody these three powerful ‘C’s in our daily lives.

At SUE, we will continue to build on the foundation he laid,
Forever mindful of his profound impact on our understanding,
of the human mind and behaviour. He will be missed.

 

Further reading, watching and learning:

Kahneman fast and slow thinking explained
System 1 and 2 quick guide
The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds
Daniel Kahneman | Talks at Google
Learn yourself how to apply Kahneman’s thinking

0,5 MINUTE:
NOT TO BE MISSED THIS WEEK

With spring blossoming around us, it’s the perfect moment for a fresh start. Did you know that the start of a new week, month, or even a birthday can dramatically boost your motivation to achieve your goals?

This phenomenon, known as the ‘Fresh Start Effect’, is a psychological boost that empowers us to pursue our goals with renewed vigor. Here’s a little guide on how to make it work for you:

1.     Spot Your New Beginning: Keep an eye out for those dates that naturally feel like a fresh start. It could be the coming of spring, the beginning of a new school term, or just any Monday.

2.     Define What You Want to Achieve: Use these moments as opportunities to set clear, achievable goals. Whether you’re embarking on a fitness journey, learning a new skill, or improving daily habits, clear goals are crucial.

3.     Embrace Your Clean Slate: Fresh start moments offer you a psychological break from your past, including any missteps or setbacks. Treat it as a clean slate, a chance to start anew without the burden of yesterday.

4.     Map Out Your Path: Plan the steps you’ll take towards your goals. A detailed plan transforms your aspirations from wishes into actionable objectives.

So, here’s your takeaway:
Don’t wait for a new year for a fresh start. Every day presents a new opportunity. Let’s use the Fresh Start Effect to kickstart our goals 🌱.

 

Further reading:

The Fresh-Start Effect: Motivational Boosts Beyond New Years’ Resolutions
The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior

 

Want to share this week’s newsletter via social media or email? Just copy and paste this link:
https://suebehaviouraldesign.com/kahneman-achieving-goals/

Until next week,

Astrid Groenewegen

Co-Founder of SUE | Behavioural Design Academy

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in our popular email newsletter ‘1,5 Minutes on Influence’. Every Thursday, we share 1,5 minutes of insights to explore compelling questions and uncover strategies to positively impact decision-making by applying Behavioural Design. Enter your email 👇 and join over 15.000 other forward-thinking professionals.

03/04/2024

1,5 Minutes on Influence: Negotiation and Getting What You Want

By 1.5 minutes on influence, newsletter

1,5 Minutes on Influence: Negotiation and Getting What You Want

Happy 1,5 Minutes on Influence!

Here is your weekly dose of applying the psychology of influence
to positively impact choices and behaviours.

Looking forward to sharing insights with you!

Warm regards,

Astrid

1 MINUTE:
INSIGHT OF THE WEEK

I want to show you how our work for a Belgian town, negotiating with a German chemical company, is a prime example of how communication, based on the psychology of influence, can lead to impactful outcomes.

The situation:
This chemical company sent his heavy trucks right through the town centre. The town had been trying for 10 years to get them to use a different road around the city instead. The company’s CEO always dismissed the request using technical procedures. That’s when we came in:

We managed a breakthrough by applying 4 influence principles that you can also start using in negotiations:

1. We showed the real problem:
We used simple, emotional words and metaphors,
To surpass the technicalities,
Making the CEO feel the problem and the urgency.

“Whenever a truck passes through our city centre, it leaves parents terrified you’ll hit their children, and it causes our school windows to tremble as you pass by, disturbing the children’s concentration.”

2. We changed the focus:
Instead of arguing over minor details,
We talked about how the town and the company,
Could live and work together peacefully.
We explained it’s essential for everyone,
Including their workers and their families who live in the city,
To have a safe place to live without big trucks everywhere.

3. We made the choice clear:
We told the company they could keep fighting in court,
Or help the community and be seen as heroes.
This choice made them think about what’s important:
Looking good by helping out or caring about their own business.

But what was the killer principle?

4. We asked a different question:
That shifted the perspective from focusing solely on rerouting a road,
To considering a personal, positive impact on the community,
Encouraging the CEO to see the value,
Of him contributing to the town’s welfare.

