Better behaviour through decision science

ISSA Success Story

The Challenge

ISSA, the International Step-by-Step Association, is based in Holland and works across Europe and Central Asia. It is an association of agencies committed to protecting and developing the interests of early years children. Members include international, national, and regional NGOs as well as local government and academic institutions.

ISSA advocates for and supports competent Early Childhood Systems for all children, especially the most vulnerable. Always on the lookout for new ways to improve these systems, ISSA asked =mc consulting decisionscience team to help them explore the potential of decision science to:

Enable organisations offering childcare provision to create more impactful approaches, especially among employees, parents and volunteers.
Help policymakers and others in senior positions to frame best practice in attractive and engaging ways that would help ensure compliance.
Look at how anyone providing direct care for children could encourage more prosocial changes in diet, exercise, the role of fathers in upbringing, etc.

What We Did

=mc agreed to run an online training programme to explore how techniques from behavioural economics might be used to improve provision for children. The webinar and follow up materials provided an introduction to many of the key ideas and frameworks as they could be applied to early years. Specifically:

The importance of two decision-making frameworks – system 1 and system 2 – in making professional choices.
How to present data and insights in powerful ways that stick in people’s minds and help them act appropriately.
How heuristics like loss aversion, confirmation bias, anchoring, etc. can play an important role in misjudgements.

While this was a very modest introduction to a major topic, over 100 individuals and agencies signed up across Europe, Africa and South America.

The Impact

It’s always difficult to quantify the impact of a training programme. But the numbers attending, and the positive response, suggested attendees were excited by the ideas presented and could see value in them. Longer term the team at ISSA, working with =mc consulting, are exploring how to track the impact of the training with direct providers of childcare, regulatory agencies, and policymakers. They’re also exploring setting up a number of practical experiments to test the wider potential.

Next Steps?

Have a similar challenge or want to explore a project?
Contact Bernard Ross, Director.
b.ross@managementcentre.co.uk
+44 7976 280314

Engaging supporters more in conservation

Edinburgh Zoo Success Story

Including the Highland Wildlife Park, RZSS Edinburgh Zoo is one of Europe’s foremost wildlife conservation agencies and one of Scotland’s leading visitor attractions. It also has onsite projects in Africa and undertakes research worldwide.

=mc consulting decisionscience team were hired to improve the way visitors engaged with the animals and supported the wider conservation work of the Zoo.

Encouraging more visitors to do more

Bristol Museums Success Story

Bristol Museums and Arts Galleries is one of the UK’s leading cultural service. It comprises six venues throughout Bristol, each with a different focus and designed to address a specific audience. The most contemporary of the venues is M-shed.

=mc consulting decisionscience team was asked to focus on M-shed and advise on how to increase sales in the museum shop, which should have been a key source of earned income.

Bringing science to an Olympic team

US Olympics Committee Success Story

The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado with sport-specific associations spread throughout the 50 states.

They approached the =mc consulting decisionscience team to increase support to underfunded sports – both financial and in terms of participation.

Securing funds for humanitarian causes

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) Success Story

The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado with sport-specific associations spread throughout the 50 states. USOPC approached the =mc consulting decisionscience team to increase support to underfunded sports – both financial and in terms of participation.

Persuading shoppers to be more caring

Foodbank Success Story

In recent years foodbanks have become a common phenomenon in towns and cities across the UK as poverty becomes a sad part of everyday life. Many are locally run and managed some by churches, some by charities, some by local authorities.

=mc consulting decisionscience team was asked by the UK’s largest coordination agency, The Trussell Trust, to help them explore how to raise more funds using decision science techniques.