How can nudges boost motivation?

Millions of Americans have voluntarily quit their jobs over the past year, and millions more today are burnt out or disengaged by their work. Here at Attuned, we view these issues through a psychological lens that emphasizes the concept of motivation. It’s why we created a psychometric assessment that helps employees and organizations visualize and better understand the things that motivate them.

Nudges also play a big part in how the Attuned platform helps people harness motivation, drawing on years of academic research to create simple, timely prompts, or ‘nudges’, that help managers keep their team’s values—and the best way to leverage them—top of mind.

To learn more about the concept of nudging, download our latest White Paper free here, or read on to learn about three significant studies that have shown how nudges can boost motivation and prevent burnout.

A burnout emergency

911 call dispatchers have very difficult jobs: they encounter traumatic situations on a regular basis and often lack the level of support, benefits, and recognition their colleagues receive. As a result, they have high rates of burnout and resignation.

In one randomized controlled trial, roughly 500 dispatchers were divided into either a control group or a treatment group. Those in the control group received a short, generic email that asked for stories or thoughts about being a good dispatcher. Those in the treatment group received six emails over a period of six weeks, which more actively sought to strengthen their professional identity and boost their sense of social support. One particularly vivid email described a horrific domestic abuse case and read: “What we do can be very stressful, sad, and some calls are seemingly unbearable, but what other job allows you to just listen, type, and save a life? Not many.”

Several months later, individuals in both the treatment and control groups took a survey related to how burnt out they felt. Included were questions like “How often do you think: ‘I can’t take it anymore?’” and “Do you have enough energy for family and friends during leisure time?” As hypothesized, the results showed that the treatment lessened the level of burnout. Even more impressive, though, was its effect on resignation rate. Individuals in the treatment group were about half as likely to quit their job compared to those in the control.

Raising the stakes

Call center workers also have tough jobs: their work is often boring and repetitive and entails frequent rejection and harsh feedback.

One randomized controlled trial was conducted on a particular set of call center workers who were tasked with contacting alumni of a university to ask for donations for a scholarship fund for needy students. In the experiment, one group read and discussed a letter written by a scholarship recipient that expressed appreciation for the call center workers’ efforts. Another group read the same letter but then had an in-person conversation with the author.

Researchers were interested in how this personal interaction affected two variables. The first was the amount of time the callers spent on the phone, which was seen as a proxy measure for level of effort. The second was the amount of money that the callers raised, a proxy for their performance.

Interestingly, these metrics didn’t budge for the first group, but shot up for the second. The callers who had a personal interaction with the author spent about 2.4 times more time on the phone and raised about 2.7 times more money, compared to their baseline levels.

Teaching to learn

The third study deals with a group of people notoriously unmotivated by their work: high school students. Experimenters reasoned that many students know how they could perform better in school—e.g., by not waiting for the last minute to write a term paper, by paying more attention in class, etc.—but they chose not to. The problem isn’t lack of information; it’s lack of motivation.

So instead of giving tips to students who already knew them, the researchers decided to have students give scholastic advice to others. In a randomized controlled trial, they asked students in a treatment group, but not those in a control group, questions like “What is your one best tip for how to prepare for a big test?” and “What’s your advice about listening to music while studying?”

Then, they looked into which group performed better months later. As it turns out, the advice-giving students did. They got higher grades in math and a class they had previously identified as wanting to improve in, compared to students who had not given advice.

Motivating with Nudges

Although these examples take place in very specific environments, the principles they illustrate can also apply more generally. Moreover, the effectiveness of these types of interventions can be increased substantially by understanding the unique balance of factors that motivate individual people. And uncovering that balance lies at the heart of Attuned.

Consider an employee who feels under-appreciated at work and is motivated by a sense of Status according to his Attuned test results. He might respond well to messages that strengthen his professional identity and elevate his standing within the organization. Suppose a second employee is motivated by Altruism but lacks an outlet for it. She might respond well to an opportunity to tangibly help others. Finally, consider a third employee who is not motivated by Feedback but whose performance is lagging. He might respond well to being asked to give advice to his colleagues.

In short, the first step to increasing motivation and performance is understanding what makes people tick (and what obstacles are most likely to be a drag factor). Armed with this knowledge, making positive change—whether through nudges or in other ways—becomes a lot easier.

For a deeper dive into the topic of Nudging for Motivation, check out Brandon’s recent webinar here.

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