By Rubert Evill
Here in the UK, we (typically) have three bins (trash cans): recyclable waste, garden waste, and rubbish (everything else). Recyclable waste (with long lists around which numbers and triangles of plastics can be collected) and garbage are collected on alternate weeks, and garden waste requires special permits and different delivery schedules.
If you’re confused by now, so are many others.
To alleviate your confusion, search your local council’s website, make a few clicks, enter your postcode, scroll down a list of properties until you find yours, and then see what’s being collected this week—a tedious process.
Or… you could check the color of the bins your neighbors wheel out. Most of us, even with a computer in our pocket, elect to copy whichever of the neighbors is most on the ball. That is, until now.
It’s vacation time. Our most reliable neighbor—a lady who cares for her 92-year-old dad—has taken a well-earned rest, and chaos has ensued. Some are taking an “all bases covered” approach, wheeling out multiple bins. Others play bin roulette.
There’s one mega-house on our lane, owned by a cashed-out city-slicker now experimenting with re-wilding on the 50-acre plot he’s acquired. I regularly chat with the ageing and spectacle-phobic groundskeeper, who unintentionally threatens his and others lives with zealous power tool application. Kevin cuts a forlorn figure when not trimming, chopping, pulping, or mowing. He told me the sentence he dreads most from his boss, “Kevin, I’ve been thinking…” Kevin’s rurally challenged boss had asked Kevin to oversee the recycling and bin duties. Kevin was flustered. He doesn’t live at that property, nor knows the postcode and doesn’t “dabble in the interweb.” Mrs.Kevin deals with such duties at home, he explained.
What the heck does this have to do with compliance?
Most of us don’t like looking for information if it’s tedious, hard to access (too many steps), or confusing. I’ve surveyed thousands of people and tens of companies suffering from CPS (compliance plateau syndrome). A made-up term denotes that stage many reach where you have all the compliance policies and procedures you should, but still, issues occur. The reasons are manifold, but the responses to questions around accessibility and comprehension are sobering. For instance, when asked “Could a 12-year-old understand your policies?” only 17% responded in the affirmative.
Faced with CPS, like bin paralysis, we could:
- Make information simpler or more accessible (e.g., an annual flyer versus the four-step online checking process).
- Talk to people about the issue (where are the breakdowns and the root causes: knowledge, access, accountability, or trust).
- Leverage the opinion leaders.
On that last point, your organization will have people fulfilling the role of the elderly carer for her father. People we look to for guidance on the done thing. Much compliance content talks about how the nefarious actions of a few can shape cultures, but we may also need to seek out the bin heroes. The person who bothers to calendarize, memorize, or otherwise -ize the ‘done thing’. When we identify these people, giving them the recognition they deserve (e.g., ethics ambassadors) can pay significant dividends.
Who are your organization’s bin heroes? And who are your Kevins (doing the bidding of others without knowledge)? Answering those two questions can save a lot of time (and start us on the path to better compliance user experience, arresting CPS).
Rupert Evill helps organizations make risks relevant, through behavioral insights, leading to better decision-making. Find out more here: https://linktr.ee/ethics_insight