Speak to the human

Acteon

How can organisations best engage their people? How do you create connections between colleagues, motivation behind a shared purpose, and a sense of belonging? And how do you equip and motivate people to take the positive actions that help them and their organisation to flourish?

Join host Acteon's Sarah Abramson on the Speak to the Human podcast, as she speaks with leaders, creatives and researchers, exploring how they've created meaningful engagement and connection for people in their work.

Acteon is a communication and learning agency, harnessing behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change.

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Episodes

Christian Hunt on bringing behavioural science to risk management
May 14 2024
Christian Hunt on bringing behavioural science to risk management
Why are humans the largest risk facing organisations, and why do the efforts to impose rules and controls on human behaviour often fail?Christian Hunt has wide experience in a range of executive roles, including MD and Head of Behavioural Science at UBS, and now runs Human Risk, a Behavioural Science-led Consultancy. In this episode, Christian brings to life the concept of human risk, and talks about “how to get people to do what you want without pissing them off” with a plethora of examples from different contexts – including chemical weapons inspectors, rogue traders, and pickpockets in a German train station.In this episode we cover:Why and how consideration of actual people is so often missing in corporate strategies which attempt to mitigate risk and enforce compliance.The counterproductive effect of making people do training that isn’t relevant to them.Excellent examples ‘from the wild’ about attempts to influence behaviour – with greater or lesser success.The trust contract that exists in different relationships – between regulator/regulatee, employer/employee, company/customer.Experiences of public speaking and how event speakers are likely to thrive and be more connected with the audience when they are trusted instead of controlled by organisers.Christian's website: https://www.human-risk.com/Humanizing Rules book: https://www.human-risk.com/humanizing-rules-bookHuman Risk Podcast: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/Find Christian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/humanrisk/
James Woodman on curiosity and human behaviours
Apr 17 2024
James Woodman on curiosity and human behaviours
How do you use behavioural science to translate boardroom strategies into the actions that people take every day?In our first episode, Sarah talks with Acteon Director and Partner James Woodman, to explore what we mean by ‘speak to the human’: building connections with people, and thinking about the humans at the other end of organisational communications and change initiatives.They discuss how behavioural science can reveal insights that help shape more effective approaches and engage people more meaningfully.James shares how his sense of curiosity has shaped his career and keeps him fascinated in why people do what they do.In this episode we cover:James’s background as a broadcast journalist and producer with ITN, creating stories (including an explosive adventure).Why meaningful change is about building emotional connections with people, often through stories. Thinking about organisations as collections of people, and thinking about those individual humans and their actions as the sum of what happens in an organisation.How to bridge the gap between organisational strategy in the boardroom and the actions that people take every day.Using behavioural approaches to influence ‘moments that matter’, including the behavioural drivers of capability, motivation and opportunity.Making sure communication campaigns fit into an organisation’s culture, to build engagement and connect with a sense of ‘belonging’ for people.Why it doesn’t work to write a policy, post it on an intranet, and expect things to change!More about James: https://bit.ly/3U2QcHHFollow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-woodman-04102b48/Read more about Wellcome’s Code of Conduct campaign here: https://bit.ly/43GYubH