Author: Nadia K

Posted in ecommerce

Why Mobile Shopping Dominated Christmas Day 2025

Posted on by Nadia K

What Adobe’s Holiday Shopping Report Reveals About Consumer Behavior

According to Adobe’s 2025 Holiday Shopping Report, mobile shopping was the strongest channel on Christmas Day, outperforming desktop in both traffic and share of revenue. While mobile has been steadily gaining ground for years, Christmas Day marked a clear tipping point.

This wasn’t accidental – it was driven by a unique mix of consumer psychology, timing, and mobile-first experiences that retailers have spent years optimizing.

Below are the key reasons mobile became the go-to shopping channel on December 25.

1. Gift Card Redemption Peaks on Mobile

Christmas Day is when digital gift cards turn into real spending power.

Consumers receive gift cards in their inbox or mobile wallet and redeem them immediately – often without ever opening a laptop. Mobile makes this frictionless:

  • One-tap access from email or Apple/Google Wallet
  • Stored payment methods and autofill
  • Apps that remember preferences, sizes, and wishlists

For retailers, this means Christmas Day is less about browsing and more about high-intent, ready-to-convert traffic – a scenario where mobile excels.

2. Convenience Wins During Holiday Downtime

Christmas Day is filled with short pockets of downtime:

  • After gifts are opened
  • While relaxing on the couch
  • During travel or family gatherings

Consumers aren’t sitting down to “shop.” They’re snacking on commerce – and mobile is perfectly designed for that behavior.

Unlike desktop shopping, mobile:

  • Fits naturally into social moments
  • Requires no setup or dedicated space
  • Feels casual, low-effort, and immediate

Mobile commerce aligns with the rhythm of the day – not against it.

3. Post-Christmas Promotions Are Designed for Mobile

Retailers know that December 25 is the launchpad for post-holiday sales:

  • Boxing Day previews
  • “Extra 30% off” flash sales
  • Clearance and end-of-season drops

These promotions are increasingly mobile-first by design, delivered through:

  • Push notifications
  • SMS offers
  • App-exclusive deals

Consumers discover deals on their phone – and complete the purchase there, without switching devices.

4. Speed and Ease Matter More Than Exploration

By Christmas Day, most consumers already know:

  • What brands they like
  • What they want to buy
  • How much they want to spend

This shifts behavior from discovery to execution.

Mobile wins here because:

  • Checkout is faster with saved credentials
  • Apps reduce page loads and friction
  • One-click buy options remove hesitation

When speed matters more than deep research, mobile is the fastest path to purchase.

5. Experience Gifting Is Inherently Mobile-Friendly

Another major driver: experience-based gifting.

Think:

  • Digital subscriptions
  • Event tickets
  • Travel vouchers
  • Fitness, wellness, or streaming services

These products are:

  • Delivered digitally
  • Activated instantly
  • Designed to be purchased and redeemed on mobile

Christmas Day is the perfect moment to buy or upgrade experiences – and mobile is the natural channel.

6. Mobile Feels Personal, Not Transactional

There’s also a psychological layer at play.

Mobile devices are:

  • Highly personal
  • Always logged in
  • Closely tied to identity and preferences

Shopping on mobile feels less like “running errands” and more like treating yourself – a mindset that fits perfectly with post-gift holiday spending.

What This Means for Retailers Going Forward

Adobe’s findings reinforce a critical reality:
Mobile is no longer just a supporting channel – it’s the primary one during peak moments.

To win on days like Christmas, retailers must:

  • Optimize mobile checkout relentlessly
  • Treat gift card redemption as a core journey
  • Design promotions for push, SMS, and in-app discovery
  • Prioritize speed, clarity, and ease over complex navigation

Christmas Day 2025 wasn’t just a mobile success – it was a signal of how consumers want to shop when convenience, intent, and emotion intersect.

Posted in ecommerce

What the 2025 Holiday Shopping Season Reveals About the Future of Ecommerce

Posted on by Nadia K

The 2025 holiday shopping season didn’t just break records – it reshaped expectations for how consumers discover, decide, and transact online.

According to Adobe Analytics, consumers spent $257.8 billion online between November 1 and December 31, marking a 6.8% YoY increase and the strongest holiday season for ecommerce on record. But the headline number only tells part of the story.

Beneath the surface, three forces defined the season: mobile-first behavior, the rise of generative AI in shopping journeys, and payment flexibility enabling higher-value purchases.

