Engagement & Exchange: How Good Partners Make Good Business John Strand AED Center for Social Marketing and Behavior Change

Why are we here? Review broad shared goals –Ensure safe, healthy & productive WRT workforce (Mom) –Save $$ on healthcare costs and lost productivity (Apple pie) Reflect on NORA WRT Agenda that you produced –Framework for public-private sector collaboration –Most critical workplace health and safety issues (6 Strategic Goals) Enhance Council’s collaborative work

Why change anything? Change is scary; today’s status quo is understood and predictable Dark clouds ahead; growing risk of future workplace injuries So this WRT National Agenda maps a planned process of change

Change is inevitable – except from a vending machine. ~Robert C. Gallagher

It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. ~W. Edwards Deming

What changes are possible through enhanced collaborative work? Engage thought & market leaders Define the problems to be tackled Identify mutual strategies for addressing them Identify and test solutions and best practices in WRT settings RESULTS: Better solutions applied in workplace settings Vital workforce in profitable enterprises    

Large-Scale Behavior Change: 3 Approaches More/Less Choice  More/Less Compliance Education  information-based Marketing  incentive-based Regulation  sanction-based - adapted from Mike Rothschild, 1999

Thinking Like a Marketer #1: Consumer at the Center Recognize and respect each party’s expertise, resources, wants and needs Start by asking and listening

Industry brings to the table: Expertise in their respective industry –Practices, procedures, competitors, peers Understanding the need to create and deliver value Ability to present a compelling business case

Labor brings to the table: Commitment to and expertise in worker health and safety Expertise in workplace practices, procedures Experience developing and tailoring worksite improvements

NIOSH brings to the table: Occupational health and safety expertise and experience R & D expertise and resources CDC credibility within government, business and general public

CDC & the Food Industry CDC wants to improve the eating behaviors of the American public So they need to engage industry in that conversation

Thinking Like a Marketer #2: Exchange principle Each party must receive something they want –If I do this, I get something in return that I value –WIIFM (“What’s in it for me?”) –Must offer benefits that really matter to your audience  Their desired benefits may not be yours!

Possible WIIFM for Industry & Labor Opportunity to shape research agenda & strategies to respond Access to top-tier R&D on workplace health & safety Credibility of CDC Retain healthy and safe workplace (prevent job loss) Lower healthcare costs and loss of productivity

Possible WIIFM for NIOSH Industry and labor knowledge/expertise re: processes, practices, peers Tailoring best practices on shop floor (prototyping in real time) Industry and labor ownership and adoption of improved practices

EPA’s Commuter Choice Leadership Initiative Employers qualify by offering a package of commuter benefits to their employees Key benefit: press release and photo with EPA official AED considered what employers wanted: competitive edge in attracting and retaining employees Result: Best Workplaces for Commuters –2000 employers & counting

Clues from behavioral science 1.If I do the behavior, I get something I want Perceived consequences 2.I’m confident I can do the behavior Perceived self-efficacy 3.Other people, whose opinions matter to me, would approve of me doing the behavior Perceived social norms = FUN = EASY = POPULAR

Improve the experience ywhttp:// yw

Planning for successful engagement How can you make it more rewarding? –Make the value added clearer –Make progress tangible How can you make it easier? –Let them kick the tires; “try before they buy” –Facilitate transitions; smooth out bumps How can you make it more normative? –Engage peer champions (testimonials, sales force) –Foster community

Evidence-based practice needs Practice-based evidence Schnuck’s National and Dierberg’s supermarkets, St. Louis, 1992 –HETA UFCW Local 655 requested NIOSH examine “checker- unload” workstations Result: NIOSH recommended elimination of “checker-unload” and replacement with conveyor- belt checkstands

OK, what’s next? Review mutual goals Be clear about the Ask –What are you asking the others to do? What’s expected of you? What’s the key benefit for each party? –What will be better as a result? –What’s the support for that? Map out the next 2-3 steps Plan ongoing communication

Develop principles for engagement

Develop checklists for key processes

Collaboration has unexpected benefits. enMhttp:// enM

Summary Points: Need better strategies & practices to mitigate growing risk Better engagement yields better solutions Be clear about the Ask Offer something they want Lower the bar Develop procedures, principles and tools to support these efforts … and communicate regularly.

Questions?