How can you use the Nudge theory to encourage sustainability in your organization?

Considero que un empujón es el ejemplo que se le da a la comunidad, la forma como mostramos nuestros ideales generando inspiración a los demás.💡 Lo viví cuando estudie la carrera de Ingeniería Ambiental, el solo escuchar y leer el conocimiento que compartieron los profesores me llevo a transitar los sueños que defiendo hoy. 🚀 Lo he vivido cotidianamente, y siento que nada es más motivacional para iniciar en el camino sostenible como las experiencias positivas y los beneficios que trae consigo las estrategias basadas en el marco de sostenibilidad, ¡Pensar fuera de la caja y dejar un mejor futuro para todos!💚♻️

A nudge in choice architecture subtly influences behavior without restricting options or significantly altering economic incentives. It involves designing decision-making environments, like menu layouts, form orders, or bin placements. Nudges can take various forms: subtle cues, reminders, default options, feedback mechanisms, or social norms. These small but strategic modifications in the environment or processes can significantly impact people's choices and actions, gently steering them towards desired outcomes, such as promoting sustainability within an organization.

Let's be realistic: passing "green" laws and monetary incentives (e.g., through new subsidies) takes time. The climate crisis requires immediate action and behavior change. Nudges can be a relatively cost-effective and fast-to-implement route to encourage sustainable behaviors. Keep in mind though that they do not replace but complement classical slower interventions such as laws, nor are they a silver bullet that are effective all the time in all settings for everyone. Expertise and experimentation can help identify what works.

Nudges are great for helping people act in alignment with their green values - since many European surveys have shown that people care about the environment and yet their behaviour is lacking. This is, because most daily decisions are made without conscious thought and based on habits. Nudges also work on a more subconscious level, by changing the choice architecture in which people make decisions. An example I have seen is the "Little Book of Green Nudges" by UNEP that is designed specifically for universities that want to direct their students towards more sustainable behaviours. In this book several nudges are presented that can help students travel and eat more sustainably, as well as save energy and resources.

Many people want to do the right thing but barriers prevent them from doing so. For example, at a previous job, the employer emphasized sustainability but offered no plates in the office, so it wasn't surprising that most people bought lunch, which involved a lot of plastic and paper waste. A simple nudge, like offering plates, or a high-quality coffee machine with mugs, could encourage employees to reduce waste.

En mi opinión los empujones pueden funcionar con personas medianamente conscientes de que un futuro más sostenible es necesario, pero creo que tendrían muy poca eficacia para que gente que en general, no cree que al planeta le este pasando nada malo. Se han probado cienes de dichos empujones y el resultado es que no acaban de tener valor. Por eso creo que es básico para que la teoría funcione una base de educación ambiental clara, real y sincera para que luego tengan efectos otro tipo de actuaciones, como esta.

The most important thing for designing nudges is to be clear about the "key behaviour" you want to change. What is it exactly that you want people to do? Then there are several frameworks with which you can assess the barriers and facilitators of that behaviour, such as the COM-B, SIDE or 3 B Framework. Based on the identified barriers and biases an intervention can be designed that needs to be evaluated. Many organisations would like to avoid the evaluation phase, because it seems like too much work, but without evaluation it remains unclear whether the intervention worked, or not.

Designing nudges for sustainability involves a deep understanding of your target audience, including their motivations, preferences, and context. Begin by defining your sustainability goals, such as reducing energy consumption, enhancing recycling efforts, or promoting green products. Next, identify the choice architecture influencing your audience's behaviors and pinpoint opportunities for introducing nudges aligned with your goals. These nudges could range from setting eco-friendly defaults to providing incentives for sustainable choices. It's also crucial to test and evaluate the effectiveness of these nudges, monitoring their impact over time.

Volvamos al propósito ¿porqué estamos aquí, porqué hacemos lo que hacemos?. Si queremos empujar un comportamiento o un cambio en la mentalidad de las personas hacia la sostenibilidad, preguntemos directamente ¿porqué lo harían, cuál es la razón que los empujaría a modificar su conducta o prácticas? Quizás para algunas personas puede ser una motivación familiar: "para crear y mantener un futuro sano para sus hijos"; una motivación social: "para resolver brechas y desigualdades"; una motivación personal: "para generar una huella en el mundo", etc. Pero debemos conocer qué nos mueve, qué nos hace caminar hacia una conducta positiva, antes de diseñar de los empujones, debemos preguntar a los diferentes grupos de interés.

Diseñar los nudges requiere complementar dos objetivos: promover un comportamiento sostenible y generar la motivación para cambiar hábitos cotidianos. Entre las estrategias que se pueden usar está la educación acerca de la importancia del cambio de hábitos, la recompensa moral y el reconocimiento a los esfuerzos por el cambio generado, donde es importante generar la motivación individual y colectiva, mostrando los resultados obtenidos en la mejora ambiental o social de la empresa. Por ello es necesario dar un contexto a las metas del nudge, a través de la gamificación del cambio de hábitos y creando un ambiente que desde el esfuerzo individual logre un impacto colectivo y varios resultados positivos para el medio ambiente y la sociedad.

