Free The Small BIG: Small Changes That Spark Big Influence by Steve J. Martin, Noah Goldstein, Robert Cialdini

it easy for people to do so, while vital, may simply not be enough to achieve the desired outcome—particularly in situations where there is little or no cost to the user of the resource that is being consumed. This was certainly the case in the paper recycling studies, and it might be the case when it comes to influencing your colleagues and coworkers in the office, too.
    An example is in order. Imagine for a few moments that you have been “lucky” enough to be volunteered as the new Green Champion in your office, and you now have the not-so-enviable challenge of persuading your coworkers to use a little less paper, recycle the paper they do use, and adopt some other environmentally friendly practices like turning out the lights when they leave the building. Imagine further that arrangements have been made for facilities such as recycling boxes to be strategically placed around the building and for energy-efficient bulbs to be installed in the light fixtures. Knowing that these facilities, while essential, might also have the unintended consequence of licensing your colleagues to use more rather than less resources, you recognize the need to make some additional small steps to mitigate any potential licensing effects. So what might they be?
    Well, the first step might be to add a sign at recycling points and light switches, pointing out that while recycling is beneficial to the environment, using fewer resources in the first place is even more beneficial. Doing so would be consistent with emerging research that has shown that while the benefits of recycling are often highly salient to people, the cost of recycling is much less so.
    Another potential step would be to take an insight from the commitment and consistency principle and highlight the commitments and promises that individuals may have previously made toward environmental protection. Better still, you might seek small commitments from people prior to starting the program. Recall from chapter 9 the studies carried out in hotels, in which asking guests to sign a pledge when they checked into the hotel not only led to an increase in towel and linen reuse, but also caused guests to be more likely to turn off the lights and TV when they left their rooms. That’s an example of a “positive spillover” effect.
    A well-established first-order law of behavior-change programs is to “make change easy for people.” Studies like these add a caveat: providing facilities that make change easy for people, while crucial, won’t always be enough. The effective influencer will also consider potential licensing effects and include small steps to eliminate them that lead to big successes with their strategies.

Chapter 11.
What SMALL BIG should you add to your recipe for employee productivity?*
    * Preparation time: five minutes
    E ncouraging employees to be productive workers can be a challenge for even the best managers. Fortunately many managers will have a range of tools at their disposal in their motivational toolbox. For example, one of the more common ways to increase worker motivation is to simply offer to pay more to workers who are especially productive. Alternatively managers can try to enhance overall employee morale by including them in a profit-sharing program. Or perhaps managers can provide recognition to the best workers by offering desirable rewards such as iPhones, weekend breaks, or even lunch with the CEO.
    Although all of these tactics have the potential to be effective, they also share some downsides. For example financial incentives have a tendency to set new reference points for the future. An employee who has been paid an incentive for performing a task once is then likely to expect that similar incentive payments will be forthcoming in the future, and with a subsequent lowering of motivation levels when they are not. Financial incentives can also sometimes serve to erode any intrinsic motivation employees have to perform in that manner anyway. But