How to Be and Remain Subtle in the Workplace? By Nudging!.

Imagine we're waiting in line for government bonds. It's crowded, but the person in front of us just won't move forward. Realistically, we won't get to the front any faster whether they move or not, but it will still make us nervous enough because their behavior doesn't align with our expectations. Often, this discrepancy between what's expected and what's received makes us anxious.

In such a case, we have the option to subtly, as if accidentally, nudge the person in front of us forward. Another option, if they don't move, is to cough. These would all be subtle signals we send to the person in front of us.

All of this is, in principle, our (subtle) intervention.

What happened when we were younger and our parents would tell us: take out the trash. Or, go to the store. Or walk the dog. Well, mostly nothing happened 🙂 Until some intervention occurred 🙂 Okay, maybe sometimes those "interventions" would today warrant a good call to a crisis hotline, but...

Basically, whenever a certain decision was imposed on us (or is being imposed) or our choices were limited, we had a problem.

Why Do We Have a Problem?

It's relatively simple: imposing decisions or limiting choices gives us a feeling of losing autonomy. And we generally want to have control over our decisions and our lives. The next thing that emerges is so-called psychological resistance, known as reactance. This is a natural reaction to the perceived threat to our freedom or choice, which can lead us to reject or defy (and logically so 🙂) an imposed decision, even if it is rational or in our best interest. The next thing that can appear, almost obligatorily, is a sense of unfairness.

Again, logically, it's very likely that we will feel that this decision benefits someone else at our expense. The trash on the balcony will smell to our mom, not to us 🙂 And, of course, the resistance will be even greater.

And finally, when we are not involved in the decision-making process and don't have the opportunity to express our opinion, it's natural that we will feel both neglected and insignificant.

And that's why...

People often respond better to incentives that leave them with a feeling of freedom of choice, even if those incentives subtly guide them towards a certain decision that they would otherwise oppose under "normal" circumstances.

And that's why we have nudging. Nudging is a concept in behavioral economics and psychology that refers to the application of subtle and unnoticeable stimuli to influence people's decisions and behavior, without restricting their choices or imposing a specific decision. The goal of nudging is to help people make decisions that are in their best interest or in society's best interest, by using small changes in how options are presented or arranged, without imposition or coercion.

The Nudge of All Time... Centralized Printing

Once upon a time, you weren't a big enough boss if you didn't have a printer on your desk. People used to print entire elementary school reading lists for their neighbor's son. And then someone said: enough. And then someone made behavioral insights. And they placed printers at the end of the hallway and called it "centralized printing."

And what happened? We didn't forbid employees from printing, but we "guided" them to print less.

We left the decision to them: print, but also walk. And people don't like to walk 🙂

Thus, we saw how subtle moves can change behavior in the workplace, without the need for direct orders or prohibitions. But, besides centralized printing, there are other examples of nudging applied in modern offices.

You Need to Know Why Someone Does Something. That's Why We Have Behavioral Insights.

Behavioral insights explore the reasons and motives behind human decisions and behaviors. These insights reveal that people often don't act solely on rational analysis, but are influenced by emotional reactions, social norms, habits, and the context in which they make decisions.

To effectively influence someone through nudging, we must first understand why that person acts in a certain way.

When it comes to the aforementioned centralized printing, it's not enough just to move the printers. We need to understand why employees print excessively.

Perhaps they do it out of habit, for a sense of security when they have physical copies, or simply because the printer is easily accessible to them.

Only when we understand these reasons can we apply effective measures – such as moving printers further away – that will reduce unnecessary printing.

Therefore...

Nudging is effective because it doesn't try to directly change behavior through commands, but rather uses motivational triggers that people already possess. If we understand that people want to avoid discomfort or additional effort, we can use that insight to design incentives that guide them towards desired behavior.

Also, if we know that people are reluctant to walk to a distant printer, we can expect them to print less when the printer is not right next to them.

If we don't understand why people resist certain changes, we might fail in our attempt to change their behavior.

People value their autonomy and will often resist changes they perceive as imposed.

Understanding their needs for autonomy and freedom of choice helps us design nudging strategies that respect those needs, yet effectively influence behavior.

Example

More or less everyone is fiddling with their phones during meetings. A lot is questionable here, from focus, concentration, to the very duration of the meetings. There's no need to even mention wrong conclusions and interpretations. Also, if we missed something important, we'll most likely remain uninterested for most of the meeting...

So then...

Instead of imposing a ban, at the entrance to the meeting room, we can leave a basket with a sign: "Your phone deserves a break too!" 🙂

This approach acts as a subtle nudge, giving employees the option to voluntarily put away their phones. This encourages focus, while employees still feel they are making the decision themselves. And they save battery on their phones 🙂

In Conclusion

Subtle nudging is not just a method, but also an art of influence in the workplace. We all like to think we make our own decisions and that we are very smart, and when someone gently guides us towards a better choice, without directly imposing anything, we feel respected and retain our autonomy.

So, next time we want to change something in our team or company, let's remember – sometimes a small change in the environment, a subtle nudge in the right direction, is enough to achieve great results.

Nasty people would say it's manipulation, but we say it's nudging. For everyone's happiness 🙂