The point of cueing

In teaching Org Behavior at the university I would use an object lesson in the first exam to introduce the study of motivation, which was the topic for the second exam. One of my favorite lessons for the students dealt with the bonus question. At the very end of the class prior to the first exam I would give students a few examples of questions that would be on the exam along with the correct answer. I framed this by saying that I wanted them to see what a question would look like and how I would grade it. Separately I explained how many questions of each type would be on the exam and that there would be a bonus question.

Actually I used one of the sample questions I presented to them as the bonus question. The first time I was quite surprised that only 15% of the students got the bonus question correct. I was continually surprised that this percentage was consistent across every OB class I taught. This made quite an impression on the students. Some were embarrassed that they missed a question that I gave them beforehand. BTW, students are always joking before a test about giving them the questions so they know what to study. I pointed out that I gave them a question and very few got it right. Then i asked, "what was missing?"

The obvious answer is that i didn't tell them when i was giving the example that this question was going to be the bonus question so they did not make the association. This is called cueing. Cueing is an important way to improve performance because it improves motivation. Cueing makes something more salient by drawing attention to the behavior - exactly what should be done or how to do it.

One of the ways to increase motivation regarding performance of another individual is to provide them with exactly what you expect, to raise their attention level in some way to what or how something is to be done. This is not necessary for everyone in every situation - remember 15% of the students were be able to connect the dots and see what is expected without me explicitly telling them. However, if you find that one;s performance can be better, then using cueing is a leadership behavior that you should find useful.

Interestingly, on the class before the second exam, I did not give example of questions but I did CUE them to the fact that it would be helpful to them if they knew the Feedback Model by Ilgen, Fisher, and Taylor. The actual bonus question was asked from this model - 80% would consistently get it right.

Give them the question but not cue them about it being on the test, 15% right. Just reference what might be on the test but not specific question - 80% right.

Certainly worth pondering as a way to become a more effective leader ......