A Record Season Driven by Sustained Demand

Unlike prior years where spending was concentrated around a few promotional days, 2025 saw 25 days exceed $4 billion in online sales, up from 18 days the year before. This indicates more consistent consumer confidence throughout the season, not just deal-chasing during Cyber Week.

Cyber Week itself remained a major driver, generating $44.2 billion in online spend, with:

  • Cyber Monday reaching $14.25B
  • Black Friday growing faster YoY at +9.1%
  • Thanksgiving Day surpassing $6.4B online

Consumers didn’t wait – they acted earlier, responding to competitive promotions spread across the calendar.

Mobile Is No Longer a Channel – It’s the Default

Mobile shopping crossed a critical threshold in 2025. For the first time, 56.4% of all online transactions occurred on smartphones, confirming that mobile is now the primary ecommerce environment for consumers.

The shift was even more pronounced on peak days:

  • Christmas Day: 66.5% of sales via mobile
  • Thanksgiving Day: 61.6% mobile share

This has major implications for retailers. Optimizing for mobile can no longer stop at responsive design. Speed, checkout simplicity, payment options, and post-purchase flows must all be designed with mobile-first intent.

Generative AI Enters the Shopping Funnel

One of the most notable shifts this season was the role of generative AI as a shopping assistant.

Traffic to retail sites from AI-powered tools surged 693% year-over-year, with particularly strong usage during Cyber Monday. Consumers used AI to:

  • Research products
  • Compare prices
  • Discover deals
  • Narrow down options before purchase

While AI-driven traffic still represents a smaller share compared to traditional channels, the growth rate signals a fundamental change in discovery behavior. AI is moving upstream in the funnel – influencing consideration well before consumers land on a product detail page.

Retailers that think of AI only as an internal tool risk missing its growing influence on customer decision-making.

Discounts Didn’t Cannibalize Value. They Encouraged Trade-Up

Despite persistent concerns about margin pressure, Adobe’s data shows that strong discounts actually encouraged consumers to buy higher-priced items.

During the holiday season:

  • The share of units sold for the most expensive items rose 20% compared to the rest of the year
  • Within categories:
    • Electronics: +56%
    • Sporting goods: +55%
    • Appliances: +38%

Strategic promotions didn’t just drive volume – they shifted mix. When paired with the right messaging and timing, discounts enabled consumers to justify larger purchases rather than trade down.

Buy Now, Pay Later Reached a New Milestone

Payment flexibility played a major role in unlocking holiday spend. Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) reached $20 billion in online sales, up nearly 10% YoY.

Key insights:

  • 82% of BNPL transactions occurred on mobile
  • Cyber Monday alone crossed $1 billion in BNPL purchases
  • Consumers favored BNPL for electronics, apparel, toys, and furniture

BNPL is no longer a niche offering – it’s a mainstream conversion lever, especially for higher-ticket items on smaller screens.

Social and Affiliate Channels Gained Ground

Adobe’s data also highlights a continued shift in how consumers discover products:

  • Social media revenue share grew over 40% YoY
  • Affiliates and partners (including influencers) now account for more than 20% of ecommerce revenue share

While paid search and email remain reliable, social platforms increasingly act as the top of the funnel – where inspiration, validation, and intent begin.

What This Means for Ecommerce Teams in 2026

The 2025 holiday season makes one thing clear: growth is no longer driven by a single tactic. Winning retailers orchestrated multiple levers at once.

Key takeaways:

  • Mobile-first execution is mandatory, not optional
  • Generative AI is shaping discovery and consideration
  • Payment flexibility directly influences conversion and basket size
  • Discounts work best when aligned with pricing, inventory, and experience
  • Reducing friction matters more than chasing traffic spikes

As ecommerce heads into 2026, the advantage will belong to teams that connect strategy with execution – turning insight into seamless customer experiences at scale.

Posted in ecommerce

Transitioning from eCommerce to Product Management

Posted on by Nadia K

When people imagine the career path into product management, they often picture software engineers or UX designers making the leap. My journey began elsewhere – deep in the world of eCommerce operations and digital site management. Yet every step I took in that environment quietly honed the very skills a great Product Manager needs.

Building Strategy from the Ground Up

As Digital Site Operations Lead at Hudson’s Bay, I wasn’t just keeping the lights on. I influenced the strategy and roadmap for increasing online conversion and profitability year over year. That experience – identifying levers for growth, setting measurable goals, and aligning teams around a plan – is exactly what product managers do when they craft and execute a product vision.

