Posts Tagged ‘management’

Progress as Promised

Sunday, June 30th, 2013

Everyone has had the experience of feeling like you’re on a treadmill, going nowhere, slogging your way forward through one day after another. Even writing that takes me back to the times I’ve felt that way. It’s HORRIBLE. There’s nothing more disheartening. Look at that word—disheartening—and you’ll see why the lack of a feeling of progress kills your inner work life, while an injection of progress and purpose quickens the pulse and gets you engaged.

The importance of feeling movement toward a tangible goal in our daily work is getting more and more attention lately. It’s called the Progress Principle, and it’s fast becoming a key element of workplace engagement.

But there’s growing evidence that management isn’t getting the memo quickly enough. When researchers at the Harvard Business School asked managers to rank the things that motivate employees, most gave the highest score to tangible things like higher pay. Others saw the value of recognition for good work. But very few ranked “a feeling of progress” as high as it should be, and many ranked it dead last.

That’s not good news. Studies are now piling up in support of that feeling of progress being at or very near the top, way ahead of traditional incentives like raises and bonuses. And that IS good news, because it means a feeling of progress doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Break large projects into smaller benchmarks, and celebrate each step as it’s achieved.

If you’re a manager, you have more influence than you may think over employees’ wellbeing and motivation. And if you’re not a manager, just a caring colleague who knows that leadership is not a position but a state of mind, you can have just as much influence on the inner work lives of those around you. And there’s no reason you can’t do it yourself, for your own goals.

Nurturing that feeling of continuous progress, including celebration of all the steps along the way, is a crucial key to the productive workplace, one we can ALL make happen.

It’s yet another opportunity for those who are paying attention to pull ahead of the pack.