The Attuned Blog
Research-backed insights on intrinsic motivation, psychological safety, hiring & retention, and the science of building teams people actually want to work on.
Kamui Whisky K.K.
How the head distiller at Japan's northernmost whisky distillery used Attuned to lead a multicultural, multilingual team on a remote island in Hokkaido.
How AI Coaching Saved Me From My Own Management Blindspots
After 20 years managing people, I found a blindspot I couldn’t see in myself. An AI coaching tool decoded a team member’s behavior I had been misreading.
City of Greenville
How an ambitious government organization turned to Attuned to measure, track, and improve Psychological Safety while boosting engagement.
Why I’d Rather Close My Company Than Return to the Office Full-time
Originally in Fast Company: Attuned CEO Casey Wahl on why he won’t return to the office full-time, and why companies should set RTO policy with data.
How to attract, motivate and retain top talent
Daniel Bodonyi shares a three-step approach to hiring the best people and keeping them engaged and motivated so they stay longer.
How do you improve Psychological Safety? First you need to measure it
Psychological Safety is not something you can see or easily measure. Or rather it wasn’t until now.
How can Psychological Safety improve your bottom line?
Psychological Safety within teams brings tangible, measurable benefits that reach an organization’s bottom line. Here is how it pays off.
What is Psychological Safety?
Psychological Safety is a crucial consideration for any modern business, but what does it mean?
How Extrinsic Motivation Impacts Performance
Extrinsic incentives are usually the go-to options for most organizations when it comes to motivating their employees.
From good to great: How to harness the power of extra-role performance
“Good performance” at work almost always means hitting specific KPIs tied directly to one’s job.
What’s the best way to manage different generations?
Managing different generations can seem hard, but each one doesn’t need a wildly different management style to stay motivated. Here’s why.
Why a successful people strategy has never been harder to execute
What do you do when the needs of your business seem to be at odds with the needs of the talent you’re trying to attract or retain?
Emojis are a communication-enriching tool in remote and hybrid leadership
Any remote or hybrid leader relies extensively on written communication. But as a medium, writing is prone to misunderstandings.
The top 5 reasons 1-on-1 meetings fail (and how to fix them)
1-on-1 meetings are valuable for relationship building, goal discussions, and feedback, but they can sometimes fail to achieve their purpose.
Does gender make a difference in what motivates you?
Are men and women motivated by different things? We compare their motivational needs at work using tens of thousands of Attuned Motivation Assessments.
How to coach through uncertainty and overwhelm
The Circle of Influence is a versatile coaching tool for navigating uncertainty. Everything you need to know to use it, including how and when.
Maximizing appreciation: Investment strategies for people-centered leaders
Showing appreciation is often misunderstood and, ironically, underappreciated. Key insights on how to use this powerful motivational tool.
A recipe for better communication
The secret sauce to building rapport and effectively communicating with new or existing team members.
Are Altruism & Innovation key to creating psychologically safe teams?
Managers who are motivated by Altruism and/or Innovation are more likely to create psychologically safe teams. Here’s why.
The Research Says: No, Different Generations Don’t Want (Very) Different Things At Work
What the motivational profiles of 13,000+ people reveal about the needs and values of four generations.
How to build trust and credibility as a new leader (Part 2)
Part 2 on building trust and credibility as a new leader: clarifying direction, designing for early wins, and creating a robust team operating system.
How to build trust and credibility as a new leader (Part 1)
60% of new managers fail in their first two years of leadership. Three key steps to build a stronger relationship with your co-workers as a new leader.
Why Quiet Quitting is here to stay, and what we can do about it.
Is there more to quiet quitting than meets the eye? In this article, we take a closer look at this trend, and how you can meet it half-way.
8 Steps to Effectively Manage Your Team’s Workload
Understand what workload management is, its benefits, and how you can optimize your team’s project queue through 8 actionable steps.
Insights from a year spent exploring intrinsic motivation
Attuned Writer Fellowship winner Tania Rabesandratana reflects on a unique year spent exploring, researching, and writing about intrinsic motivation.
Amy Edmondson on Psychological Safety & Intrinsic Motivation
Amy Edmondson on Psychological Safety, how it interacts with Intrinsic Motivation, and how to build teams where everyone feels safe to take risks.
How Psychological Safety can reduce employee turnover
How can employers create Psychological Safety in their organizations to reduce employee turnover?
5 ways to coach leaders in Psychological Safety
Five areas coaches can explore to help leaders understand how Psychological Safety and Intrinsic Motivation interact within their teams and organizations.
