Fast Turnaround
I advise executives and owners in developing their organizational effectiveness.
+25 years of experience
I use my +25 years of experience in business, management and entrepreneurship to help them identify the most efficient ways, in terms of time, costs, structures and people, to grow their teams and companies.
In order to create long-term cognitive and behavioural change the consultant uses the Nudge Methodology which has proven highly efficient both for personal/individual and organizational change management.
The nudge methodology has its roots in a wide variety of psychological and philosophical models including facilitative decision-making, NLP, behavioural economics and transactional analysis. For a short definition, nudge theory is an approach to understanding and changing people’s behaviour by analysis, improvement, custom design and free choice, so as to achieve non-forced/voluntary compliance and helpful outcomes in the long term. It is not a fixed process or self-contained theory, being adaptable according to the environment and the needs of the individual/organization.
Perhaps the most compelling early evidence that Nudge theory has become a very significant concept for managing change, people, and societies, is that governments – notably the US and UK – very quickly developed specialized ‘Nudge departments’ to use Nudge methods in helping shift societal behaviours on a very big scale.
The Nudge Toolkit, thus, includes different types of instruments like anchoring (using known things to estimate unknown things), optimism (allows flexibility and productive feedback), framing (shifting perspectives to positive inputs), self-control strategies (offerings that fit people’s systems of beliefs, habits etc.), priming (preparing people for a change) etc.
Also, the steps followed in applying the nudge methodology include:
- Understand and validate the required change – Understand clearly the change you seek to encourage or enable, and confirm that this is ethical and in the people’s best interests. Consult as necessary. Be objective and fair. Use proper measures, not assumptions or guesswork. Quantify and define situations, changes, and outcomes. Clarify terminology. Avoid vague or technical terms which cannot be easily understood, or which could mean different things to different people. Avoid being influenced by your own heuristic tendencies, and those of your organizational leadership.
- Check for obstacles – Consider what might be preventing people from naturally shifting towards the identified/required change. If necessary consult a sample group. This often highlights obstacles which can be removed, and/or supporting arrangements that can be introduced which enable a natural change, without the need for further intervention.
- Check for unhelpful existing nudges – Nudges often exist already, which are unhelpfully influencing or obstructing people’s thinking. Use the nudge toolkit for clues as to possible heuristic effects which are already acting on people’s thinking. These may have developed completely accidentally or may have been established negligently or cynically by authorities, leaders, corporations, etc., in the past.
- Remove obstacles and establish support – Even if further interventions are warranted, remove obstacles and introduce support as far as possible to make it easier for people to shift towards the desired change.
- Create a ‘map’ of the environmental/influential system around people – If no obvious obstacles exist, or additional interventions are warranted, create a ‘map’ or analysis of environmental/circumstantial factors, of people’s engagement (or non-engagement) with the issue for which change is desired. Look for hidden influential factors. Refer to the Nudge toolkit for clues.
- Explore which environmental/circumstantial factors can be altered/introduced – Assess and test the effects of altering/introducing these factors (‘nudges’). Refine your ideas so that you can offer people new choices that can help their shifting – through free choice – towards beneficial change. Refer to the Nudge toolkit for ideas as to the types of heuristic influences which might be altered/introduced.
- Teach/train leaders at all levels in the group/organization about Nudge theory and its potential use and advantages over conventional enforcement or direct instruction, threat, etc.
The Nudge Methodology is a proven modern instrument that leads to understanding how people think, helping them improve that thinking, managing change of all sorts and modifying unhelpful ways in the process.
The consultant will also use his large experience of business and coaching skills to support the managers in their approach to discover the best strategy for managing the intended changes.
