How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life pdfdrive com

Nudge 1: Remove the Barrier
If you know what you really want people to do, ask yourself:
What might stop people from doing what you would like them to do? How
can you solve that problem for them, or make it simple for them to solve it
themselves?
Could you even make your desired outcome the “do nothing” option for

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them?
Mo is an experienced salesman in charge of Middle East and North Africa
operations for a data storage company. “The first introduction I had to
behavioral science was to learn about the power of asking open questions rather
than closed ones,” he says. “But once you’ve had a good discussion with the
customer and it’s clear that they’re really interested, there’s a technique called an
‘assumptive close.’ That’s where you ask a closed question instead, saying
‘Would you like to pay for this by debit or credit card?’ instead of saying ‘What
would you like to do now?’
” By offering two options that involve the customer
buying his product, Mo is making it easy for the customer to choose to finalize
the sale rather than agonizing further over the purchasing decision. Mo says that
when salespeople use this approach, they win the sale about 75 percent of the
time; when they don’t, it’s more like a quarter of the time.
While you may not be in sales, you can apply this insight in your own work.
The trick is to consider what might prevent people from doing what you would
like them to do, and then to be proactive in removing that obstacle for them.
Your aim is to reduce the amount of effort required on their part. At the simplest
end of the spectrum, that might look like including a prepaid envelope with a
form that you’re hoping someone will fill out and return to you. Or if you
believe your colleagues think better when they’re well hydrated, and want them
to drink more water, you might put jugs on the meeting room table rather than
having people get up to fetch a drink.
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Make it effortless, and you’re halfway to
getting the behavior you want.
In some situations, you can even make your desired outcome the “do nothing”
option. For example, say you’re writing a report and you need to set a final
deadline for comments from your colleagues. You’d prefer no last-minute input,
but you want to give people a last chance to contribute. A common approach
would be to circulate the document, saying, “Let me know if you’re happy with
it.” But if you wanted to make your desired option (receiving no last-minute
comments) the easiest one for your colleagues to choose, you could instead say:
“If I don’t hear anything back by close of business today, I’ll assume you’re
happy with the document.” You don’t prevent them from providing input; you
simply make it easy for them 
not
to do so.