The nudge theory subtly influences behaviour, avoiding resentment and feeling of loss, crucial in B2B scenarios involving personal and organisational choices. For SMEs, two approaches exist: academic-driven (steep learning, research, planning, execution) often costly and deterrent, and application-driven (define sustainable goals, highlight impactful choices without taking them away, make sustainable choices default). This approach allows for simple monitoring, impact measurement, and iterative adjustments, ensuring adaptability without the need for extensive academic skills or high costs. Eg. Metal as default vs plastic part replacement. Of course there're many socio-economical factors and subtleties but a start in the right direction.

One of the best examples I've seen is from University of Cambridge who ran a large trial, switching plant based meals to the top of menus and balancing up plant based vs meat options. Far more people choose plant based when it was offered in this way.

Nudges that could be implemented to really change the choice architecture in the workplace are: 1. Removing all single-use serveware e.g. disposable cups 2. Changing menus so there are 2 in 4 plant-based meals and putting these at the top of the menu 3. Changing company car and electric bikes (where practical) 4. And changing the company carparking availability and entitlement

A key concept in nudge theory is using default options, rather than opt-ins to encourage a certain behaviour. Having your employer automatically put your pension in an ethical pension fund is a good example of nudge theory driving sustainability.

Sustainibility in financial wellbeing are practices that ensure long-term financial health and security. Here at nudge we use nudge theory – to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes for our users. It’s about how and when you present options – delivering the right content to the right person at the right time – for all the right reasons. So they can make the right decisions and improve their financial wellbeing. Through the use of nudge theory, nudge uses simple, relevant, timely education to help people understand complex financial matters when it matters. This helps people take simple proactive actions to increase their wealth, avoid financial problems and make managing money simple and stress-free (sometimes even a pleasure).

Nudges were also used to reduce the use of single-use cups and food containers in Germany. A law passed that demands every company in the hospitality industry that is handing out food or beverages to go, to also offer them in reusable containers if asked for by the consumers. However, demand from the consumers remained low. I was as behavioural scientist given the task to select possibly effective nudges at the POS to increase demand of reusable containers. The selected nudges made use of the default, social norms and aimed at making handing out the reusable containers for the people working in hospitality more attractive. The results of the real life experiment including big food chains will be published at the beginning of 2024.

Nudging people (be it citizens, employees or customers) requires acknowledging that they may have different preferences. Some may be willing to spend 14h on trains to avoid airtravel, others will do only the relatively effortless behaviors (i.e., waste sorting) and some do not give a S*** at all. When nudging, try to anticipate these heterogenieties, accept them and evaluate rigorously to spot potential reactance and backfiring effects among certain target groups. Identifying whom the nudge works well for (or not) can inform implementation and help boost effectiveness.

I have found asking employees to reduce waste (in rubbish), keep the bottom line in mind and paying employees more per mile if they drive EV's has nudged them into correct behaviours... they started turning off lights, placing computers into energy mode when leaving their desks (automatically) and reduced consumption in the break rooms. Regarding the driving piece, my sales guys who drove EV's made more meetings (because they could use the HOV lanes as a single occupant) ... leading to more profitability per sales person. The employees who drove gas cars had less meetings because of traffic alone and ended up firing themselves. So not only has moving towards EV's been good for the environment; it became good for the bottom line of profit.

Embracing the Nudge theory for sustainability in the workplace is akin to crafting a gentle guide toward eco-friendly choices. Elevate the visibility of sustainable options, provide real-time behavioral feedback, and emphasize positive social norms. Architect choices to favor sustainability, incentivize green actions, and leverage defaults and opt-outs strategically. Educate through engaging campaigns, offer personalized feedback, and infuse gamification for an enjoyable touch. This dynamic perspective acknowledges individual autonomy while subtly nudging the organizational culture toward a more sustainable future.

Use nudges like prompts to evoke a favorable response towards Sustainability in corporate culture. Consumer behavior can be altered for a greater good in an organization by understanding the archetype of your target audience and their need and willingness to change. Post a deep dive - using a carrot or a stick (and to what degree), is often contextual and depends upon the maturity of the intended audience. It's a time taking and painstaking process that has its root in Change management. Taking baby steps and not expecting results overnight is the key.

Muchas veces las personas actúan de cierta manera (ineficientes y con malas prácticas), porque no cuentan con las opciones adecuadas y esto sucede, porque cuando se han diseñado las experiencias, los servicios, los productos y los modelos de interacción, no se han contemplado los aspectos de Sostenibilidad, y su impacto ambiental y social a lo largo de su ciclo de vida. Contemplar los nudges de tal forma que la experiencia contempla genere impactos positivos y paralelamente, sea una buena experiencia para el usuario.

Sometimes, maintaining momentum can be challenging. If you set a continuous improvement framework, it would assist address this challenge. You can do this by regularly assessing and celebrating achievements, keep sustainability on the agenda of all ongoing communication and adapt the strategy based on feedback and in tandem with the evolving organizational needs.