Behavior, loss weight and productivity
The numbers are astonishing. In some industries, employees lose up to 60 to 90 work days a year.
- What if this has a complex but straightforward solution at the same time?
- What will this solution be?
- How much will it cost?
With all these questions, 1 answer seems to be the more accurate, CHANGING BEHAVIOR.
What is behavior?
Behavior is what an organism does — its actions and reactions in various situations.
How to change behavior?
Humans are irrational; they don’t follow most of the rules you would expect.
A Tech company was missing too many days of work; they did everything by the book, well, this is what they believed when they contacted me after an article I was interviewed for about addictions and behavior.
Since the article was erased, I will summarise what it said.
Behavior, rats and addictions
A doctor was studying addictions in rats. He put 2 water dispensers in a cage, the rat drank the water with a drug, to the point of no stop and died from an overdose. And then an idea poops, “what if it is not the drugs but the environment, and by changing the environment we can change behavior?”
He put the 2 dispensers in a cage with other rats, playing with toys and things to distract the addicted rat. Then something incredible happened: the rat didn’t drink the drug water but the clean water.
What if addiction is not about the drugs, but the behavior of the person consuming the drugs? What if by changing the environment, we can fix addiction?
This theory is not new, addiction centres and recovery work in group support to help their patients recover.
Let’s define addiction and the myths.
Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive engagement in a substance or behavior, despite experiencing harmful consequences. It is widely recognized as a brain disorder involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences
Types of Addiction
- Substance Addictions: Involve drugs, alcohol, nicotine, or prescription medications.
- Behavioral Addictions: Involve activities such as gambling, internet use, shopping, or work, which can stimulate the brain’s reward system in a similar way to substances.
Myth: addiction is only with drugs.
Addiction can be to food or porn.
Read more about the brain and addictions in this article I did a few months ago to learn more.
Let’s go to the case study.
How to change behavior
To my luck, the company that contacted me was pretty local. [Due to NDA and privacy, I will not share too much data on this.]
After an initial meeting and talking with HR, the CFO, and managers, one thing came up: recurrent overweight and sickness related to this factor are the main reasons for people to lose work days.
Question:
Is the company responsible to change behavior, to look for healthy options, to care for medical issues?
Going deeper, the company seems to be doing everything others have done. But there were factors that those companies never shared about the consequences of the things they were doing and how urgent it was to change those.
Food and behavior
After walking the offices, the kitchen, and talking with the employees, I noticed that lack of motivation was a common factor. But why?
They have all the toys and food they asked for. Well, this was the problem……….too much of the wrong things.
Thank you, Google !!!
The number 1 reason I love case studies is that they can help to understand a problem.
In this case, I recalled a study that Google did years ago that was the answer to the problem.
Make bad things difficult to access, give better options, and with this bring an environmental change.
Behavior change and implementation
Remember the rats in the cage? Well, observing the people in the cameras and their behavior I realize the dispensers were too accessible [metaphorically]
WHAT?!?!?!
To satisfy employees, the company gave their people candies, fatty food, and poor reasons to move from their desks.
On average, each person eats more calories in 2 hours than a regular person needs in 1 meal.
After observation, let’s implement it.
I came up with a plan — nothing new, but adapted to their needs. Thank you, Google, again.
- I brought a nutritionist
- I changed how accessible the bad food was
- I talked to the people about food options
- Under the desk treatmills [ we do the same in our team] We lost in a group setting over 100 pounds, so far.
- Relax and exercise room
- Walk meetings
- Besides other changes.
This plan has been in place since February 3. So far, the number of days missed has been cut in half, which has resulted in more productivity and happy employees.
What did I do differently???
- I spoke with the actors, not only management
- I observed
- I listened
- I made them part of the problem, and the solution
- I care, because the management cares
- I brought the people who know to speak
- Everyone was on the plan
- They voted on options
- They felt heard, seen and understood [sound familiar?]
Conclusion:
The significant changes do not require money, they need patience, compromise and carrying.
Copying others without context and content does not always work.
The population was already over the healthy weight, more food wasn’t the answer. What works in San Francisco, does not work in a rural area. In major cities people walk, commute and go to the gym.
In this scenario, those were the missing pieces.
I didn’t invent the wheel, I used behavior, observation and carrying.
Please do not copy what others are doing. The cost-benefit can be devastating and cost you more money than getting the correct behavior neuroscientists evaluate your team.
Give us a call to go over what problems you have and what the right solutions for you.
Do not trust the made-for-all all options.
You are 1 call away from the right team. Looking forward to your call.
Do you want to know how the information and studies in this article can help you, your team and the products you sell? Contact Kim Olesker — Chief Business Officer to explore which training or consulting is better for you — kim@susanibitz.com -219–343–2255 Ext 102.
About the author:
Susan is a former political influence consultant, profiler, and civilian hostage negotiator, with expertise, studies and Master’s in Human Behavior, Behavior Economics, Neuroscience and a nerd for data. Susan works on the humans that grow your business | High-performance Human Behavior training- I teach corporations & employees how to hack into humans using Behavior, Neuroscience & Persuasion |Behavior Economics
She has been called Freaky and the top expert on her field, by the Chicago Tribune and Psychology Today, by showing how to profile anyone in 30 seconds.
She is the author and researcher of “Irrational Humans. People Make 35,000 Decisions a Day and 95% are Irrational, but Why & How?”
Topics:
- Body Language
- Micro Expressions
- Behavior Economics
- Neuroscience
- Consumer Behavior
- Persuasion
- Influence
- Behavior Science
