How To Lead A Quest. Fox Jason

so, more than 600 managers (from dozens of companies, and at different levels) were asked to rank five workplace factors commonly considered significant in influencing motivation: recognition for good work, incentives and rewards, interpersonal support, clear goals and targets, and a clear sense of progress.

      These are all good answers, of course (indeed, the selection of these factors was the result of several meta-analyses). But ‘recognition for good work' emerged as the factor considered most powerful at positively influencing motivation.

      It's definitely a great factor, but this result came only from the managers. So Amabile and Kramer also explored this concept with employees, following a bunch of people from different companies over several years, and analysing over 12 000 journal entries to see what correlated to the highest level of motivation at work. It turns out, the number one thing that was most important to the employees was actually what the managers ranked dead last – a clear sense of progress.

      That's right – the more we sense that our effort is contributing to progress, the more likely we are to stay motivated to invest effort. This Progress Principle was recognised as the #1 breakthrough idea by the Harvard Business Review in 2010 – and it makes a whole lot of sense.

      When it comes to leading for the future of work, providing visibility of progress is our most important opportunity.

      This applies to nearly all types of work – from formulaic routine work right through to risky pioneering work. Essentially, the more we reduce the latency between effort and meaningful feedback, the more effort we get.

      And so, creating visibility of progress, and using a combination of structures and rituals to recognise and celebrate small daily wins is an incredibly important calibration for leadership in the future of work.

      This requirement is far less about fixating upon specific, distant targets, and much more about making work that is inherently motivating. Pay people well, and design and lead work that provides people with a rich sense of progress. This, in turn, contributes to work cultures that are much more future-proof – nimble, adaptive and responsive to change.

      Think about it like this. Imagine, earlier in your career, you were given an important piece of research to do. Your boss explains that some colleagues are visiting from overseas and she needs this research completed by Monday morning. You are already very busy but, like many of us, you're terrible at saying no – so you say yes, and you go about doing this research (staying back late and even working on the weekend). The research is hard work but it's kind of exciting and interesting too. On Sunday night, you email off the research report.

      Monday comes and no word arrives from your boss. You begin to think that perhaps she did not receive the email, but you check and, yes, the email was definitely sent. You figure she must be busy with her guests. Tuesday arrives and still no word. All you want to know is that she received the report okay – it's like an open loop in your mind, a cognitive dissonance that must be closed. You send an email to check.

      Finally, on Wednesday morning you receive an email back from your boss, which simply says: ‘Thanks – turns out I didn't need it.'

      Bah! I mean, it's nice that she acknowledged it – but you're not even sure that she read your research. And, thus, somewhat deflated you resolve that, should a similar request be made in the future, you're probably going to default to a conservative level of effort.

      Which makes perfect sense – we all have a finite amount of time, energy and attention available to us each day. It's only reasonable that we invest our effort into the things that provide the richest sense of progress.

      This is why progress visibility is also our biggest threat.

      The things that provide the richest sense of progress are usually our defaults – those routine things we've done before, that require minimal cognitive effort to achieve. These things are easy to do, have established precedents, and often provide a rich and immediate sense of progress.

      Now imagine this scenario: you are a senior leader within a large organisation. You've just been to a conference where a few of the speakers shared insights that have got you seriously thinking about the mid-term viability of your organisation's business model. You have a hunch that disruption is just around the corner for your organisation – and, unfortunately, this won't be something your organisation is proactively leading. This hunch is only further confirmed through the things you read and the conversations you have with peers in other industries.

      You don't know what to do – you've never encountered this before, and you have no rulebook, gold standard or step-by-step formula to follow. You attempt to share this hunch with your colleagues – it's important, after all – but, alas, they're busy. You put it on the agenda at your next meeting, too, but when the time comes there seems to be more pressing concerns. Everyone is avoiding the angst of uncertainty by defaulting to their defaults.

      And so it's just you in a sea of doubt and the angst of uncertainty. How do you make progress in this context? Where do you even begin? Particularly when you don't have the answers, or any solution to offer yet.

      Well, if you're like most of us, you'll soon find yourself checking email and identifying small things to micromanage. Why? Because these things provide a rich and immediate sense of progress! Say you start your day with sixty emails in your inbox. By mid-afternoon, you've whittled your inbox down to fourteen. Ah! Progress! It feels like you're winning, and other people in the organisation know that you're putting in effort. Good work! No-one can fault you.

      Soon everyone starts to do this. Before you know it, ‘reply all' is the norm.

      This type of work is so very gratifying when compared to your time amid the angst of uncertainty. It really looks and feels as though you're making progress. And you are! You can look back on your ‘to-do' list at the end of the day, and feel content that you're contributing to some sort of progress.

      It's just … not meaningful progress.

      Hence, the progress delusion.

      This state is where we find ourselves saying yes to so many little things that the bigger, more important things suffer.