Humanizing Rules

CHAPTER 9INTRODUCING HUMANS

Why We Need a Framework

So far, I've introduced some basic BeSci concepts and the critical importance of thinking about things from our employees’ perspective instead of our own. In this part, I will introduce HUMANS, a practical BeSci framework. HUMANS consists of six elements – one for each letter of the word – that can help us think about things from our employees’ perspective. As we have explored in earlier chapters, this is not something that comes naturally to us. HUMANS forces us to consider that alternative perspective and to remove the blinkers that dynamics like the curse of knowledge can bring.

If we've already implemented a particular behavioural intervention, HUMANS can help us understand why our employees are reacting to it in the way they are. If, on the other hand, we are planning a behavioural intervention, it can help us to think about how they are likely to react to it. In both cases, we're trying to understand what might be driving their response to what we're asking them to do.

What Is a Behavioural Intervention?

The HUMANS framework is designed for use with “behavioural interventions” (BIs), which are attempts to influence the decision‐making and, therefore, the behaviour of our employees. The purpose of a BI is to help deliver a “desired outcome”, something we want our employees to do or not do. For example, we might want them to comply with a particular rule.

The principles and ideas I will outline are designed with employees ...