Perspective & Mindset

Getting things done through Commitment-Based Nudging

12 July 2024 by bill Leave a Comment

Originally posted on billcraig.info

I had the pleasure of meeting up for a two hour coffee with the CEO of a company that has build a commitment-based nudging platform that helps people address self-limiting behavior in both life and work. The platform they are currently marketing is a great example of how technology can support behavioral psychology.

The more I discussed with the CEO and subsequent investigation/research I performed, I realized many of my entrepreneurial initiatives could make use of the approach and the platform. My initiatives around positive life, living and longevity; applying positive psychology techniques (interventions) to improve happiness, quality of life, and wellbeing; global flourish, flourishing enterprises and more could all benefit from the approach and the platform.

The discussion with the CEO also identified several additional use cases beyond what I could think of in our initial discussion

I had actually seen this done many years ago with the very successful Global Citizen initiative that used a similar approach to motivate people from around the world to commit and perform a large variety of socio-economic and political actions related to key global challenges – poverty, education…

As with everything I do these days, I needed to step back a do a little more research about behavioral psychology and commitment-based nudging and other mechanisms. I always was interested in how the approach could be applied beyond the individual. Could it be applied to teams, organizations, communities, regions and beyond.

A little bit of background:

Commitment-based nudging is a behavioral psychology technique that encourages individuals to follow through with their intentions or commitments by using social and psychological prompts. The idea is to leverage the human tendency to want to be consistent with their commitments and maintain a positive self-image.

Key Elements of Commitment-Based Nudging:

Public Commitments:
- Making commitments public can increase the likelihood of following through. For example, announcing a goal to friends or family creates a social expectation and a sense of accountability.
Written Commitments:
- Writing down commitments can make them more tangible and concrete. This can be as simple as signing a pledge or writing a personal contract.
Incremental Steps:
- Breaking down commitments into smaller, manageable steps can make the overall goal less daunting and more achievable.
Reminder Systems:
- Regular reminders, such as emails, texts, or calendar alerts, can help individuals stay on track with their commitments.
Positive Reinforcement:
- Providing positive feedback or rewards for progress can reinforce the behavior and motivate individuals to continue.

Examples of Commitment-Based Nudging:

Health and Fitness:
- A gym might encourage new members to sign a commitment contract that specifies their workout goals and frequency.
Environmental Actions:
- Initiatives like pledging to reduce plastic use or to participate in recycling programs can use commitment-based nudging to foster environmentally friendly behaviors.
Financial Goals:
- Financial institutions may use commitment savings accounts where individuals commit to regular deposits to reach a savings goal.

Psychological Mechanisms:

Consistency Principle:
- People strive for consistency between their commitments and actions. Once they make a commitment, especially publicly or in writing, they are more likely to act in ways that align with it.
Social Proof:
- Seeing others make similar commitments can create a sense of social pressure and motivation to follow through.
Self-Perception:
- Committing to a goal can shape one’s self-perception, leading to behavior that aligns with the new self-image.

Commitment-based nudging effectively leverages these psychological principles to encourage positive behavioral changes and improve follow-through on intentions and goals.

Then I wanted to explore the use beyond just individuals:

delineates how various entities such as individuals, teams, organizations, enterprises, communities, and regions can utilize the features of commitment-based nudging in behavioral psychology.

Entity	Public Commitments	Written Commitments	Incremental Steps	Reminder Systems	Positive Reinforcement
Individual	Share goals with friends or family	Write and sign personal goals or promises	Break down goals into smaller, manageable tasks	Set personal reminders on phone or calendar	Reward oneself for achieving milestones
Team	Announce team goals in meetings	Team members sign a collective agreement	Assign specific tasks to team members	Send regular updates and reminders via email or messaging	Recognize and celebrate team achievements
Organization	Publish organizational goals to all employees	Create formal documents for departmental objectives	Set quarterly targets and break down annual goals	Implement an internal newsletter or alert system	Offer incentives and bonuses for meeting targets
Enterprise	Publicly commit to sustainability or social goals	Formalize commitments through strategic documents	Develop a roadmap with clear milestones	Use enterprise-wide communication tools for reminders	Recognize partner organizations for contributions
Community	Hold town hall meetings to discuss community initiatives	Community members sign pledges for community projects	Break initiatives into phases (e.g., park cleanup phases)	Community bulletin boards, social media updates	Host community events to celebrate progress
Region	Public announcements of regional development plans	Regional leaders sign intergovernmental agreements	Develop step-by-step regional development plans	Regional newsletters, press releases, and social media	Regional awards and recognition programs

Explanation of Features:

