Cultural Change. 3 examples and 3 ideas: Fun, Space Rockets and Portugal

In a previous article I discussed cultural change and the important contribution that Leaders make to influencing behaviour. I want to share some real-life examples of behavioural and cultural change that illustrate three different approaches: making change more fun, removing friction and addressing the underlying causes. I’m really interested in more examples of these in an organisational setting so comment if you have something to add.

1.    The Fun Theory

When organisations describe their culture and values, how often do you see information presented in a fun and engaging way? And, how often are desired behaviours rewarded and incentivised into a fun way? It's not that the message isn't important and to be taken seriously but sometimes the impact is greater if people are engaged and their interest piqued.

Safety briefings before take-off must win the prize for the most important yet ignored information. We've all heard it before right! Which is why, when I saw this Air New Zealand safety video, I absolutely loved it.

Volkswagen also explored the fun idea with their 'Fun Theory' competition and the winning entry was the ‘Speed Camera Lottery’. This involved a camera that recorded the speeds of all drivers who passed. Drivers who exceeded the speed limit were issued with fines but drivers who drove at or below the speed limit were automatically entered into a lottery with cash prizes (paid for by fines). The idea was trialed in Sweden and the data showed that the average speed of cars passing the camera dropped from 32km/h before the experiment to 25km/h after (watch the video it’s fun!).

So, idea number 1 in changing behaviour is thinking about how to engage people in a lighter way and incentivise the desired behaviours.

2.    Make change easy – remove

Even if people in an organisation are genuinely motivated to change it doesn't mean it will happen. Behaviourial scientist Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational uses a metaphor of a space rocket in this TED talk that I really like. For a space rocket to take off it needs fuel to create propulsion and needs to minimise the resistance produced by friction. We could think of fuel as being motivation to change behaviour and friction as the barriers to changing. If people are motivated but there are barriers then nothing will happen. In an organisation these might be processes, procedures or metrics that create friction and work against a desired culture. One example I met recently was an organisation that wanted a ‘one team’ culture where it was ultimately about the consumer but their metrics were all about individual team performance (which would often come at the expense of other teams). What was good for the ‘one team’ and the consumer might mean resources being shared between teams, which the metrics wouldn’t reflect, so there was a reluctance to do this.

So, idea number 2 is to reduce friction and consider the (sometimes not so obvious) barriers to the desired behaviours.

3.    Addressing the underlying causes - Portugal’s Drug Problem

I think this is the ‘big one’ when it comes to cultural change and there has to be a genuine appetite to understand the root causes of issues and a willingness to address these. I find this example of Portugal addressing a drug problem really interesting.

In the 1990s Portugal had a major problem with heroin and an estimated 1% of the population were addicted. Portugal had the highest rate of HIV infection in the entire European Union. The government’s response had been to introduce increasingly harsh policies led by the criminal justice system and by the late 90s, about half of the prison population were there for drug-related reasons. It became apparent that the approach wasn’t working and, instead of imposing even harsher penalties and greater enforcement, Portugal looked for a different solution.

Portugal became the first country to decriminalise the possession and consumption of all illicit substances in 2001. Rather than being arrested, those caught with a personal supply might be given a warning, a small fine, or required to discuss treatment, harm reduction, and the support services that were available to them.

The opioid crisis soon stabilised, and the following years saw dramatic drops in problematic drug use, HIV and hepatitis infection rates, overdose deaths, drug-related crime and imprisonment . HIV infection plummeted from an all-time high in 2000 of 104.2 new cases per million to 4.2 cases per million in 2015

There wasn't just a change in the law but an enormous cultural shift, and a change in how the country viewed drugs, addiction – and itself. A Guardian article reports, "People who had been referred to as drogados (junkies) – became known more sympathetically, and more accurately, as 'people who use drugs' or 'people with addiction disorders'".

Portugal’s policy rests on three pillars: one, that there’s no such thing as a soft or hard drug, only healthy and unhealthy relationships with drugs; two, that an individual’s unhealthy relationship with drugs often conceals frayed relationships with loved ones, with the world around them, and with themselves; and three, that the eradication of all drugs is an impossible goal.

In summary I sense that the shift was about recognising drug taking was a symptom of something rather than a behaviour to be punished. I’m sure some people will have views about right and wrong here but, to some extent, I think we have to look at what works in practice rather than what we think should work.

So, idea number 3 is investigating the root causes of problems in a culture and being willing to look at what works.

Summary

3 examples and 3 ideas. Fun and incentivising the desired behaviours, reducing organisational friction and addressing the root cause of cultural issues. I'm interested in any examples you have of these ideas in practice so comment below with your thoughts.