A Compliance Perspective
As shown in the picture above, a lot of pedestrians would rather risk their lives by crossing the expressway than using the pedestrian bridge. This seemingly irrational behaviour has left me scratching my head a number of times, especially when a pedestrian gets knocked down by a vehicle.
This behaviour of non-compliance is also common in companies, where employees breach company policies despite series of training, communication and awareness campaigns. So, the big question is why do people tend to behave irrationally and the answer to this lies in behavioural science. Behavioural Science is an interdisciplinary approach to understanding how people behave, why they do so, and what causes behavioural change.
In his bestselling book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman explores a dual-system view of how humans think( see video below) . System 1, the fast-thinking (Automatic) part of the brain, makes instinctual decisions based on habits, emotions, and contextual reactions. System 2, the slow-thinking brain (Reflective), rubber stamps decisions made by system 1 to provide rational justifications when our instinctual responses are called into question, or to perform more deliberate tasks and calculations when System 1 is not able to act on autopilot.
According to Rory Sutherland – Vice chairman of Ogilvy Group, System 2 thinks it is the Oval Office, but it’s actually the Press Office. It genuinely believes that it makes all decisions, whereas in many cases it is simply spinning them in a way that seems logical.
Neuroscience research indicates that 95% of our mental functions occur at the subconscious level( System 1).
According to Travis Waugh, Author of Fully compliant: Compliance training to change behaviour, the mistake a number of Compliance professionals make is to target the reflective part of the brain—System 2—with definitions, policies, statistics, and other overtly rational appeals. But in reality, most of the behavioural misconduct we are trying to correct is undertaken by the fast-thinking System 1 part of our brain, before System 2 ever has a chance to weigh in.
If we really want to change behaviour, we need to focus less effort on persuading the figurehead leadership of our System 2 brains, and more on guiding our System 1 autopilot—the real seat of power in our minds—to the right instinctive decisions. Instead of just preparing employees to memorize definitions or pass simple quizzes, we have to start influencing their gut reactions in the moment of need. In other words, we need to make our learning a lasting and persuasive aspect of their context.
To function, our System 1 brains rely on a few quick rules of thumb—known as heuristics—that instantly tell us what to pay attention to and what to ignore in any given situation. These simple heuristics usually lead our gut straight to the right decision, without any need for data tables or philosophy textbooks. We find ourselves doing the right thing instinctively, nine times out of 10, without breaking a cognitive sweat. But when our System 1 autopilots fail, they can fail spectacularly.
Travis states that the secret to improving compliant behaviour is not to replace System 1 but to help it succeed 10 times out of 10. By focusing on the heuristics and biases that govern instinctive decision making, we can predict where our brains are most likely to misfire and which learning and development solutions are most likely to help. Thus, compliance officers need to better understand the following concepts;
- The availability bias and how microlearning can help ensure your training content remains a potent aspect of your employees’ context
- The affect heuristic and how storytelling can increase retention and persuasion by appealing to your learners’ strongest emotions
- The power of social influence, and how your depiction of your employees’ peers can increase or decrease the likelihood of behaviour change.
By understanding these concepts, we can begin to see how behaviour is really determined in the moment of need, and how we may be able to shape it. I will be explaining each of the components listed above in my next post.