Public Commitments:
- Individual: Sharing goals with close connections to create a sense of accountability.
- Team: Announcing team goals in meetings to foster a collective sense of purpose.
- Organization: Broadcasting organizational objectives to ensure all employees are aligned.
- Enterprise: Making commitments known to all stakeholders to demonstrate transparency and accountability.
- Community: Engaging community members in open forums to discuss and commit to initiatives.
- Region: Using public channels to announce plans, garnering support and collaboration from all regional stakeholders.
Written Commitments:
- Individual: Writing personal goals to solidify intentions.
- Team: Team agreements to ensure everyone is on the same page.
- Organization: Departmental documents that outline objectives and expectations.
- Enterprise: Strategic documents that formalize enterprise-wide commitments.
- Community: Pledges from community members to participate in local projects.
- Region: Formal agreements between regional leaders to ensure cooperation.
Incremental Steps:
- Individual: Dividing goals into smaller, actionable tasks to avoid being overwhelmed.
- Team: Assigning specific roles and tasks to team members to ensure progress.
- Organization: Setting quarterly targets to maintain focus and momentum.
- Enterprise: Creating a detailed roadmap to achieve long-term goals.
- Community: Phasing community projects to manage resources effectively.
- Region: Outlining step-by-step plans for regional development to ensure systematic progress.
Reminder Systems:
- Individual: Personal alerts to keep goals top-of-mind.
- Team: Regular updates to ensure all members are aligned and informed.
- Organization: Internal communications to keep employees engaged with organizational goals.
- Enterprise: Communication tools to keep all stakeholders updated on progress.
- Community: Bulletins and social media updates to keep the community informed.
- Region: Using multiple channels to communicate progress and updates to the public.
Positive Reinforcement:
- Individual: Self-rewards to stay motivated.
- Team: Celebrating team successes to build morale and motivation.
- Organization: Incentives to recognize and reward employee contributions.
- Enterprise: Recognizing partner contributions to foster a collaborative environment.
- Community: Community events to celebrate milestones and achievements.
- Region: Awards programs to recognize significant contributions to regional development.

One other area that lodged into my mind after exploring commitment-based nudging and behavioral psychology was the potential linkage to micro-learning platforms and of course AI. More on that in the near future.

The Flourish Model (the new FM)

5 June 2020 by bill Leave a Comment

Its time for the new FM!

Remember when we listened to the radio! In recent years many people no longer “tune-in” to radio. In the era of radio there was AM (amplitude modulation) and FM (frequency modulation) stations. The sound of FM was typically crystal clear compared to the AM stations. AM stations seemed to have a lot of interference and noise (even most of the content was just noise :)). However, AM was a lot cheaper to broadcast compared to FM, so everyone initially jumped on the AM frequencies. Eventually the listening audience realized AM was not the way, so more and more stations moved to FM. FM content also tended to be much more focused on particular themes and interest areas. In a way businesses today are like stations still broadcasting using AM. They know they need to change and do business in a better way. They are ready for a new model – FM!

From a business perspective FM is applying a Flourishing Model (FM) to enterprise design, development, operation and improvement.

I am constantly thinking about and being asked what is flourishing, what is a flourishing enterprise, what is a flourishing city, what is a flourishing leader, and what is a flourishing person? In the past I would always hesitate because I wanted to answer all of these questions in the same way. I needed a model that could be applied to all contexts and at the same time provided value and direction on how to move forward. I needed a model or a framework that I could use to answer the questions and help set people on the right path to flourishing whatever the context.

The Flourish Model (the new FM) is my attempt to provide singularity to the answer of what is a flourishing ‘X’. Where ‘X’ is one of individual, group / team, enterprise, community, town / city, province / state, region, nation, world and the planet.

This and coming posts will attempt to chronicle the delineation, testing, and application of the Flourish Model.

Scarcity and Abundance Mindset When Collaborating on Initiatives.

25 June 2020 by bill Leave a Comment

Abundance Mindset is good for all of us.

I was in a meeting today related to a higher-purpose initiative at a national level. We were pursuing an idea that would require massive sharing of ideas, methods and potentially even sharing of intellectual property from a large variety of individuals and enterprises.

The meeting led me to reflect a little about the current state of a scarcity vs abundance mindset. I have read a fair amount about scarcity versus abundance (some science-based, some not) and have been involved in many collaborative initiatives over the years. Even more so in the last five years.

I like to think I have an abundance mindset, but I do slip up occasionally. I still tend to worry too much about mis-using intellectual property and even conflict of interest. It’s kind of built into my system partially through my own, but also experiences of others that have been shared (through abundance mindset!) with me.