Creating Psychological Safety in high-pressure teams
Working in a high-pressure environment doesn’t have to mean living in constant fear of making mistakes.
How working couples succeed together
INSEAD professor Jennifer Petriglieri on the questions dual-career couples must answer to build lasting relationships where both partners’ needs are met.
The Attuned Writer Fellowship: Founder Favorites
As the Attuned Writer Fellowship 2021/22 closes, CEO Casey Wahl shares his favorite articles by winner Tania Rabesandratana and what they meant to him.
How can nudges boost motivation?
Nudges shape behavior by designing people’s environment, which can boost motivation and prevent burnout. Here are three studies that show how.
Daniel Pink on the importance of intrinsic motivation and the power of regret
Daniel Pink and Tania Rabesandratana discuss his book ‘The Power of Regret’ and how intrinsic motivation and regret can guide us towards a better life.
Is your team remotely (un)productive?
Remote and hybrid work are here to stay. Key takeaways for managers who want to increase motivation and productivity in their remote teams.
Why would anyone disclose their goals?
A Q&A with Ayelet Fishbach of Chicago Booth on her book “Get It Done” and what the science of motivation says about sharing your goals.
Why retention rate is not the metric you are looking for
Retention rate is still one of the key metrics for assessing employee satisfaction and HR performance. However, it is deeply flawed.
Why ‘Humanity + Data’ is at the heart of everything we do
Our vision is to bring more humanity + data to the world to make work more meaningful. Our 8 values guide which position we take and how we act.
When should you coach and when should you manage?
The best leaders blend coaching and managing. Three questions to ask yourself to decide which approach fits each employee and situation.
How to change your life by staying focused
Nir Eyal on productivity and time management, why we get distracted in the first place, and how to stay focused on what matters most to us.
Barnett Plumbing & Water Heaters
How we helped one of California’s top installers of heat pump water heaters deepen trust and keep motivation levels high in a time of intense change.
Azon Recruitment Group
How an Irish recruitment firm improved their hiring and transformed employee motivation and retention.
Alphaus Inc.
How an ambitious cloud cost management solution used Attuned to ensure remote teams stayed motivated.
Rise Against Hunger
How a global charity used Attuned to improve staff motivation and drive increased fundraising.
FEW Japan
How a non-profit community of time-strapped team members used Attuned to improve communication and motivation.
Cedar Communications
How we helped an international content marketing agency redefine their work culture.
How to tell if your work environment is toxic (as told by Office Space)
Here, as told by Office Space memes, are telltale signs of a toxic work environment, and some suggestions to get you or your team on a better path.
6 Ways Japan Can Create Psychological Safety in the Workplace
Establishing an environment of Psychological Safety is an increasingly important consideration for modern companies.
Why would anyone keep working after retirement?
Ruth Gotian, author of The Success Factor, on how intrinsic motivation, perseverance and continuous informal learning shape successful people.
How to retain your top talent
While employers may not always be able to do anything about it, being aware of why employees leave helps you to anticipate and solve those situations.
Is your work persona hiding something important?
Are you 100% yourself at work? Most people, whether they know it or not, have a work persona, but maintaining this can become a burden over time.
Why employee retention starts with the interview process
The final part of our Attuned for Hiring series: why retention starts in the interview, and why a strong manager relationship matters more than perks.
14 simple ways to improve your onboarding process
Whether you’re designing a new program or updating a system that already exists, it helps to break the onboarding process down into a few stages.
How to improve your interview process to attract top talent
Part one of our Attuned for Hiring series: how to use Attuned in the interview process to stand out from other employers and attract the right talent.
Embracing family motivation at work
The pandemic blurred the line between family life and work. With the right approach and firmer boundaries, could that be a good thing for teams?
What if I disagree with my Motivator Report?
There are a number of reasons why your Intrinsic Motivator Report may not immediately resonate as an accurate picture of your underlying values.
Finding happiness in flow
Flow describes the moments in life when a person is wholly engaged by a particular activity.
Do your Intrinsic Motivators change? And if so, how do you know?
Our research suggests Intrinsic Motivator Profiles shift with big changes at work and at home. That is why we built the Motivation Assessment Retake.
How to avoid demotivating your top performers
We’ve all heard the trope that the key to being a great leader is ‘Hiring good people and getting out of their way.’
How to turn your managerial blindspots into strengths
No team shares the same top Motivators. Leaders who understand what matters to most of their team can recognize and overcome their own blindspots.
Why would anyone stick with something they stink at?
Tania Rabesandratana on why we persist at hobbies we will never excel at, why the growth mindset is flawed, and the joy to be found in mediocrity.
