Behavior Change Programs
One of systems thinking principles is that humans are naturally talented at finding the leverage point in systems and then pushing the wrong direction. You, me, and every other person on the planet are guilty of doing this. One of the most frequent examples I see is behavior change programs. What is a behavior change program? It is a program that focuses on human behavior or habit change. In sustainability, we’re talking about programs like:
- Light Switches
- Recycling & Compost
- Anti-idling
- Double-sided printing
- Reusable bags/containers
- Ethical consumption (organic, GMO-free, etc.)
- Many, many more…
What is the most consistent thing about each of these programs? If you’re relying on humans making the correct choice every day, you are failing. Or, at the very least, the effort isn’t worth the reward.
I am not against the intent of these programs. Each program is focusing on real and addressable problems. The methodology, a behavior change program, is wrong. The #1 symptom of a failure is something you will hear people say, an exasperated “Why won’t people do the right thing?“
Why People Won’t “Do the Right Thing”
While I like to think of myself as, what Kurt Vonnegut describes, a “bitter-coated sugar pill.” I honestly believe that people almost always want to “do the right thing.” As bad as our habits, planning, or thinking might be on a moment-by-moment basis, I think that every human wants to feel successful and good. Even the worst amongst us have it somewhere in their minds that they’re doing the “right thing.”
The limitation is that humans are cognitive misers. We evolved to save our mental energy, and there are only so many decisions we can effectively make in a day. It is a part of our biology and is supported by a substantial amount of research. We make thousands of decisions a day, and only so many of them can be categorized as “important.” President Obama famously reduced the number of minor decisions he had to make in a day to preserve capacity for all of the important decisions he had to make in his days as president (more at ‘Always Wear The Same Suit: Obama’s Presidential Productivity Secrets’). Ramit Sethi does a great job exploring this topic related to productivity in ‘How to apply the 80/20 rule to earn more, work less, and dominate.’
This is precisely where behavior change programs and “doing the right thing” falls apart… and why habit change is incredibly hard. Think of how hard it is to change your diet, or exercise more, or floss, or some other personal habit you’ve been trying to tackle. It can be a real struggle to establish a habit, and it is almost always something you care about and are personally invested in. Circling back to behavior change programs, I can almost guarantee that the habit you’re attempting to change isn’t a priority for the person you’re trying to change.
Design>Behavior Change: Design for the Behavior You Want
So is behavior change impossible? Absolutely not. We need to be smart about it and approach behavior change programs in sustainability the same way we’d approach them anywhere else. Design systems and environments that make the “right thing” easy and the “wrong thing” hard. If we are all cognitive misers, treat it like a feature instead of a bug and design for the behavior you want.
Looking back at our original list of programs, we can adjust our behavior change approach to design and drastically increase compliance (while reducing cognitive load). Here are a few common design solutions:
- Light Switches
- Occupancy sensors
- Timers
- Recycling & Compost
- Consistent bin layout
- Labeling
- Inconvenient waste bins (especially in areas where it is mostly recyclables, like copy rooms)
- Product control like 100% compostable products
- Anti-idling
- Prioritize speed/access for active transportation (walkability, bikeability, etc.)
- Design for flow
- Roundabouts
- Adaptive congestion control
- Technology migration (electric cars and vehicles that automatically turn off)
- Public transit (fewer tailpipes)
- Double-sided printing
- IT standardizes printer/copier settings
- Reusable bags/containers
- This one is a tough one!
- Ethical consumption (organic, GMO-free, etc.)
- Access
- Transparent labeling
As always, good design requires testing. Testing means taking things out of your head and into the real world, and you’ve got to eat your own dog food🙂 The good news is that there are examples of design, good and bad, everywhere.
Additional Resources:
If you’re interested in diving deep into habits, I highly Charles Duhigg‘s The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business is great. I also love Atul Gawande‘s The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.