Localism's more than a word

Here is the ideas grid I use when working with local authorities to co-produce ways of using behavioural insights. Each effect has a ‘how can we use it?’ challenge; we use it to develop ideas. Some of the ideas generated feel counter-intuitive, some feel run-of-the-mill, some feel like breakthroughs straightaway. We play them back, and pick the ones that feel like the best bets to build into a…

Brexit referendum: was it Behavioural Insights wot won it? by me

I’ve written previously about the gap between mainstream policy-making and systematic, knowledgeable use or understanding of behavioural science. And here I am again, suggesting that the wording of the Brexit referendum could have been smarter, and that the Leave campaign tapped into our cognitive biases much more effectively than did the Remain camp. So … was it cognitive bias wot won it?

The…

Using behavioural insights to manage demand for public services

This is about an award-winning project carried out by the Housing team at the London Borough of Ealing, supported by With The Grain(that’s me). We think we achieved a 70% reduction in the number of families being placed in temporary accommodation by the Council, and the main principles are now being scaled into the Council’s ‘business as usual’ approach. We think it has the potential to save…

Some stark news today illustrates a point I’ve been making for a while. Sadly, this is life and death stuff.

Last October, it was reported that Britain would “not support any future search and rescue operations to prevent migrants and refugees drowning in the Mediterranean, claiming they simply encourage more people to attempt the dangerous sea crossing”

This seemed like the Rational Actor Model…

Beat The Clock - Getting behavioural in #localgov comms:

The clocks go back on Sunday morning, as British Summer Time comes to an end. We’ll all do it. It’s so normal to join in with it, that none of us considers not doing so. It’s a brilliant ‘behaviour change intervention’; it’s so easy and so normal to do, that we don’t even recognise that our behaviour is being changed. This got me thinking …

A few of my projects involve introducing a behavioural…

I’ve made a rod for my own back in saying that my aim is to help develop ‘behaviour-smart places’, haven’t I? I really should start to flesh this out beyond the local government world.

This is my first attempt. A short, imperfectly formed vision of how a Police Service could become behaviour-smart. It is based on a few things that struck me during a recent workshop with staff from a police…

How the most counter-intuitive thing you’ll hear all week will help #localgov manage demand

(Originally published by the i-Network following my talk at their recent Shaping Demand conference)

You know how you sometimes lie awake at night planning to do something the next day – and then fail to do it? Well, you’re not the only one. We all do it.

Me, too. I’ll resolve not to have butter on my toast in the morning. Or walk to work. Or decide that, tomorrow night, I’ll wind down for sleep…

When @futuregov asked the questions. Please share with #localgov types interested in managing demand

I did a talk for local government heroes Future Gov recently, on the back of which they interviewed me. This is the result:

http://wearefuturegov.com/2014/04/behavioural-effects-demand-management-and-local-government-an-interview-with-warren-hatter/

Doing #localgov Demand Management better, with behavioural insights

There may still be local authority chief execs and directors in local government who think they can steer a course through the financial challenges to come (the handy headline figure is a forecast £14.4bn shortfall in services by 2020) by reducing staff numbers and service levels, raising efficiency and changing eligibility criteria, but I don’t know them and I’m pretty sure they don’t exist.…

Why the debate on Nudge is a red herring (tapped out on my phone during the #LSEnudge debate):

1. We’ve previously designed services thinking everyone is an in-control homo economicus. There’s loads of recent evidence on what we’re like. Why not use it?

2…

A small, but growing number of people have studied decision science and/or use its insights to earn a living. I’m lucky to be one of them.

I’m delighted to see communities of practicedeveloping, and I’ve noticed the (apparently) high proportion of jobs…

Consumers are people, too

This blog isn’t about sustainability. It’s about decision-making – and especially framing. But I…

Doing it better, using behavioural insights #WithTheGrain #localgov #behaviourchange

I Have a Dream (about behavioural insights)

A quick thought, prompted by the coverage last week of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s celebrated ‘I have a dream’ speech. The most quoted sentence is:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will…

Public opinion: we're wrong, but we're not stupid. A blog on @ipsosMORI @RoyalStatSoc research

So, Ipsos MORI have done some research for the Royal Statistical Society to put some figures on what we already know: that (in MORI’s words) “perceptions are not reality” (although, as Oliver Payne has pointed out “reality is perceived”).

In summary, we…

Food labelling: another example of needing behaviour-smart policy-makers #behaviourchange

The current news about a new food labelling system, ably covered by Ed Gardiner in his blog for the Behavioural Design Lab, reminds me of Daniel Kahneman’s telling point in Thinking Fast and Slowin reference to food labelling in the US. Given the chance,…