Perhaps an abundance mindset and the sharing of resources that typically occurs in collaborations when you have an abundance mindset still makes me a little nervous. I think I have this nervousness due to what Adam Grant says about givers and takers, and those in between. My experience is that many pro abundance mindset people are pro because they are takers. This obviously sounds harsh and of course I hope this is disproven as I continue down the path of collaboration and sharing with abundance thinking. When I take this perspective I also realize I need to broaden my definition of what is shared within an abundance mindset in any collaborative situation. Sharing is more than ideas and intellectual property. Sharing can also include time, personal networks, knowledge, experiences, stories, funding, and other things. Even though I may perceive an individual as a taker and others as givers, there is a really good chance that any sharing or exchange is happening at different levels where the perceived taker is also being a giver.

There is no doubt that an abundance mindset is good for flourishing and improved well-being. As a collective we are making progress in moving from a scarcity to an abundance mindset. This is strongest on higher-purpose initiatives like flourishing and improved well-being. I think COVID-19 has made us realize we are all in this together. We need to collaborate more, we need to share more, we need to help others flourish and improve their well-being. Linked to all of this is a need to develop a stronger abundance mindset for all. The idea of abundance and including abundance into our way of thinking and operating models is a challenge for many.

An abundance mindset is well proven to support flourishing of individuals and teams. High quality connections, sharing and trust are mandatory for successful teams. I think most would agree, abundance mindset is key to making teams and teaming work. The concept also seems to make sense for integrating into a flourishing enterprise. Flourishing enterprises take an enterprise integrated stakeholder perspective. What does that mean? They recognize that for any flourishing enterprise, everything you do must be done considering the value co-creation and co-destruction as well as impact on all stakeholders. The full list of stakeholders are:

clients
employees
suppliers and partners
community
owners and investors
towns and cities
regions
provinces and states
nations
the world and society, and
the planet

The list recognizes that enterprises exist within a much larger ecosystem. The challenge with an ecosystem view of the enterprise and for todays complex challenges (“wicked problems”) or global or grand challenges massive collaboration is required. A level of collaboration that includes competitors and even competing interests. Competitors, and organizations with competing interests should also be added to the list of stakeholders.

As I reflect on the abundance mindset, and get beyond the obvious advantages of abundance for individuals and teams, I start to realize some of the challenges of the abundance mindset for enterprises that want to flourish and contribute to a higher purpose goals while remaining viable, growing and remaining competitive. In the past business management experts have explored techniques to support the competitive situation. The one that comes to mind is Coopetition.

Ultimately, we all have to realize that the end goal is flourishing and improved well-being for all. We need to focus on that with an abundance mindset and a system-wide (all stakeholders everywhere) perspective where radical sharing occurs.

Author’s Note: just reflecting and writing this makes me realize I still have a ways to go in building an abundance mindset when collaborating with others. I’ll work on it!

Time for Transformational / Transitional Visions

15 June 2020 by bill Leave a Comment

Getting to an ideal future state requires a new way of visioning.

Most private, public and civil society organizations create a longer term vision that guides their mission, their strategies, their business models and value propositions, people and actions.

There is a trend to limit the vision to perhaps three years at most, due to the amount of change occurring around us. Any business vision has a shelf life. There may be a much longer term higher-purpose that guides the shorter- term vision. Currently, you see the higher-purpose / vision connection with many larger organizations dealing with today’s local and global challenges. However, something is still missing. We need a different type of vision. A vision that recognizes a much longer-term picture of where we must be to deal with larger challenges (in most cases perceived as longer-term) , but also supports where we think we need to be in the shorter term based on managing within current situations.

An example in my world and many other parts of the world would be healthcare. It seems you can never invest enough in healthcare. Can consumers and providers of healthcare ever have enough money invested. When is enough, enough? Is there no upper limit? Is slowing the pace and eventually reducing the levels of investment real? Could that happen through efficiency and effective improvement (along with quality improvement)? Most if not everyone would say no. I don’t know the answer, however I believe that we do need to take a longer transformational / transitional perspective.

As in the case of healthcare we need a 20-30 year vision of what healthcare should look like. My feeling is that we must truly move towards preventive care versus our present reactive care approach. Preventative care must include physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, economic and environmental fitness. Prevention concepts, learning content, and interventions need to be integrated starting as early as possible so that a preventative healthcare mindset is part of our lives from day one and carried with us throughout our lives. Our healthcare, needs to become our responsibility, not the systems responsibility.

We still must have shorter term visions that guide us in achieving results required for the current and near future environment we exist in. However, we need accept that radical change is required and we need to make considerable progress on a longer term vision to an ideal future state while at the same time achieve towards the shorter term visions.