5 motivational myths that need busting
Motivating people is difficult enough at the best of times, but if your plan of action relies on fallacies or misconceptions, it’s nigh on impossible.
Better communication starts with sharing
Have you ever left a conversation with a coworker feeling like you didn’t get through to them? This happens because of different dominant Motivators.
The Attuned Writer Fellowship: ‘Why Would Anyone’ is live!
The first post from Attuned Writer Fellowship winner Tania Rabesandratana is live. Sign up for ‘Why Would Anyone’ on Substack.
Failure: It’s what you do with it that counts
Every company faces failure. We cover the three types of failure, how Intrinsic Motivation shapes it, and seven ways to manage an employee after one.
How to nurture Psychological Safety in coaching
Psychological Safety creates a climate in which people feel safe enough to take interpersonal risks.
How to create Psychological Safety in 1-on-1s and team meetings
Employees have to feel safe to feel happy. Best practices for creating Psychological Safety in your 1-on-1s and team meetings.
How leaders can build Psychological Safety
Building culture can feel daunting, but two things sit at its heart for any leader: measuring the right things and building Psychological Safety.
The Attuned Writer Fellowship: And the winner is...
Three months after launching the first Attuned Writer Fellowship, and after a fascinating judging process, we have a winner: Tania Rabesandratana.
Progress makes the world go round
People motivated by Progress are driven by constant self-improvement. Four ways a high need for Progress shows up at work, and four things to watch for.
The Great Resignation (and how to avoid it)
Burnout, disconnection and new career priorities have many people ready to quit. How can organizations prepare for the Great Resignation?
Social Relationships bring teams together
Relationship-building matters more as hybrid work becomes the norm. Four ideas to motivate the people on your team who value Social Relationships.
The Age of Ultra (High-performing Teams)
What motivates ultra-high performing teams? Attuned CEO Casey Wahl recently joined a panel of experienced leaders to explore this topic.
Security requires structure and clarity
To get the best out of those with high Security needs, it’s important to prioritize clarity and structure in your communication and planning.
Why you’re more unique than you think
Attuned exists because people are different, and a cookie-cutter approach to management generally leads to a less than optimum work experience.
Rationality lays the foundations for empathy
Misunderstandings and bad decisions at work often come from a lack of rational thinking. Why Rationality should be a core part of every company culture.
Have your team’s values changed during the pandemic?
According to Attuned’s data, people’s motivational needs have changed significantly during the pandemic.
Altruism brings balance to teams
People with a high Altruism score can bring a real X-factor to team dynamics, and one that can help companies foster an atmosphere of psychological safety.
When keeping it real goes wrong
Authenticity matters for people and companies alike. But can there be too much of it? The keys to being an authentic leader without overdoing it.
Innovation helps you stay ahead of the curve
Innovation is defined as the practical implementation of novel and useful ideas, and it can be expressed in many different ways.
Academic research highlights the transformative power of Attuned
A new academic paper by Dr. Alicia von Schenk finds that worker engagement rises the longer a company uses Attuned to understand what motivates employees.
Embracing Autonomy doesn’t mean losing control
Managers who hold on too tightly hurt the engagement of employees with a high need for Autonomy. Here is how to let go without losing control.
The Attuned Writer Fellowship
The Attuned Writer Fellowship on Substack gave one writer US$50,000 to launch and run a newsletter dedicated to exploring Intrinsic Motivation.
Feedback is about giving as well as receiving
Feedback is vital to our progress. It motivates people to work harder and provides a different perspective. So why can it sometimes be so hard to accept?
Using Attuned as a family therapist
People are driven by individual differences and competing needs. What happens when your own values clash with those of someone you love?
Status doesn’t have to mean titles and cachet
Being motivated by Status conjures up images of power dressing, corner offices and C-suites, but the reality can be quite different.
Why AI without humanity is dangerous for diversity
AI can change billions of people’s lives for the better, but only if we make sure that machines learn from the best traits of humanity, and not the worst.
Financial Needs is about much more than money
Financial Needs can look like an extrinsic value, but it is an Intrinsic Motivator. It is about much more than the number in your bank account.
Why upstream thinking is the key to corporate happiness
The key to creating a happy company is to solve upstream issues instead of fighting fires. You have to prevent problems before they happen.
Competition isn’t just winners and losers
Being motivated by Competition is not only about winning. It includes setting personal challenges and measuring yourself against your own expectations.
Redesigning the employee experience with digital tools
What workplace challenges are best addressed with digital tools? And how can these tools be most effectively deployed?
Why the philosophy of management should be the pursuit of happiness
The workplace plays a central role in our lives, so it’s important that companies take action to make people happier.
