Growth tips 30 seconds to business enlightenment.
Why progress matters
18-Aug-2011
After examining 12,000 daily diary entries from workers in a survey, the authors of the book “The Progress Principle”
reached a set of fascinating conclusions: People’s “inner work lives”
(how they feel inside) profoundly affects their performance - and the
most powerful motivating factor is seeing tangible progress whilst
performing meaningful work. Here is our take:
Big goals vs. small wins.
We set Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG©)
and work diligently toward their achievement. But because these are
set so far out in the future (and we keep shifting the goal posts
further out) it is extremely rare that we ever feel the thrill and
satisfaction of achieving such long term goals
On the other hand, “small wins” can happen each and every week - as well
as at the end of every quarter. These "small wins" are the incremental
steps toward our longer term goals.
The research showed that when people can see tangible progress and
experience "small wins" often - they become even more engaged and
productive.
Make progress visible.
Unfortunately, most leaders don’t understand the power of showing
visible progress toward goal achievement. They understand the need to
set clear goals, provide incentives and recognition, and support their
staff – but underestimate the importance of showing tangible progress
every step of the way.
That’s where business execution software
(dashboarding software) can be so powerful. These tools let your
people see progress on their goals and KPI’s every step of the way.
The right amount of pressure.
More information. More interruptions. More technology. We seem to be
running faster and faster just to keep up. But are we really working on
the most important things that will move the business forward – or are
we just being busy? Being busy on trivial tasks reduces creativity
where it counts – we have less brain power to devote to the really
important things.
The study showed that people actually perform worse when they are
stressed out, or scrambling to meet tight deadlines. People become less
creative when over-extended and under pressure. It seems that people
are happier and more creative when they are held accountable to make
continuous progress on their important goals in a series of steps.
Thus, it is vital for leaders to keep your people focused on the important things (KPI's / Current Strategic Priorities),
to protect them from trivia and constant distractions, and hold them
firmly accountable for making progress on their big goals every week.
As we like to say RESULTS.com, business execution is all about “The 1
thing”. What 1 task could you do and check off as complete in this
coming week that would move this goal / project forward?
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At your weekly management meeting (you do have one don't you?) - share the latest Growth Tip with your team and ask the question: "How can we apply this information in our business?"
Commit to taking some form of action. You will be glad you did.
34531334269947::RESULTS.com | The Missing 98%
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Monday
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| Date | 21-May-2012 |
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