I propose we need a transformational/transitional approach to vision. We need much longer term, more radical visions of what we are really trying to accomplish. While at the same time we need to execute on our shorter-term vision. As an example, we need a vision of healthcare that could result in reduction or no increases in healthcare funding through a refocusing on preventive healthcare. Unfortunately, we tend to bury our heads in the sand and keep asking for more money or reducing services. Since we have a global mindset of short-termism we just try to survive the short-term and never really try to fix the real problems because real solutions require time and change of mindset. There would be many real world constraints on achieving the healthcare long-term vision identified above. .However we need to steal from the design thinking world and treat these constraints as “wonderful constraints” that guide innovative thinking in problem and solution development.

So what is a transformational/transitional approach to vision? A quick summary is:

we need a 10, 20, or 30 year vision (depending on challenges we are dealing with) for complex, big challenges.
we need ‘n’ interim visions (that get us to the longer-term vision)
we need current target vision for the next 1-2-3 years (that better positions us for subsequent vision and longer term vision goals and outcomes.
we need to know the linkages between these visions, the outcomes desired for each, budgeting
Visions need to be acted on through mission, strategies, goals and objectives
Progress towards each longer-term vision needs to be measured and managed.

As the Flourish Rebel I am experimenting with methods, outputs and tools to support the transformational/transitional approach to vision.

More to come.

The Power of Integrated Stakeholder, Multi Capital Types and New Value Model Perspectives

16 June 2020 by bill Leave a Comment

Applying these new perspectives to Vision, Decision Making and Action for flourishing and improved well-being.

For me the combination of integrated stakeholder view, capital types, and how they integrate with value creation and destruction provides a huge opportunity to broaden our thinking and actions on flourishing and ultimately improved well-being for all.

Integrated Stakeholder View

Integrated stakeholder view means no matter what our context (individual, team, enterprise, community…) our decisions and actions take into account understanding, participation, and impact of all stakeholders that can potentially be touch by our activities. The current stakeholder list I use is:

ourselves / individuals
groups / families / teams
clients
employees
suppliers and partners
owners and investors
community / towns / city
region
province / state
country
world / society
planet

The literature identifies the primary message of integrated stakeholder as a move away from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder capitalism. I hate adding the word capitalism to anything, so go with integrated stakeholder view.

Capital Types

For all of history we have only really cared about financial capital and built/manufactured capital, although we constantly make use of human, social and natural capital. Over the last 20-30 years we have dappled with understanding the contribution and impacts on other types of capital, including human, social/relational, and of course natural capital. We have not effectively valued and managed human, social and natural capital. That is all starting to change.

I have been involved with many individuals and groups developing the ideas of capital types and how to effectively use, value (get them on the balance sheet), and manage them. Most of the work on capital types has identified a set of five capital types. Some have introduced a few more but those additions can in most cases be integrated in the main five capital types. As an example intellectual capital is identified as an additional capital type. However, it could easily be grouped in with the primary five.

There has been many names associated with this capital type perspective. Multi-capitalism (There’s that “capitalism” word again!) is the currently trending term for this broader capital type view. The multi-capitalism concept is built on the backs of many researchers and practitioners of the past. I was first introduced to the five capital types by the work of Mark Anielski in what he called Genuine Wealth. As I mentioned the most recent terminology is Multi-capitalism coined by Martin Thomas and Mark McElroy. Other than the name the credit for the concepts behind it goes to many others. However, Martin Thomas and Mark McElroy have made significant contribution to the idea of MultiCapital Scorecard. More on that in another post.

Any decisions and actions need to consider the impacts on all capital types:

Financial / Economic Capital
Built / Constructed / Manufactured Capital
Human Capital
Social / Relational Capital
Natural Capital (Nature, Renewable/Non-renewal Resources, the Planet)

Value Perspective

For some reason value has primarily been associated with profit. Without getting into a lot of details now, the meaning of value has recently changed considerable. We are moving from an economic view to a social, environmental and economic view of value. We need to be celebrating and strengthening this new view of value. The world is going to be radically different when this new view of value understood and applied to everything we do.

Value needs to assess more from a positive and negative impact on capital types and how this contributes to flourishing and ultimately improved well-being for whatever the context (individual, group, enterprise, community… and the planet).

Applying to Vision, Decision-making and Action.

A new mindset to business and life needs to be developed that takes integrated stakeholder, multi-capitalism, and the broader view of value in guiding visioning, decision-making and action. Its actually quite simple to bring about. Always include all stakeholders, capital and value views in what we do. Understand value is co-created and co-destroyed, value and valuation is based on all capital types and the impact that any decision or action has on those capital types, and capital types can be impacted differently for each stakeholder involved directly or indirectly in the decision and actions.

More to come on this later.

Bill, The Flourish Rebel