Living Side-by-Side with Product

Over the past five years, I have worked hand-in-hand with product managers on thebay.com, staying close to the products and features as they moved from concept to launch. I’ve helped identify customer pain points, shaped business requirements, and pulled key metrics to demonstrate the importance of new features. I’ve participated in functional, regression, and user testing, and I’ve spent countless hours troubleshooting and enhancing site functionality. This close partnership gave me a front-row seat to the full product development lifecycle and allowed me to practice many of the very responsibilities PMs own.

Leading Across Functions

eCommerce is a team sport. My roles demanded constant collaboration with Product, UX, Technology, QA, Merchandising, Marketing, Buying, and external vendors. Navigating these relationships taught me how to influence without direct authority, manage competing priorities, and keep diverse stakeholders moving toward a shared outcome. Cross-functional leadership is the beating heart of product management, and I’ve been practicing it for years.

Data as a Decision Engine

Product managers live and breathe data. In my operations career, data wasn’t an afterthought – it was the driver of every decision. I tracked site conversion, analyzed customer behavior, and used SQL to uncover insights that shaped priorities. The ability to frame problems with numbers and translate them into actionable next steps has become one of my strongest assets.

Obsessing Over the Customer

Behind every metric is a human being. Whether researching customer feedback on Medallia, retracing customer actions on Fullstory, monitoring repeat purchase rates, or fine-tuning onsite search and recommendations, I’ve always asked: What does this mean for the shopper? Keeping the customer at the center of every decision is second nature now, and it’s exactly the mindset product managers need to build products people love.

Delivering with Operational Excellence

Great ideas mean little if they can’t be delivered. Years of participating in site QA efforts, managing product information systems, and reducing defect rates taught me to balance innovation with execution. Product managers must ensure that what’s planned actually ships with quality – skills I developed while turning ambitious digital strategies into on-site realities.

Leading Teams and Scaling Impact

From hiring and mentoring analysts to developing process documentation and training materials, I’ve invested in people as much as processes. Product management is about scaling impact through others, and leading high-performing teams prepared me to do just that.

Looking Ahead

My path proves that product management isn’t limited to one background. eCommerce operations demanded strategic thinking, customer empathy, data fluency, and relentless delivery – the same qualities that define successful product managers. The titles on my résumé may read “Digital Site Operations” or “Director,” but the work has always been product work at its core.

For anyone considering a similar transition, take heart: the skills you’re honing today may already be the foundation of a product career. Sometimes, you’ve been a product manager all along – you just haven’t changed the job title yet.

Posted in ecommerce

AI Ethics: The Key to Trust in eCommerce

Posted on by Nadia K

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing eCommerce, from personalized recommendations and dynamic pricing to automated customer service and fraud detection. But as retailers embrace AI to optimize experiences and drive sales, they face a critical responsibility: ensuring AI is deployed ethically.

For eCommerce brands, AI Ethics is no longer optional – it’s a foundational pillar for customers trust, brand reputation, and long-term success.

Why AI Ethics Matters for eCommerce

Today’s consumers expect more than convenience – they demand transparency, fairness, and respect for their privacy. AI-driven tools influence product discovery, pricing, personalized offers, and increasingly, the product content itself – from descriptions to images.

A misstep – whether through misleading AI-generated content, biased recommendations, or misuse of personal data – can erode trust and spark public backlash.

Ethical AI is a competitive advantage that protects your brand and fosters loyalty.

Key AI Ethics Considerations for eCommerce Brands

1. Transparency in Personalization

  • What to Consider: Are product recommendations, search rankings, or pricing algorithms explainable to customers?
  • Why it Matters: Shoppers who feel manipulated by hidden AI may abandon your brand.
  • Action: Offer transparency tools and clear communication around AI-driven experiences.

2. Bias & Fairness in Product Discovery

  • What to Consider: Does your AI system promote products or sellers unfairly due to biased data?
  • Why it Matters: Bias limits consumer choice and can marginalize smaller or diverse sellers.
  • Action: Audit AI outputs regularly and diversify training data to promote fairness.

3. Data Privacy & Consent

  • What to Consider: Are AI-driven personalization and marketing fully compliant with privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA)?
  • Why it Matters: Data misuse erodes trust and invites legal penalties.
  • Action: Prioritize transparent consent processes and empower customers to control their data.

4. Dynamic Pricing Ethics

  • What to Consider: Are your AI-driven pricing models transparent and fair to all customer groups?
  • Why it Matters: Exploitative or opaque pricing damages brand reputation.
  • Action: Set ethical boundaries for pricing AI, ensuring fairness and transparency.

