Practice Notes

What really motivates workers – it’s making progress

NBR’s breakthrough ideas for 2010 includes research on the familiar issue of what motivates people at work. A study by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer focused specifically on knowledge workers. Most of these workers’ managers believed that recognition of good work was the number one motivator. But the multi-year study tracking day-to-day activities, emotions and motivation levels found this was wrong.

Instead the number one motivator was progress. “On days when workers have the sense they are making headway in their jobs, or when they receive support that helps them overcome obstacles, their emotions are most positive and their drive to succeed is at its peak.”

Amabile and Kramer think this is good news for managers, as they are pivotal to actually moving things forward and achieving progress.

A way to manage adversity – when things go wrong

Here’s a useful formula for overcoming adversity at work. It’s a valuable part of a stress management approach and creating an emotionally intelligent workplace. It’s been developed by Karen Reivich and Andrew Shatte. (See The Resilience Factor, 2003, Broadway Books.)

Step One - Outline the situation
Example – I had a mix up in my diary and forgot to attend an important meeting.

Step Two – State your worst-case beliefs
Examples based on the step one scenario.

• My colleagues will think I’m a bit inefficient and I’ll need to rebuild my credibility.
• My colleagues will think I’m useless and exclude me from future meetings.
• Everyone in the organisation will be talking about it and I’ll be labeled a no-hoper.
• My career’s at an end.
• I may as well resign now.

You’ll notice each one gets steadily worse. It’s catastrophising.

Step Three – Ask yourself: how likely?
So how likely is it that each of your step two worst-case beliefs will happen? Here’s an estimate.

• My colleagues will think I’m a bit inefficient and I’ll need to rebuild my credibility. – 75%
• My colleagues will think I’m useless and exclude me from future meetings. – 5%
• Everyone in the organisation will be talking about it and I’ll be labeled a no-hoper. – 1%
• My career’s at an end. – 1%
• I may as well resign now. – 0.5%

Step Four - Ask yourself: what are the best-case beliefs?
We’ll follow this scenario through.

• This is a chance to have an open conversation with my colleagues, apologise for forgetting the meeting and then put some extra work in with them.
• I introduce a ‘human’ element into our workplace – no-one’s perfect – and, as a result, create a more tolerant and flexible environment.
• I perfect this approach and become a management guru on learning my mistakes.

Step Five – State the most likely outcomes

• My colleagues will respond reasonably well to an honest apology.
• I’ll put in the hard yards to re-build my credibility by taking on some unpopular tasks.
• I’ll turn up on time to every other meeting and lay on morning tea for each one.

Step Six – Decide what you’re going to do and do it
We’d also recommend Reivich and Shatte’s 50 question resilience assessment that’s in the same book.