In my work I do two things regularly: Understand how things change and how people can perform tasks. Here are some thoughts on the failure of people to isolate correctly #COVID19Aus. 1/
When you study behaviour of people, particularly groups, you'll be constantly surprised & occasionally frustrated. Partly because this make you especially attuned to systems, communications, processes and context. Good designers insulate from this with optimism & humility 2/
Optimism to believe that change is possible. To recognise when a path or message fails and try something new. To not take this personally and fall into a pattern of blame. To dive in an embrace the complexity and learn from it. 3/
Humility to recognise the vast spectrum of abilities, contexts, incentives, and influences at play. You might want to just give people a good shake - "Just do it!". But it is not about what makes *you* feel better. A fraction will never get it 🤷4/
One of the uniquely frustrating things about a virus response is the need for a very high level of compliance. Just a few % can really spoil things. Our muddling structures just aren't built for that. They're just good enough to muddle through until they suddenly aren't. 5/
So how might the communications be failing? Some possibilities (no inside info): 1) We've heard about the structural/social/economic constraints like inability to take time off. These are the structural heartbeat messages we must listen to. What is % of cases this applies to? 6/
2) It is common for people to be more aware of the negative actions of others than themselves. People are forgiving when making judgements about ourselves (or our group). We don't see the water we're swimming in. We don't see the little allowances made for ourselves. 7/
3) This leads to people taking a kind of pleasure pointing out the stupidity of others. Which serves to ignite the 'backfire effect' in one group while enhancing the discounting you award to you or your group. Media narratives feed this.😩 8/
4) People often make mundane daily decisions with relatively narrow fields of limited information. We make 'good enough' decisions in sequence to satisfy rather than the most optimal choice with a big picture view. The history of shipping disasters is a classic example here. 9/
In this case it may make sense to add more 'friction' into a process. To slow people down and interrupt the automatic thinking. Tricky in such an unprecedented situation with everything under pressure. It need not be complicated, but it doesn't come naturally to most. 10/
Some use techniques like getting you to make a pre-commitment and follow with a comprehension test. How can we help people proactively project in their own context? Another friction - In China, an app showed a red/greed status and would limit your access to places. Useful prompt?
5) We assume other people would respond the way we would. We assume they have the same info we have. This is very likely at play with comms from Govt departments. Could be a context bubble, could be 'shipping the org chart' or death by committee. 11/
6) People react to information depending on whether it is presented as a loss or gain. Plus how we think about the people involved. Is this a 'lockdown imposed by Dictator Dan' or 'A heroic effort to safe guide the wellbeing of our nation'. Negativity fuels poor action. 12/
7) People mimic the action of the herd. How many ads have you seen modelling the correct isolation protocol? How many shaming beachgoers? One reason the worthy BLM protests can be criticised - unfortunately they'll be used for people looking to retcon their own errant actions. 13
8) People will believe they are at a lesser risk of a negative event than others. They'll also overestimate their level of knowledge. This is exacerbated by an extreme amount of misleading info or outright conspiracies spiralling in this environment. 14/
9) People like the world to make sense. They will try to fill 'gaps' with intuition. However in a complex and fast changing scenario can fail big time. This dissonance will cause some to learn, many to reject and react with hostility. The unenviable task facing our leaders. 15/
Here, I believe, we need to invest in our collective ability to handle VUCA - Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity. Individually and collectively we're going to need it. We also shouldn't be surprised at how humans behave. Particularly in this environment! 16/
Some personal responsibility and maturity is needed. There will be messiness and contradictions. We need to make some effort to engage in good faith. But also recognise that many things are undermining our ability to talk about and process these complex, ambiguous things. 17/
10) Good communication needs careful design. Both of the medium and material. Including the context in which it is presented. Then it needs to be reinforced. This is challenging at the best of times. But we have institutions that were already stressed from decades of pressure 18/
They've been sliced for efficiency (in a sense), while asked to do more. Their evolutionary fitness restricted and a sense of 'leaned helplessness' developed (hbr.org/2012/06/learne…) /19
This pandemic is teaching us what we've optimised for & what's deemed 'good enough'. Some things look like a waste of taxpayers money in good times become a matter of life and death. We won't/can't always know what we'll need, but bet on needing much trust and responsiveness 20/
Agencies could have been continually optimising communications, engagement, feedback loops. Experiment and nurture in good times, ID weaknesses and fix. You don't know what will come, but you know something will. Plus, it benefits today. But it looks like waste in the moment /21
We need a 'portfolio' investment in pioneer capabilities. A mindset that builds for the future, that takes the bigger view of risks and payoffs. Develop capabilities long term. We know geopolitical instability and climate change are on the horizon. This is our wake up call. 22/
A more fair, transparent society with less misinformation and more trust as an investment in national security and collective wellbeing. This might sound wishful, but it is clear we need to recalibrate. Right now? We need to do better and adapt daily. Systematic takes time.
Ugh. Excuse the autocorrects and typos. Too much to say. Twitter needs both an edit function and a 'nuance mode'.
+ An example: If narrative becomes “the comms are so confusing/contradictory...” it will be used by some as a permission to disregard or cheery pick the good actions they’ll take. Actions looking for loopholes. #covidiots 24/
Big challenge is; to have clear, well formed comms, while helping ppl understand intent (b/c the explicit rules will challenge ‘common sense’ in VUCA times), while avoiding blame and focusing on compassion. Trust and good faith needed from public. Easy 🙃 End/ #CovidVic