5. AI-Generated Product Descriptions & Images

  • What to Consider: Are AI-generated product descriptions, images, or videos truthful, representative, and free from manipulation?
  • Why it Matters: AI content that exaggerates product capabilities, uses unrealistic images, or creates deepfakes undermines consumer trust and invites legal risks.
  • Action: Implement strict content review processes for AI-generated materials. Clearly label AI-enhanced imagery if applicable and ensure all product representations are accurate and not misleading.

6. AI-Driven Customer Service with Accountability

  • What to Consider: Are AI chatbots and support tools reliable and inclusive?
  • Why it Matters: Poorly designed AI support frustrates customers and damages loyalty.
  • Action: Blend AI with human service options, ensuring accessibility and reliable escalation pathways.

7. Social Impact & Responsible Automation

  • What to Consider: How does AI affect your workforce, supplier diversity, and social equity?
  • Why it Matters: Automation without consideration for its broader impact can harm communities and brand integrity.
  • Action: Use AI to augment – not replace – human contributions and support equitable opportunities across your ecosystem.

Building an Ethical AI Roadmap for eCommerce

Embedding ethics in your AI strategy isn’t just good governance – it’s essential for lasting success. Start with:

✅ Content Oversight: Establish human review checkpoints for AI-generated product content and ensure authenticity.
✅ Bias Audits: Regularly evaluate AI-driven product recommendations, search, and marketing for fairness.
✅ Privacy-First Approach: Offer transparent, consent-driven personalization with robust data protection.
✅ Transparency in AI Use: Clearly communicate when AI shapes product discovery, pricing, or content.
✅ Responsible Innovation: Consider social, workforce, and inclusivity impacts in your AI strategy.

The Bottom Line

In eCommerce, where trust is fragile and competition fierce, ethical AI is a brand differentiator. Companies that integrate AI responsibly – whether through personalized recommendations, dynamic pricing, or AI-generated content – will win customer loyalty and avoid reputational pitfalls.

AI can revolutionize retail – but only if guided by ethics.

Posted in Books, Motivation, Workplace

My Exit Interview: What Kristi Coulter Taught Me About Leaving Corporate Retail in 2025

Posted on by Nadia K

In the days since my role in eCommerce was eliminated – part of a sweeping reorganization as my employer, a legacy retail giant with both a robust brick-and-mortar presence and a now-aging eCommerce platform, filed for creditor protection -I’ve been looking for clarity. For some sense of what all this hustle, all these midnight promotions, all this omnichannel strategizing really meant. I didn’t expect to find comfort in Exit Interview by Kristi Coulter, but I did.

Coulter’s memoir is clearly about her time in Big Tech, but it resonated deeply with me, a career eCommerce professional who spent over a decade trying to modernize a brand that always seemed one step behind consumer expectations. Her sharp, honest prose peeled back the glittery veneer of corporate ambition to show the cost: to our time, our values, our very sense of self.

Reading Exit Interview while sitting in a kitchen I now spend my days in instead of my corner of the open office plan, I found myself nodding. Yes, my team too had built dashboards no one read. We had promoted online programs to executives who still measured success by foot traffic. We had tried to reinvent a digital presence built in 2010, while convincing leadership that “omnichannel” was more than just a buzzword.

Like Coulter, my team chased performance metrics that shifted monthly. We worked holidays and weekends to hit digital sales targets, often sacrificing personal time for the promise of “transformational impact.” And when the end came – not with a handshake, not even with a Zoom meeting or severance pay – it felt less like a career milestone and more like waking up from a long, over-caffeinated dream.

The Illusion of Stability

For years, we were told that adapting brick-and-mortar to digital would secure the future. We did the hard work – migrated platforms, upgraded CMS systems, fought for automation budgets, and launched mobile-first everything. And yet, when the economy squeezed and debt caught up with ambition, the tech-forward teams were among the first to go.

There’s a painful irony in that. We were building the future while quietly being dismissed as cost centers.

The Emotional Hangover

Coulter doesn’t sugarcoat the emotional unraveling that comes with stepping off the corporate hamster wheel. It’s not just about losing a job; it’s about losing the narrative you built around it. For many of us in eCommerce, our careers weren’t just what we did – they were who we were. We were “the future of retail.” Now we’re resumes in inboxes and Slack accounts deactivated without warning.

Reading her words helped me understand that the grief I’m feeling isn’t irrational. It’s not about ego, or even financial fear. It’s about disconnection – from identity, from purpose, from a community of people who spent years doing something we believed mattered.

