The term "choice architecture," coined by Thaler and Sunstein, refers to the practice of influencing choice by “organizing the context in which people make choice." This concept is associated with economic behavior, but we can apply the same idea to the workplace.
Follow us through this scenario…
You are responsible for onboarding new hires and recently developed a resource that will help them expedite their familiarity with the organization. The only decision remaining is how it's executed. Will you give them the choice to opt-in to this resource OR will you automatically enroll them and give them the choice to opt-out?
Put your choice architect hat on...which option would you choose? If you chose opt-in, great job! In this case, the employees do have choice, but you have structured the options in a way to influence their decisions. It’s easier to have folks already opted-in than for them to opt-in on their own.
Here's another example. When you prepare training for your new hire, instead of asking the question, "Will you be attending this training?," try asking this instead: "Will you be attending this training in-person or virtually?" See what we did there? We framed the question in a way that requires completion of the training, but have given them agency in deciding how they can receive it.
As you can probably already tell, we can build choices into an organization which allows team members the gratification of making a decision most satisfying to them, but also meets the needs of the organization.
WAYS TO BE A CHOICE ARCHITECT FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION…
Understand your teams’ needs and wants - Set your team members up for success and ensure they are being trained and provided with the resources to be successful in their roles. But also learn what motivates your team. It may be important to allow breaks or different ways to receive training. By being knowledgeable about team needs and desires, this allows you to build balanced, productive, motivated teams.
Give opportunities for consistent and frequent feedback - This is mutually beneficial to your employee and your organization. Giving your employee feedback about how they are performing, or sharing data about how the organization is doing, can positively influence how your team members work. It can increase productivity or creative problem-solving. It can also serve as positive reinforcement knowing that they are valued members of the team.
Provide reachable short-term and long-term rewards - Some of your team members are motivated with short-term goals while others prefer making steady headway towards the long-term goals.
If you found this post interesting, or if you believe your managers/leaders would benefit from a training on choice architecture, reach out to us! www.fisheyelearning.com
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