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Most middle managers want to lead well. They want to build teams where people feel included, trusted, and able to do their best work. The challenge isn’t motivation — it’s that most managers simply haven’t been given the behavioral tools to make that happen.
This is a significant gap, because middle managers are where company values either take root or fall flat. They shape the lived experience of their teams in countless small moments — a check-in, a piece of feedback, a decision about who gets heard. Nudging those moments in a more inclusive direction, at scale, could foster belonging and trust in their teams, leading to improved performance.
The Middle Manager Micronudge Accelerator addresses this gap by transforming belonging from an abstract aspiration into a measurable leadership practice. Micro-nudges-–brief, evidence-based behavioral prompts—help managers integrate inclusive practices into everyday moments, from performance feedback to team check-ins. These small shifts in behavior can compound into meaningful organizational change, creating environments where psychological safety and high performance coexist.
Researchers
Dr. Angela Jackson
Dr. Angela Jackson is a recognized authority on the future of work whose research and leadership focus on how leaders leverage work systems to expand agency for themselves and others while driving performance.
She is the Founder and CEO of the Future Forward Institute, a research institute and strategy firm dedicated to helping leaders redesign work so both they and the people they manage have real agency, while delivering measurable business results. A lecturer and researcher at Harvard University, Dr. Jackson helps leaders rethink how work is designed to build more resilient, high-performing organizations.
Dr. Jackson’s debut book, “The Win-Win Workplace: How Thriving Employees Drive Bottom-Line Success,” became a New York Times, USA Today, and Los Angeles Times bestseller.
Anastasia Boon Talton
Anastasia Boon Talton is an industrial and organizational psychologist and PhD Candidate in Industrial & Organizational Psychology. She has more than 18 years of experience transforming people strategy, culture, and leadership effectiveness across tech, PE/VC-backed startups, and global enterprises. Her work bridges data and behavior—using analytics, AI, and evidence-based design to help organizations and leaders adapt, scale, and thrive.
Yen Troung
Yen Troung is the director for program and strategy at the Future Forward Institute. With a decade of experience spanning K-12, higher education, and workforce development, she has worked at the intersection of learning innovation, AI adoption, and scalable program design. Troung received a 2023 Yale Educator Award and is deeply committed to expanding access to education, improving learning outcomes for all students, and driving systemic change in K-12 education.
Future Forward Institute (FFI) serves as a visionary hub dedicated to pioneering data-driven research and innovative practices that shape a more equitable future of work. The work focuses on employers, engaging action-oriented people-leaders, talent providers, and innovators to create solutions that align social impact with broader business objectives. FFI firmly believes that businesses play a pivotal role in driving meaningful change.
With a commitment to action and field building, Future Forward Institute is catalyzing a brighter future for both workers and businesses alike.
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Project Details
The Middle Manager Micronudge Accelerator is a research-based initiative that equips managers with the behavioral tools to foster belonging as a leadership strategy. This project tests how micro-nudges—small, evidence-based prompts that shape managerial behavior—can strengthen team trust, inclusion, and engagement, while improving measurable business outcomes such as retention, productivity, and innovation.
The study also generates applied evidence on how AI-enabled nudging can be used, iteratively and responsibly, to support learning and behavior change, and where human judgment and peer learning remain essential. The project intentionally centers learning and people leaders at a moment when AI-driven transformation risks sidelining human capital strategy, positioning them instead as strategic architects of how AI and workforce redesign are integrated responsibly and effectively.
The Accelerator is part of the Win-Win Workplace Co-Lab, an applied research incubator within the Future Forward Institute.
Through participatory action research, 3-5 employer partners will co-design and test micro-nudge interventions that help managers lead with empathy, consistency, and psychological safety. The project will measure changes in belonging, engagement, and team performance using validated instruments, generating both quantitative and qualitative insights.
By engaging 75 employer manager partners across industries, the project will test and refine micro-nudge interventions designed to improve belonging, engagement, and team effectiveness. Each organization will implement tailored nudges, measure outcomes using validated instruments, and share data through a cross-case learning network facilitated through this project.
The findings will culminate in a Belonging-Based Leadership Framework and Manager Micro-nudge Toolkit, providing organizations with data-driven tools to build more connected, high-performing workplaces. The study also generates applied evidence on when AI-enabled nudging supports learning and behavior change—and when human judgment and peer learning remain essential—informing responsible adoption of AI in leadership and workforce development.