What Comes Next

If Exit Interview teaches anything, it’s that there is life after the corporate machine. Not necessarily one filled with poetic freedom and farmhouses in Maine, but one where you can begin to reclaim your time, your values, and maybe – eventually – your curiosity.

Right now, I’m learning to sit with the uncertainty. To take stock of what I built, even if the company itself no longer stands. To reconnect with the part of me that got into this work not for titles or KPIs, but because I genuinely believed in helping people discover and buy things they love.

I don’t know what comes next. Consulting? A startup? A total pivot? But I do know this: leaving wasn’t my choice, but how I move forward is. And for that clarity, I owe at least a footnote of thanks to Kristi Coulter.

Her exit interview has become the beginning of mine.

Posted in Books, communication, happiness, life

Growing Up in the Age of Anxiety: A Gen X Mom’s Reflection on The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

Posted on by Nadia K

As a Gen X mom raising two Gen Z kids – a bright, sensitive daughter and a thoughtful, tech-savvy son – I’ve watched their childhoods unfold in ways I never could’ve imagined. When I was their age, my biggest thrill was riding bikes until the streetlights came on. Today, their world lives in the palm of their hands.

Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation hit me like a ton of bricks – not just as a book, but as a mirror. It gave words to what I’ve been sensing for years: that something fundamentally changed around 2010, when smartphones and social media became the air our kids breathe. Here’s what I learned and how I’m trying to help my kids navigate it all.

📱The Rise of the “Phone-Based Childhood” (Post-2010)

Key Shifts:

  • Unsupervised Screen Time Replaced Real-World Play
    • Kids stopped hanging out in person and started hanging out online.
    • Less face-to-face interaction stunted development of social-emotional skills.
  • Social Media Became the New Playground (and Battlefield)
    • Especially for girls, platforms like Instagram and TikTok became spaces of constant comparison, judgment, and anxiety.
    • The “like” button turned self-worth into a public scoreboard.
  • Boys Turned to Gaming and YouTube
    • Boys retreated into gaming worlds, often isolating themselves from real-life friendships and emotional expression.
    • While not as appearance-focused as girls’ online experiences, this led to emotional numbness and social disconnection.
  • Sleep, Focus, and Mental Health Declined Sharply
    • Screen use before bed ruined sleep hygiene.
    • Constant pings and dopamine loops reduced attention spans and increased anxiety and depression.

💔 How It Hit Home for Me

I’ve seen my daughter’s self-esteem crash after scrolling Instagram, comparing herself to perfectly filtered influencers. I’ve watched my son lose hours to YouTube rabbit holes and video games, sometimes struggling to express how he feels or deal with real-world stress.

They are not lazy. They are not weak. They are navigating a world that’s radically different – and, in many ways, untested.

🛑 What We Can Do to Reclaim Childhood

Jonathan Haidt doesn’t just diagnose the problem – he offers a path forward. Here’s what we should start doing (and what I wish we’d all consider as a community):

1. Delay the Smartphone

  • Wait until at least age 14 to give a smartphone with full internet access.
  • Start with a basic phone for safety (calls/texts only).

2. No Phones in Bedrooms at Night

  • Made charging stations in the kitchen, not the bedrooms.
  • Better sleep = better mental health.

3. Encourage In-Person Friendships

  • Set up regular playdates, hangouts, or outdoor time.
  • Support extracurriculars that build social bonds – sports, drama, volunteering.

4. Model Digital Discipline

  • I’ve started putting my own phone down during dinner or family time.
  • Kids learn more from what we do than what we say.

5. Push for School-Wide Phone Bans

  • Haidt recommends schools become phone-free zones.
  • When my daughter’s school limited phones, bullying incidents and distractions dropped.

6. Teach Tech Literacy and Emotional Resilience

  • Talk to kids openly about algorithmic traps, online peer pressure, and curated realities.
  • Normalize therapy, mindfulness, and mental health check-ins.

🧭 Looking Ahead: Raising Resilient Kids

As a Gen X parent, I straddle two worlds: the analog one I grew up in and the digital one my kids are drowning in. The Anxious Generation reminded me that while technology has changed, the core needs of children haven’t – love, connection, purpose, and play.

We owe it to our kids to give them more than dopamine hits and screen time. Let’s give them a childhood worth remembering.

📘 Highly Recommend:
Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation is a must-read for any parent, educator, or policymaker. It’s not just about fear – it’s about hope, backed by research, compassion, and common sense.

Posted in Books, Data Analysis, life, Quotes, TED talks

Hans Rosling: How much do you know about the world?

