Whenever there is a group of employees working in a building or being involved in a certain process, there is a potential for improvement, especially in regards to energy efficiency. Explaining to people how they can approach new systems and ways of working can be challenging as many tend to stick to behaviours they are familiar with. Altering people’s fixed habits can take time but it is not impossible. Here we discuss how to prepare and deliver a programme focused on behavioural change.

Understanding people’s behaviours

Before starting to work on a strategy to deliver behavioural change, it is necessary to understand why people behave in certain ways.

Behaviour is driven primarily, but not exclusively by thoughts and feelings. Anger, shame, or empathy can trigger some people to act in one way but others in another. This is because every human being experiences these things differently.

Human behaviour is also shaped by psychological traits that vary from person to person. Because of that different actions are produced.

Although humans are relatively rational and reason plays a role in decision making, spontaneous behaviours tend to be based on emotions.

At the same time, people’s ‘emotional and intellectual mechanisms work together and sustain each other. Sometimes they cannot be separated at all. In many cases a decision based on emotion or intuition may be much more efficient—and indeed better—than a decision arrived at after thorough and rigorous analysis of all the possible outcomes and implications,’ a paper exploring what is behind people’s behaviours revealed.

Psychology of persuasion

After understanding more about what motivates people’s behaviours, it is time to think about how we can influence them. Here comes in the concept of psychology of persuasion.

Persuasion is the process by which a person’s behaviour or attitude can be influenced through the means of communication. Persuasion does not involve forcing people to do things against their will. Instead, it uses the act of convincing someone to do something. So, for example, rather than openly telling someone they should act in a certain way, one can be telling them about the benefits of this action. Then, the person who we want to use persuasion on might make their own decision in line with what we wanted them to do.

According to Robert Cialdini, an American psychologist, there are six principles of persuasion. These are:

Reciprocity – the action of giving information, benefits, or gifts
Scarcity – the action of offering only limited time to get certain benefits

Liking – the action of connecting with people who might be similar to us
Consensus – the action of highlighting that a certain action is commonly viewed as good
Authority – the action of using testimonials or recommendations from experts in the field
Commitment – the action of offering the chance to act a certain way later.

Mastering persuasion requires practice but it can be highly effective in achieving our goals regarding behavioural change of those around us.

Steps for implementing a successful behaviour change programme

When you start implementing a behaviour change programme, you will most likely encounter a certain degree of resistance to changing people’s habits. But you should not give up. To make the process easier, you should carefully plan your behaviour change strategy first and try to deliver it later. Here are a number of steps that can help you make your programme as effective as possible:

Define your precise goal – the first step in developing a successful behaviour change strategy is deciding what the exact goal is. Do you want to make people consume less energy, lower the company’s impact on the environment, or reduce waste? Whatever the goal is, you need to be clear on what it is. Otherwise you will not be able to consistently work towards achieving it.

Do research – doing preliminary research is crucial to developing a behavior change programme that will work. As well as thinking of strategies and methods you will use, you need to consider what possible obstacles you might encounter and how you will overcome them.

Choose one strategy – there are many behavioural strategies available and you might be tempted to use a few of them at once. This is not recommended and doing so can decrease the effectiveness of your programme. Instead, you should choose a single strategy that you think will work best and try to implement it in the best way possible.

Create a strong brand – to effectively influence the decisions of others, they need to trust your advice and recommendations. You can do that by focusing on developing your brand and showcasing your expertise and achievements.

Revise and adapt – throughout the process of implementing your progress make sure to regularly assess how it is performing. Based on these evaluations, you can identify areas that need improvement.

If you follow these suggestions when first coming up with and later delivering your behavioural strategy, you can be sure to have a better understanding of how the whole process looks. Thanks to that, you can maximise its effectiveness.

Who should find out more about delivering behavior change?

Knowing how to deliver behaviour change can be useful to anyone but it is particularly important for those who manage a team and whose aim is to improve energy efficiency. Examples of professions that might find upskilling in this field valuable are Energy Coaches, Building Managers, Utilities Engineers, Business Development Managers, Facilities Assessors, Sustainability Managers, or Energy Engineers.

EMA course is a great starting point

Energy Managers Association (EMA) offers a number of courses designed to help individuals working in the field of energy management gain knowledge and skills allowing them to perform better. Amongst EMA’s courses there is also one focusing on understanding and delivering behavioural change.

EMA outlined the minimum requirements to be able to participate in the course:

‘Educated to degree standard or equivalent business based energy management experience. Participants should have some familiarity with energy management processes within businesses and have been undertaking energy management activities, ideally for no less than 2 years.
Basic knowledge of energy procurement is assumed (e.g. how energy supply market works, how to read a commercial energy bill)

For those whose first language is not English, and who have not undertaken a course of study where the principal medium of instruction is English, certificate of competency in one of the standard language tests (e.g. IELTS, TOEFL) will normally be required.’

As part of the course, participants not only learn from experts but also get the chance to discuss their own ideas. After the theoretical part of the course, participants need to prepare a strategy for delivering a behavioural change for their client. They have 4 weeks to do it.

Participants who complete the course and pass the assessment receive an official certificate confirming their newly-gained abilities. They also get 5 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) recognition.