How Attuned can help you become a more effective coach
Every coaching partnership begins with self-knowledge and the assessment tool you choose will influence further discussions.
How can Japan solve its gender inequality problem?
To solve Japan’s gender inequality problem we have to look at the economic and business arguments.
The future’s bright, the future’s… global?
Attuned was accepted into Orange Fab Asia, a global-expansion accelerator for startups in Japan, Korea and Taiwan run by the telco Orange.
Enhanced emotional intelligence? There’s an app for that...
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is a key attribute of effective leaders. It is the ability to objectively perceive emotions of your self and those you manage.
Culture Add on the Millennium Falcon
Whether you are hiring a sales rep or forming a team to destroy the Death Star, culture add matters as much as culture fit. Diversity should be a strength.
#ChooseToChallenge your assumptions about motivation
Asking some additional questions will help you to challenge your assumptions about the motivation of your colleagues.
Finding a culture of purpose in a universe of uncertainty
What matters more than purpose? Takeaways from the From Day One panel on creating a culture of purpose amid uncertainty, where the answer was: not much.
Managing people who think differently to you without the drama
Managing people with different values can be a real challenge. How do you go about trying to understand them?
How to become an emotionally intelligent leader during a crisis
Both company driven events like a promotion and major external events like a global pandemic can affect changes in employees’ intrinsic motivation.
How to motivate employees – tips that actually work!
Are you overloaded with tips on how to motivate employees? Do one thing consistently over time to keep your company motivated!
What makes a good manager?
“How to Be a Good Manager?” is an elusive question to answer. Here are the top 10 behaviors managers should practice to be a Good Manager.
Meaningful work – the power of Intrinsic Motivation
Meaningful work is not only important for the employee’s well-being but also has significant economic impacts on organizations.
Do your Intrinsic Motivations affect the way you cut costs?
COVID-19 is pushing companies into furloughs, layoffs and pay cuts. We asked 10 professionals with different motivational profiles how they’d cut costs.
HR Technology Market – free report
Attuned’s in-depth analysis of the HR technology market: the technological, economic and labor-market drivers, trends, opportunities and customer needs.
5 Ways to Cultivate Intrinsic Motivation on Your Team
We all know that intrinsically motivated employees are happy employees. But a lot of managers are still struggling to really motivate their team members.
The State of Meaningful Work
I was privileged to join From Day One’s panel on “How Employees Can Embrace the Meaning in Their Work”.
What Motivates People at Work?
We analyzed motivational profiles of thousands of Attuned survey respondents to find out what really motivates people at work.
How do Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Incentives affect Workplace Performance?
We analyzed a meta-study about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation covering over 40 years of research.
How Covid-19 changes Employees' Intrinsic Motivation
How will Covid-19 change our workplaces? Attuned’s data already shows real changes in people’s motivation from pre-Covid to now. Here is the data.
Don't be a Police Officer! Confessions of a former Micromanager
Autonomy has long been posited as a basic, innate psychological need, an important protector against stress, and a key basis for intrinsic motivation.
How Attuned Affects Employee Motivation: Ongoing Research from Goethe University
Original research is important to us here at Attuned and that’s why we have been working with a team of researchers at Goethe University.
How to Train Your Brain for Productive Work From Home: 5 Tips
Working from home makes it hard to match office productivity. Five tips to train your brain, stay productive and keep morale up while working remotely.
Intrinsic Motivation vs. Extrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation, broken down: the difference between the two, and when each is most useful for managers trying to motivate a team.
How we remember our Intrinsic Motivators using Slack
We started using Attuned Motivator icons in Slack. Everyone shows their Top Motivator in their status, so we never forget what motivates each other.
How to keep everyone motivated when working remotely
Here is some internal data about our biggest challenges regarding remote work and some of the measures to tackle them.
This is a Time for Books
Book recommendations from Attuned CEO Casey Wahl: the most compelling books he has been reading, curated for a time when commutes are down to seconds.
5 Tips for Suddenly and Successfully Shifting Your Team to Remote Work
Unpredictable situations (such as COVID-19) can turn you into the manager of a remote team overnight.
Choosing to Manage Your Time
There is no single trick to managing your time. It comes down to hundreds of daily choices and habits, and feeling in control means building new routines.
Attuned Founder Pain Story
Over years of painful experiences I’d come to learn that motivation was all the difference.
The Power of Attention: What Employee Engagement Really Means
Attuned was proud to be a 2nd-time sponsor of the HCI Employee Engagement conference. There we found the secret sauce of employee engagement: attention.
