We know why we smell baking bread in the supermarket, if you even go there anymore, or how Amazon encourages us to buy other products, or that the pop-up advert has not read your mind but is based on your browsing history. 

Behavioral science is powerful and many organizations have been using these techniques on customers for years.

Our growing connection to mobile devices is in part powered by behaviorial science. Developers have created the endless scroll, and the red message notifications on apps for a reason; so we spend more time browsing and keep returning.

So, why aren't we doing more to use the power of nudging in organizations to drive behavior and performance?

...we need to think differently about how to drive and influence behavior in organizations

Some very successful examples exist, including Virgin Atlantic nudging pilots to improve fuel consumption, the UK government improving tax payment rates, and Uber's forward dispatch; all worth reading about if you have not already.

These examples highlight that we need to think differently about how to drive and influence behavior in organizations. We are all easily affected by the environment, and therefore the opportunity is to create an environment that is not just facilitating better decisions, but inducing high performance as well.

Consider these action steps:

1. Review your policies and procedures - we need frameworks to drive desired behavior and not Taylorism control based policies.

2. Change the environment - the factors around us influence our decision making, so it is the environment we need to adjust. The Virgin Atlantic example is one demonstration of this.

3. Use appropriate tools to facilitate - for these changes to take hold we need to use tools, often simple and likely technology based in large organizations, to reinforce the influence.

Excellent research exists across talent management, which we intellectually understand and discuss with leaders and managers in organizations. Yet, we do not always see the sustained performance change because we have not created the environment that influences and reinforces the right behaviors. This is the opportunity and where we need to focus more time and effort.

Next time, I will share thoughts on talent management today.

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[Jay Connolly is Global Chief Talent Officer at law firm Dentons. Connect with him on LinkedIn.]