It’s a behavioral science world, and we are just living in it. More and more companies and organizations, from small to big, are seeing the value (or requirement) of leveraging behavioral science to drive true, purposeful, and sustainable change as well as increasing people’s well-being in the context they operate in. One of these organizations is the United Nations (UN) as they the other day presented what a “UN 2.0” will look like.
The UN is not new to using behavioral science in their work but in their new policy document "UN 2.0: Quintet of Change" they announced what skills they will be upskilling in their repertoire to drive positive change. The skills encapsulate the organization’s vision of how the UN of today should be modernized to better meet the needs of people and our planet going forward. One of the 5 cutting-edge skills they lift as important to empower in-house is... *drum role*... behavioral science. By strengthening their behavioral science capacity they will be able to increase their knowledge about how people make decisions, act in different contexts, and react to policies and processes, with the aim of creating solutions that will help people make better choices, especially within the areas of inequality, exclusion, and discrimination. This is of course important to the UN as the purpose of their work is to help build a more sustainable world, where sustainable behaviors play a big part.
As UN Secretary-General António Guterres says himself “Behavioral Science helps us to diagnose how and why people do the things they do, which can be crucial for designing more effective programs and policies, improving our internal operations, and reducing bureaucracy”.
However, no skill works best in solo. Other competence areas that the UN will be strengthening are innovation, data, digital, and foresight. As the UN knows; an interdisciplinary approach is often required to create more impactful, systematic, and sustainable change. Therefore these 5 skills are important for all companies to consider, even as a small start-up for instance. The UN vision should work as an inspiration and framework for every company, to really help both customers and employees engage in positive behavior change and as a positive result, increase their overall well-being.
Whateverland welcomes the attention Behavioral Science is getting from big organizations and companies around the world, and the increased focus on people’s well-being.