Looking From the Other Side of the Desk

Sendhil Mullainathan, a behavioral economist and director of ideas42 and an affiliated professor of the Poverty Action Lab, wrapped up the Communications Network's annual conference last month. He built a little on Jim Surowiecki's crowdsourcing topic I discussed last week but really delved into the rationale behind choices.

Three points he made were:

• Just because we have intentions doesn't mean we will act on them. So we may intend to get up at 5:00 a.m. and work out, but when that alarm goes off the next morning, we hit snooze.
• Self-control is a psychological problem affected by the environment we put ourselves in. Our preferences are changeable, and many things move and affect what we prefer.
• Attention is a scarce commodity, but what comes to our attention is often beyond our control.

Then he tied that in to the work of the social services sector when he pointed out that programs we run charge participants psychic resources. People have to "pay" with their energy and emotions to join a counseling session, visit a doctor, sign up for federal assistance programs, or apply for a grant from a foundation.

So are we aware of the psychic resources we are charging our participants? Are we supporting their intentions? Are we creating an environment that supports their self-control, or are we distracting them from what they really need? Are we bringing to their attention the things that matter to them, or to us?

It echoes the notions of "getting into another box" and "listening to other people rather than the usual suspects" that I mentioned last week. We usually design programs and processes from our perspective, not from the perspective of the people who participate. The NIATx initiative in our Substance Use Disorders focus area tries to get at that with it's walkthrough approach, where staff of a treatment organization walk through the registration, enrollment, and other processes that clients have to do in order to get services. It takes a look at things from the other side of the desk.

How do you look at the other side of the desk? What can you tell us to help us learn what things are like from your side?