“Do you want to be known only as a German factory CEO, or do you want to be remembered as a respected leader who enriches the community?”

The result:
The town and the company started working together,
And the CEO even asked if he could co-host,
The press conference launching the new road.

Never underestimate the power of personal and emotional jobs-to-be-done and understanding how the psychology of influence works!

Further learning:
Contact us if you want us to train your team with a one-day workshop in framing. We can help you find the words and frames to positively change minds or reputations, both in Dutch and English.

0,5 MINUTE:
NOT TO BE MISSED THIS WEEK

As we kind of surpassed our one-minute time slot. Here just a link to a video we think you should see: negotiation 101 by a kid

Want to share this week’s newsletter via social media or email? Just copy and paste this link:
https://suebehaviouraldesign.com/negotiation-and-…ng-what-you-want/

Until next week,

Astrid Groenewegen

Co-Founder of SUE | Behavioural Design Academy

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in our popular email newsletter ‘1,5 Minutes on Influence’. Every Thursday, we share 1,5 minutes of insights to explore compelling questions and uncover strategies to positively impact decision-making by applying Behavioural Design. Enter your email 👇 and join over 15.000 other forward-thinking professionals.

19/03/2024

1,5 Minutes on Influence: Curiosity and Coffee

By 1.5 minutes on influence, newsletter

1,5 Minutes on How to Influence Curiosity and Employee Wellbeing

Happy 1,5 Minutes on Influence!

Here is your weekly dose of applying the psychology of influence
to positively impact choices and behaviours.

Looking forward to sharing insights with you!

Warm regards,

Astrid

1 MINUTE:
INSIGHT OF THE WEEK

In July 2023 the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST),
Discovered the most distant active supermassive black hole to date,
Which existed just over 570 million years after the Big Bang.
For you Star Wars fans out there:
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….”

But even though JWTS researches experiences in the distant past
It is very relevant to us in the here and now.
The driving force of the JWTS was curiosity.
The unstoppable desire to explore, learn and discover.

And even though, most of us probably aren’t astronomers,
There is a link between the James Webb Telescope,
And how it can inspire us to create a workplace,
In which innovation, collaboration and communication thrive,
Leveraging the so-called ‘curiosity effect’ in behavioural science.

1. Promote Exploration:
Like the James Webb Telescope’s journey,
foster a workspace where trying new things is welcomed.
Innovation labs or hackathons can be great for this,
Letting employees experiment and learn
Without fear of making mistakes.

2. Support Continuous Learning:
Reflect the scientific world’s commitment to discovery,
by offering varied learning chances for staff.
Workshops on both job skills and wider curiosity-sparking subjects,
Can broaden perspectives, much like how the James Webb Telescope’s,
discoveries expand our knowledge of the universe.

3. Encourage Questioning:
Inspired by the JWST’s explorative spirit,
Allow employees to question processes, products, and strategies. Establish forums like brainstorming sessions for sharing ideas,
Emulating the telescope’s mission-driven inquiry,
To enhance collective curiosity and problem-solving.

4. Teamwork Power:
The JWST’s creation by NASA, ESA, and CSA highlights,
Teamwork’s role in achieving significant, complex goals.
This collaboration shows how diverse expertise and perspectives,
can drive innovation, emphasizing that a collective approach,
in professional settings can accomplish what individuals alone cannot.

Like the psychologist Herbert Simon once said,
Humans innate urge to discover the unknown,
Is ‘The Cat that curiosity could not kill’.

Let’s embrace curiosity to propel us forward,
And may the force be with us!


Further reading:

NASA – James Webb Space Telescope
Our courses on Learning the Psychology of Influence

0,5 MINUTE:
NOT TO BE MISSED THIS WEEK

The crucial team member you probably weren’t aware of

A recent research asked employees if they would,
Rather getting a raise or a benefit,
79% of the employees preferred a benefit,
High up on this list are extra paid days off,
And perks like childcare and healthcare assistance.

Perks are closely related to motivation,
Whereas money has to do with extrinsic motivation,
Perks are boosters of intrinsic motivation,
Which influences well-being and engagement.

And one of the perks that (quite literally) perk people up?
Good quality coffee!
Research shows that coffee not only offers a momentary break,
It also boosts intellectual and relational performance.