Ask the data: Are Japanese motivational values different from others?
We wanted to understand the impact of culture on the motivational values of Japanese vs. \"Western\" employees. So, we compared 3,000 respondents.
Attuned Announces Enterprise Readiness with Release of “Team of Teams” Multilevel Intrinsic Motivation and Employee Engagement Analyses
Attuned brings intrinsic motivation-fueled insights to enterprise as talent market continues to contract
Are Japanese people motivated by different factors than Western people?
What unexpected answers regarding Japanese values did he get from Attuned's data? Also, how can teams and organizations leverage Attuned to improve management?
Updating the Norm
Attuned is updating the norm for its algorithms. This will help to further improve the accuracy of the motivational profiles and engagement levels.
Intrinsic Motivation as Strategy: Attuned on Business Insider!
We are happy to announce that this week, Business Insider ran a feature on Attuned on their strategy page.
US National Kudo Team learns from Attuned on the way to 2020 Olympics
Attuned met James Alexander, head coach of the US National Kudo Team, to talk about motivation and team management.
How a recruiting firm (finally!) learned how to hire for scale
To hire the right people has always been the hardest part to scale my business. Let me explain you how I reduced the mishire ratio by 86%.
2,880 Hours leading 1-on-1’s. The ugly and the beautiful times.
I spent 2880 hours leading 1-on-1's, a lot of that time was wasted. Only after finding out their intrinsic motivators, I could adjust to their needs.
Attuned at HCI Employee Engagement Conference
The View from Both Ends of the Engagement Spectrum: Attuned at HCI Employee Engagement Conference.
Building a team agile enough to bridge between the old world and the new
How employee engagement helps a startup overcome the hurdles of attrition.
Attuned Tackles Japanese Labor Shortage With Localized Employee Engagement Tool
Attuned takes on the challenge of Japan’s worst labor shortage in 40 years with a Japanese language version of its cutting edge employee engagement tool.
The Culture Myth
Bill Boorman, one of the most perceptive and original HR tech industry observers out there, once said company culture is a myth.
Three things even experienced managers often get wrong about giving feedback
Read our three tips about giving effective feedback to create high-performing, motivated teams.
Employee turnover costs a LOT more than you think
Most companies significantly underestimate the employee turnover cost. Let's do the math! How much does employee turnover cost?
FLOW in The Bridge!
With growing talent shortages, HR technology is offering solutions.
Quo vadis, HR tech?
Where is HR tech going, and are we on the right track?
The Right Way To Screen For Culture Fit
If done in the right way, to screen for culture fit can greatly reduce mishires and increase employee engagement. But if done in the wrong way…
Better Conflict
How companies can break the cycle of damaging conflict and facilitate more positive dialogues that produce healthier workplaces and improved business results.
How to Prevent Unwanted Employee Turnover
How to retain your best talent longer, from identifying the early signs of withdrawal to creating a culture that people won’t want to leave.
Psychological Safety and the Hybrid Work Era
How to use Psychological Safety and Intrinsic Motivation to establish a new, hybrid work environment that boosts employee well-being.
The Power of the Nudge
How companies and governments use behavioral science to influence decision-making—and how you can do the same to drive positive change.
What is Intrinsic Motivation?
Go beyond 'carrot-and-stick' management and harness employees' individual values to boost performance, engagement and well-being.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is intrinsic motivation?
Intrinsic motivation is the drive to do something because it is inherently interesting, satisfying, or aligned with personal values — rather than for an external reward. Self-Determination Theory identifies autonomy, competence, and relatedness as the three core needs that fuel it. Attuned measures 11 intrinsic motivators per person so managers can align work with what each employee actually cares about.
What is psychological safety?
Psychological safety, defined by Harvard professor Amy Edmondson, is the shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking — speaking up, asking questions, admitting mistakes, or proposing ideas without fear of being punished or humiliated. Google's Project Aristotle identified it as the single biggest predictor of high-performing teams.
How often does Attuned publish new blog posts?
We publish new articles regularly across our five core themes: Intrinsic Motivation, Psychological Safety, Company Culture, Hiring & Retention, and Management & Leadership. Subscribe to our newsletter to get them in your inbox.
Who writes the Attuned blog?
Articles are written by the Attuned team — including CEO Casey Wahl and our HR research staff — alongside guest contributions from psychologists, organizational researchers, and people leaders. Every post is grounded in either peer-reviewed research or first-hand operating experience.
How To Prevent Unwanted Employee Turnover
A step-by-step guide to retaining your best talent, from identifying the early signs of withdrawal and disengagement to creating a culture that people won't want to leave.
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