engaging staff - the why, the what and the why not of behaviour change? 1

Engaging staff

- the why, the what and the why not of behaviour

change?

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Why?• Staff behaviours and the ability to change them is

a powerful tool in our armoury to reduce our impacts:• 3rd of energy savings in UK carbon budgets can

come from individuals taking action (UK Energy research centre)

• Engaged employees try: harder, perform better, are happier and are less likely to leave an organisation

• Organisational change programmes can be very ineffective without staff engagement:• Can cause unnecessary tensions• Not making the most of successes

• Some of the best ideas come from the staff• Benefits around organisational reputation2

How?

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Showing commitment is important….

• Its important that your policy is signed off from the top of the organisation– It gives people a mandate to act on– Important for leadership too– Staff understand how their actions fit into

wider strategy– Gives space for people to act and give ideas

• Through policies and certifications

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Keep people in the loop…• Really important to keep people up to date

with changes– Agenda item on team meetings– Green updates or inclusion on staff

newsletter– Give people a forum to discuss ideas– Training where ever necessary – Join up with other local organisations, or

piggy-bag existing networks

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Connect to Values

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• People might get involved in an energy saving campaign for different reasons. E.g. an enhanced company reputations, financial savings, tips to use at home, opportunity to support a charity through savings achieved, the social aspect of getting to know other members of staff

• Be positive about the difference you can make, so that people believe that change can be meaningful and effective– Simply spelling out the facts of negative

environmental impacts and climate change, even if they seem compelling, are not always effective

– Make the link between environmental issues at work, global issues and people’s home and personal life

– If you put a campaign in place, please make sure you will be able to monitor the impact of people’s actions in increasing recycling and communicating this7

Green teams• Conduct a staff survey to understand who will

be interested in engaging with environmental initiatives

• Good to get representatives from across the organisation

• Identify any funds that you can use for the green team

• Can be used as social occasions too – e.g. lunch clubs, might want to also consider volunteering too

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Campaigns• Chose your focus area• Consider any resource requirements e.g. posters, prizes

to incentivise staff participation• Create an easily identifiable brand for your campaign

e.g. SwitchOff and create associated promotional materials

• Create a realistic goal e.g. reducing elec by 10%• Communicate goal and baseline• Provide simple actions and instructions for staff in order

to achieve goal• Provide incentives for involvement e.g. prizes,

professional recognition• Think holistically: For example if you do a campaign on

cycling to work, raise awareness on transport impacts and organise a bike repair workshop9

Celebrate success!• Evaluate and measure where-ever possible • Measuring and monitoring will ensure that

you’re in a strong position to communicate internally and externally about successes

• Always refer back to your audience to understand how to communicate on this success (Carbon, Money etc.)

• Think of ways this can be communicated

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Make it fun• Connect with national and international

environmental days. E.g. Earth Hour, or Walk to Work week

• Help people connect with volunteering• Volunteering, gardening. Fits into wider staff

well-being too• Educational, create conversations• Social aspect e.g. Lunch clubs?

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Why not?

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So, if engaging staff is the answer, why isn’t everyone doing it?Answer: - it can be a lot like herding cats! - People don’t always do what they say they are going to do

Psychology of behavioural change?

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“Psychology is the study of human beliefs and behaviours”

How can we apply it to the problem of people taking action on climate change?

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- Psychologically distant in time and space- Involves uncertainty and multiple possible

outcomes- Requires co-operation at local, national and

international levels- Cannot be seen or touched or smelled

Some common assumptions for making people change

behaviours

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• Provide people with the information you think they need and their will change their behaviour accordingly

• Make the problem sound scary enough and people will take action (fear framing)

• Past behaviour is a strong indicator of future behaviour

• Periods of transition provide opportunities to introduce change

The attitude-behaviour gap

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Aka why we sometimes say one thing and do something completely different:

- Social norms- Perceived control over behaviour- Direct versus indirect experience- Interviewer bias

Individual barriers to engagement & action

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• Lack of knowledge• Uncertainty & scepticism• Distrust in information sources• Externalisation of responsibility & blame• Belief in technology to sort it out• Belief climate change is a distant threat• Low prioritisation amongst competing priorities• Reluctance to change lifestyles• Fatalism• Drop in the ocean feeling

Building blocks to engagement & action

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• Knowledge of issue• Understanding what action you can take• Understanding level of personal control• Attitude and inner beliefs in line with behaviour• Verbal commitment• Public commitment• Build level of the individual’s sense of

responsibility

Techniques to encourage people to change

behaviours

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Catalyst effectKey behaviours that may lead to the adoption of other

behaviours with a similar underlying ideology (e.g. micro-generation)

• Halo effectGiving public praise and enthusiasm to an employee is

likely to encourage them to do more in future• Virtuous Escalator

Get people to make any step, no matter how small• Social norms make it the norm

Any questions?

• support@juliesbicycle.com• www.juliesbicycle.com

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Further support• www.juliesbicycle.com• Practical Guides and Fact

sheets• Case studies• IG Tools videos• Further webinars• Phone & email support

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