Employees often perceive the availability of good coffee,
As a sign of their employer’s appreciation,
Which can lead to improved mood and job satisfaction.

So, make your next hire a good coffee machine.
It may very well turn out to be a crucial team member.

Source:Coffee in the Workplace: A Social Break or a Performance Enhancer?

Want to share this week’s newsletter via social media or email? Just copy and paste this link:
https://suebehaviouraldesign.com/curiosity-and-coffee/

Until next week,

Astrid Groenewegen

Co-Founder of SUE | Behavioural Design Academy

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in our popular email newsletter ‘1,5 Minutes on Influence’. Every Thursday, we share 1,5 minutes of insights to explore compelling questions and uncover strategies to positively impact decision-making by applying Behavioural Design. Enter your email here and join over 10.000 other forward-thinking professionals.

12/03/2024

1,5 Minutes on Influence: Motivation and Live to 100

By 1.5 minutes on influence, newsletter

1,5 Minutes on How to Influence Motivation to Act and Living
to 100.

Happy 1,5 Minutes on Influence!

Here is your weekly dose of applying the psychology of influence
to positively impact choices and behaviours.

Looking forward to sharing insights with you!

Warm regards,

Astrid

1 MINUTE:
INSIGHT OF THE WEEK

Our 7-year-old daughter is a notorious vegetable sceptic.
When it is green, it is regarded with disdain.
So, eating broccoli (our desired behaviour),
Is not high on her to-do list.

But when we turned broccoli into something else,
Explaining, they are actually little trees that build muscles,
It became something she wanted,
As she had a climbing and hanging from everything phase.

This is what Charles Duhigg once called:
Doing the right thing for the wrong reason.

People do not want to buy toothpaste,
They buy a minty fresh breath for a date (or meeting).

This underlying motivation to act,
Is what Clayton Christensen coined as the job-to-be-done.
It is vital in getting people to act.

The questions to ask to influence behaviour become,
What is the progress people want to make?
And how can our offering help them get there?

Want to design sustainable behaviour,
And get people to buy solar panels?
A job-to-be-done of someone could be,
No longer being dependent on the power grid.

Want to design team behaviour,
And get people to the office twice a week?
A job-to-be-done can be getting recognition from your manager,
Who actually can notice you when you are in the office.

By the way, jobs- to-be-done can change over time.

The broccoli muscle approach doesn’t work anymore on our daughter.
Now she loves to join us in travelling.
And abroad, well, she needs to eat different foods.
So, now she is willing to taste them,
No green vegetable will stand in her way to see the world.

In conclusion, if you want to motivate people to do something,
Don’t start with your product, service, or policy.
Start with what they can help people achieve better in their lives,
Something they want or need.

Just remember to ask yourself:
How do I ‘sell’ the broccoli?

Further reading:

The SUE Influence Framework Explained
Know your customers jobs-to-be-done
Our courses on Learning the Psychology of Influence

0,5 MINUTE:
NOT TO BE MISSED THIS WEEK

Live to a 100

I recently watched the Netflix documentary on Blue Zones,
Communities where people live extraordinarily long and vibrant lives,

Absolutely fascinating.
But especially the last episode is worth watching,
It is pure Behavioural Design.

Interventions that added 3 years in life expectancy.

The key message:

If you cannot change people’s beliefs,
You must change their context.

– Eat wisely: Make healthy foods more accessible.
– Move naturally: Design ways for movement, like build walking lanes.
– Connect: Initiate social clubs in which people share and care.
– Outcome: Give people meaning, for example, help them volunteer.

So, check it out,
And venture out to add those 3 healthy years to your life.

Source:
Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones

 

Want to share this week’s newsletter via social media or email? Just copy and paste this link:
https://suebehaviouraldesign.cominfluence-motivation-and-live-to-100

 

Until next week,

Astrid Groenewegen

Co-Founder of SUE | Behavioural Design Academy

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in our popular email newsletter ‘1,5 Minutes on Influence’. Every Thursday, we share 1,5 minutes of insights to explore compelling questions and uncover strategies to positively impact decision-making by applying Behavioural Design. Enter your email here and join over 10.000 other forward-thinking professionals.

06/03/2024