Posted on by Nadia K

I can’t believe that just recently I was introduced and had the chance to watch Hans Rosling’s Ted talk of how much misconception there is in the world about the current poverty rates and the rate of world’s population growth. The talk was recorded in 2014, so some 6 years ago and I don’t think there is much of difference in people’s understanding about the world.

Hans Rosling, unfortunately no longer among us, was a professor of global health at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and his work was focused on eliminating the myths about the developed and developing world, the poverty state and the overall state of the world.

He is using remarkable visual representation to interpret the statistical data and show a worldview, which is not as dramatic as we wish to think and the world is in much better state than we wish to admit.

In his book Factfulness, Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators Ola and Anna, provides an explanation of why most people share the misconceptions and what causes the distortion of our perspective.

When things are getting better we often don’t hear about them. This gives us a systematically too-negative impression of the world around us, which is very stressful.”

― Hans Rosling, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

Book cover of Factfulness : ten reasons we're wrong about the world--and why things are better than you think

Every group of people I ask thinks the world is more frightening, more violent, and more hopeless—in short, more dramatic—than it really is.

― Hans Rosling, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

Posted in Inspirational, life, Motivation, Quotes

Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said …” – Inspirational Quote

Posted on by Nadia K

Of course, we don’t want to make other people feel miserable or unhappy. So, how do we make them feel good and improve their spirit?

Here are 10 ways to make other people feel special:

  1. Start with smiling – Being positive with others makes them relaxed and opened for collaboration.
  2. Compliment on their appearance – Noticing their shiny healthy hair or being fit and in good shape will do amazing things for their motivation to continue take good care of them selves.
  3. Show appreciation – Frequently express how much you enjoy your interactions and how much your collaborations were beneficial to you.
  4. Support their ambitions – Help them maintain Growth mindset, learn from mistakes and continue dreaming & growing.
  5. Give them undivided attention – Listen wholeheartedly and show empathy and support.
  6. Give them public recognition – Post on social media, or give kudos during team meetings or family gatherings. Showing appreciation in public is a great way to display how much you value the other person.
  7. Share your tips and tricks – Sharing your secret resources make other people feel very special and if they listen to you as a mentor, it is another way to motivate them to reach higher levels of their potential.
  8. Show vulnerability – Share mistakes and silly thing you have made in the past, and how you recovered and learned from them. This will encourage them to share and be vulnerable as well and realize they are not alone in how they are feeling.
  9. Take part in their project – Offer support and help with a big project they are working on before they start feeling overwhelmed.
  10. Offer to do something special – just the two of you: go for a walk, coffee or spend time outside of the daily routine schedule and focus on other things that matter outside of work or study.

When we help to make people feel special, we make better connections, foster kindness, motivate and inspire growth. Who did You Help today?

Posted in communication, Management, Motivation, success, Workplace

Why and How we Should Use Pygmalion Effect to Boost Productivity

Posted on by Nadia K

The Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect, is a psychological phenomenon where higher expectations lead proportionally to improved higher performance, which makes this method important for improving the overall productivity, including increase considerably the employee’s or student’s efficiency and help an organization grow.

Variety of studies show that people will improve, or drop, to the levels which their teachers of managers believe them to be capable. In order to implement this method in practice, it is up to the managers or teachers to have high expectations for their employees or students, and regularly communicate those expectations.

“Organizational Leaders understandably have an influence on the success of employees, and can play a part in that success or failure, at times, without even realizing it. Positive expectations are important to ensure a positive outcome, as the belief itself can affect the giver and the receiver. Managers not only shape the expectations and the performance of the subordinates but also influence their attitude towards their jobs and themselves, if managers are unskilled it leaves a scar on the employees and the overall unit performance of the company decreases and their reputations as coaches is harmed, on the other hand if the managers can induce confidence and make the subordinates believe in themselves, their capabilities will grow and the growth of the firm happens. “

Here are a few steps to start boosting student’s or employee’s performance:

  • Express confidence in their talent and abilities – to remind them about previous records of success and history of accomplishments.
  • Celebrate Accomplishments – to recognize what’s working well and why, develop a growth mindset and motivate.
  • Assume Good Intent – Listen to what’s being said and try to understand it and don’t “read between the lines” & ask for clarification if needed.
  • Show Empathy – to build emotional connection: listen carefully, put yourself in the other person’s shoes, allow sharing vulnerabilities, build trust and offer help.
  • Think Long Term – focus on what the long term result will be and support consistency.