We cannot assume that our team want to embrace a hybrid working environment.
As leaders in our dealerships, it’s our responsibility to drive innovation that boosts the overall wellness of our business. We strive to have happier customers, fulfilled employees and a profit margin to sustain the eco-system of contentment.
But when we’re so far ahead, we can leave our team behind. Not everyone will want to embrace the change that we’re confident is needed. For some time, organisations have known that they have needed to be more data-led and insights-driven. However, the biggest challenge is turning that into actions that will help move forward an organisation at the pace and scale it wants to operate.
In a recent article on theundercoverrecruiter.com, we found interesting insights into Nudge Theory.
According to the article, Satya Nadella famously said last year, “We have seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.” But many businesses were slow to change. Covid-19 lockdowns across the globe saw alternative working setups soar; productivity took a dip as employees got to grips with a new way of working.
It is here that Nudge theory can help.
It can take months for some to adjust to new working environments, systems and customer engagement strategies. As a result, we are faced with a rather unproductive work environment and increased frustration with ourselves and our teams.
While we couldn’t easily avoid past frustrations, we can predict that the changes that lie ahead, with future transitions in workplace behaviour and performance metrics, can be positively influenced by better approaches. We need to teach our people how to work in new environments and allow time for healthy transitions.
Nudge theory is about helping employees enact subtle changes to their behaviour. We don’t want people to go back into the office to collaborate like they always have done; we have a responsibility to take our employees on a journey of adapting to a new way of working. We have all been exposed to it through other platforms like Gmail (nudging you when an attachment is left off an email), smartwatches (reminding us to stand or wash our hands), online shopping (reminding us of recent purchases) and more.
Nudge theory, for us then, is about using our daily engagement platforms, like Teams, WhatsApp, Slack, Viva and the like. It’s about understanding that many of our repetitive actions are not too dissimilar to digital algorithms and that we can essentially code our environment to helps boost productivity through new digital interventions. With caller identity, we could boost customer experience if we link the incoming call to a pipeline where the workflow is smooth and effortless. Whilst on the call, the service consultant could be prompted to ask if the customer would like the same service as last year or if they are enjoying their other vehicle purchased through your dealership. The service agent could also receive easy prompts for the next people to contact in the workflow – especially if your dealership is using new third-party providers or if they are working remotely.
Prompts (nudges) that are intuitive, combined with smart-space technology, can boost innovation. As your team start to see these nudges in place, they can recommend faster connections to tasks and team members to help reduce stress and increase customer experience.
But remember, this is not about micro-managing employees. It’s a challenge not to use this technology to ‘spy’ on employees.
From the article I read, nudges are about removing the noise, reinforcing the right behaviours, and ultimately giving employees reminders at the right time and in the context of their work – without it becoming a “nag” platform. Ultimately this comes back to the values of the organisation and the technology being used in the right way, for the right purpose, and with the right intent, which shouldn’t be a concern for leading organisations.
Nudge Theory-based solutions can transform the behaviours across a whole organisation, from improving sales capability, resilience or even improving leadership or manager effectiveness post-training. Each employee is unique, and by utilising the power of AI, these solutions can be hyper-personalised to help every individual be the best they can be.