“Switch” Application

The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to demonstrate your engagement with and understanding of the strategies presented in “Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard” and to apply them in a practical and relevant way, and ideally to also incorporate other concepts from the course. In broad terms, the assignment is to create and try out a “switch” for some situation in your life. This could be for an individual (such as getting your housemate to recycle more) or a group (such as introducing walking meetings at your workplace). You will come up with implementation ideas for each strategy in the Switch framework, then actually implement two of them.

Steps

1. Think of a change that you would like to make. The focus is on other people as our “customer,” but you can also be part of the customer group. In the example given above, the “switch” could be that your household does more recycling, including you, rather than just one housemate.
2. Read the book! While chapters in this book are assigned in the various modules, feel free to read ahead if you would like to get a jump on this assignment. You will need to give yourself enough time to do the implementation and then write the paper. This is not a paper you can sit down and write the night before it is due! You will need time to complete the steps.
3. As you are reading, make notes on ideas for implementation of each part of the framework. This will be very helpful as you narrow down which strategies to implement.
4. Draft implementation ideas for all 9 strategies in the framework. (See list below.)
5. Implement at least two of your strategies for your customer group.
6. Write your paper. An outline is below.

Paper Requirements

1. Select a “switch.” The change you are asking of your customer group doesn’t necessarily need to be a health behavior. Following the “Switch” framework, the behavior should be fairly specific (“Ambiguity is the enemy.” Page 53). So, rather than “get more exercise,” it should be something like “walk for 20 minutes during lunch hour on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.”
2. Select a “customer group” and describe it in fairly specific terms. How many people? Any particular traits that are relevant to this switch? For example, housemates who are new to Portland and have never lived anywhere with a city-wide recycling system would be a much different customer group than life-long Portland residents.
3. After analyzing your change through the Switch framework, decide on two strategies to implement with your customer group. You will have to pace yourself and make sure you leave enough time to do this during the term and get the paper done on time. Obviously, change can take time, but you need to make a good faith effort. Give your customers at least two or 3 weeks to respond. In your paper, you can also reflect on what might happen in the future, based on what you observed in the time allowed.
4. All strategies of the Switch framework must be covered in the paper and they must be clearly labeled. An outline is provided below. You may emphasize some strategies more than others, but all must be covered. If you decide that a Switch strategy is not relevant to your situation, then saying so and the reason(s) why would count as covering it in your paper.
5. “Failures” are also OK. If your customer(s) fail to make any noticeable change, you can reflect on why you think that happened. Most likely, you will land somewhere between “total success” and “total failure.” Reflect on all aspects. Include other topics of the course, where possible. For example, you may not turn your housemate into a recycling wizard, but you might move them from contemplation to preparation. Your reflection on the process and outcomes will be what determines your grade, not necessarily whether you changed anyone’s behavior, as long as you made a reasonable effort.

Outline of Paper Sections –Your paper should include these sections and in this order:

1 What’s the Switch and What’s Holding It Back? This should include information on the desired switch and the details about the customer(s).
2 Direct the Rider
A Strategy 1 Find the Bright Spots
B Strategy 2 Script the Critical Moves
C Strategy 3 Point to the Destination
3 Motivate the Elephant
A Strategy 4 Find the Feeling
B Strategy 5 Shrink the Change
C Strategy 6 Grow Your People
4 Shape the Path
A Strategy 7 Tweak the Environment
B Strategy 8 Build Habits
C Strategy 9 Rally the Herd
5 My Switch Application - Write about which 2 strategies you applied and how it went. Your reflection about what happened is what is important here, not necessarily whether you actually changed any behaviors.
6 Keep the Switch Going – Using ideas from this chapter, what ideas do you have for continuing or improving the outcomes of your switch?

In each section, I will be looking for examples of your thorough understanding of the concept.

Important Note! Be transparent in your work with your customers. You are not trying to trick or manipulate anyone! The framework is about reframing our message to appeal to different aspects of a customer’s needs – logical appeal, emotional appeal and changing the environment. For example, you don’t necessarily need to say, “I’m going to convince you to improve your recycling.” If you are creating an emotional appeal (from Motivate the Elephant), it will be very apparent what you are trying to do: “Look at all the non-recyclables I pulled out of our recycling bin! I hope we can improve how we do our recycling.”
If at any point, you feel like you are being tricky or manipulative, let’s talk. That is not the intention of this assignment.

Tips for Success!
• When you are sitting down to read “Switch,” review the instructions for this assignment each time before you begin, so they are fresh in your mind as you are reading. This will enable you to take notes and jot down ideas as you go, rather than having to go back to look for things later.
• After writing your paper, review the requirements above to make sure you covered them.
• Have you demonstrated that you actually understand the concepts? For example, don’t just say, “I would use some action triggers.” Demonstrate that you understand how to use this concept by, for example, saying why you picked it, how it fits with this situation or why you think it would be effective, and then some examples.
• Have you integrated concepts from throughout the course? While this isn’t a basic requirement, it demonstrates a thorough understanding of the course.
• Be careful about repetition, repeating the same ideas or points at different places in the paper. This is sometimes unintentionally “disguised” as different ideas by using different words, but the underlying point is repeated. Look for this as you are editing.
• Thoroughly edit for misspelled or misused words. Let your great ideas shine through without distractions! My pet peeve is using defiantly for definitely. It is important to be clear whether you are being defiant or definite!
• Check to be sure everything is properly cited! Using other people’s work or ideas without proper citation is plagiarism and will result in a zero score for the assignment. This includes using sections or ideas from a previous student’s paper. Please do your own work! Good resources for proper APA citations can be found on D2L on the Course Essentials page and at:
o Purdue OWL: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
o APA Style Blog: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/
o Specifically for e-books: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/06/how-do-you-cite-an-e-book.html
o PSU Writing Center: https://www.pdx.edu/writing-center/

Sample Solution