Center for Purpose and Performance Prize

In 2022, BetterUp®, the human transformation platform, founded the Center for Purpose and Performance. The Center is chaired by Adam Grant, one of the world’s leading researchers, writers, and thinkers on organizational psychology, motivation, and cognitive agility. With an innovative research and convening agenda, Grant will drive the Center’s mission of partnering with industry leaders to deepen understanding of the intersections of well-being, purpose, and performance.

To supercharge its inaugural year, the Center launched an applied science research competition to enable the application and extension of peer reviewed research across diverse disciplines. Emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, the competition intends to advance the science behind workplace performance at scale, building on the peer review process within Organizational Behavior and Psychology. 

For this project to be successful, the Center is calling upon you, the public, to submit proposals that are firmly rooted in existing empirical research while also charting new trajectories within an applied setting. Winner(s) will have the opportunity to receive substantial funding and conduct the proposed work, longitudinal studies, or workplace interventions in partnership with BetterUp Labs, coaches and/or partners. 

The Center Prize is committed to facilitating the translation and dissemination of research findings, ensuring that the valuable knowledge generated from existing research is effectively applied and has a meaningful impact on organizations and individuals. The prize will be awarded based on the strength of the proposals to advanced published work and its potential for transformative advancements in the field. 

What’s new and innovative about this opportunity?

• Applied empirical focus: Many existing awards and grants emphasize theoretical contributions; the Center takes a distinctive stride by emphasizing empirical research that directly applies to the real world. It’s about generating ideas and testing them in practical settings to ensure viability and effectiveness. 
• Building on peer-reviewed research: The Center values the established peer review process and hopes to to bridge the gap between theoretical insights, controlled laboratory settings, and practical application. The Center believes that true breakthroughs occur when research aligns with the complexities of everyday workplace environments. 
• Strategic collaboration: The prospective opportunity to collaborate with BetterUp over an 18-month period amplifies the potential for real-world impact and facilitates the translation of research findings into tangible improvements. By fostering collaboration, the Center ensures that interventions and insights are developed with scalability in mind, facilitating lasting effects across diverse organizations and industries.

The theme for this year’s Center Prize is Managing for Purpose and Performance. We are particularly interested in research proposals that help people and leaders:

• Rethink purpose and performance
  • Development and analysis of structures and models that advance organizational effectiveness through innovation, collaboration, and adaptation in dynamic and complex work environments. 
• Reimagine cultures of inclusion and well-being 
  • Utilization of novel sources of data on human and organizational behavior to improve our understanding of the barriers to, and facilitators of, psychological safety, vitality, and mattering in the workplace. 
• Revolutionize management’s relationship to machines

Demonstration of new and effective approaches for exploring AI-mediated communication, collaboration, and management to enhance productivity and flourishing.

All decisions related to competition will be made in alignment with our values:

• Integrity: We strive to maintain an extremely high caliber of scientific rigor and ethical accountability, and expect the same of our prize winners.
• Inclusivity: We proactively seek diverse and multidisciplinary perspectives in data collection and implementation design.
• Accessibility: We design interventions and models to optimize value to all stakeholders (partners, members, coaches, and scientists).

Interdisciplinary collaboration: We encourage researchers to form cross-disciplinary teams, leverage diverse methodologies and perspectives, and tackle multifaceted issues from different angles.

We encourage proposals that extend published research and facilitate the practical application of science in the workplace in the following focus areas: purpose and performance, inclusion and well-being, management and machines. Submissions may not exceed five pages and must include the following:

Submissions must include the following:

1. Empirical rigor: Provide the published prior research article(s) upon which your proposal is based, including title, link, abstract, authors, and affiliations. Only proposals based on articles published in the last five years will be considered. Ensure that the submitted research article(s) are directly accessible via the provided link or attachment. The prior existing research submitted should be authored by the submitting team.
2. Proposed extension/ application: Complete a proposal that builds upon research published within the last five years. Include a succinct statement about the importance of the proposed research's contribution to advancing the field of workplace performance and well-being. Clearly state the objectives and hypotheses of the proposed project and outline how the original research findings will be extended within the context of the proposed project. 
3. Theme Alignment: Demonstrate how your new, proposed research aligns with at least one of the provided themes: "Rethink purpose and performance," "Reimagine cultures of inclusion and well-being," or "Revolutionize management’s relationship to machines." 
4. Expected Impact: Provide a clear and specific explanation of the expected impact of the proposed research on organizational practices, outcomes, or individual well-being.
5. Methods and sample requirements: Elaborate on how the data collected during the proposed research will be utilized beyond the research phase. Discuss plans for analyzing, presenting, and disseminating the findings to maximize impact and ensure that the research is grounded in rigorous scientific methods, data collection, and analysis techniques.
6. Statement of research ethics and diversity considerations: Proposals should address ethical implications related to the proposed interventions and specify the importance of adhering to rigorous scientific methods, data collection, and analysis techniques.  
7. Research Timeline: The prize purse is intended to support up to an 18 month partnership with BetterUp Labs. The extent to which winners partner with BetterUp can be mutually agreed upon based on after winners are announced. Provide a timeline that includes key milestones, anticipated dates for data collection, analysis, and completion of the project. Please view the contract terms below for further information.
8. Budget: Detail any additional costs associated with the proposed research project. Solvers are welcome to propose budgets that exceed the challenge prize purse, insofar as these external sources of funding (such as additional grants) are able to be vetted and approved by BetterUp. 
9. Challenge Guidelines: Solvers need to accept a Challenge Specific Agreement.

All competitors must submit their application through the submission form on this challenge page. Each eligible submission will then be evaluated using the criteria listed in the Screening Rubric. 

The Center Chair and Panel of Judges will review submissions and select the awardees based on the criteria below:

The following estimated milestone timeline should be referenced while drafting your proposed research project's timeline. Note that the overall timeline for your proposed research should be confined to 18 months.

Please refer to the Challenge Specific Agreement that will be linked below.