behavior-hack
Let Them Meet the Person They Helped
Callers who spent five minutes with one scholarship student were raising 171 percent more money a month later. The group who only read his letter didn't move at all.
motivation
research-drop
Recognition Works on the People Who Don't Get It
Unannounced thank-you cards raised output on a data-entry shift. Most of the gain came from the people who didn't receive one.
research-drop
The Endowed Progress Effect
Two loyalty cards, eight car washes of real work either way. The card that arrived with two stamps already filled in got completed almost twice as often.
behavior-hack
Craft the Job You Have
People wait for a better role to be handed to them. The research says reshaping the job they already have moves engagement more than a new title does. It starts with one question in your next 1:1.
think-piece
The Reward Trap
Paying people for behaviors they were doing for free makes them do it less, not more, once the pay stops. Decades of research on this. We keep building programs that ignore it.
research-drop
The Progress Principle
Teresa Amabile analyzed 12,000 diary entries and found small wins beat everything else for motivation. Not bonuses, not praise, not strategy. Progress on meaningful work wins.