The Power of Small Wins 

Harvard Business Review May 2011

Preface: Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer write how managers can make the work day better….both for others….and for yourself.

Read: The Power of Small Wins

“Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work”…….

“The key to motivating performance is supporting progress in meaningful work. Making headway boosts your inner work life, but only if the work matters to you.”

“Think of the most boring job you’ve ever had. Many people nominate their first job as a teenager—washing pots and pans in a restaurant kitchen, for example, or checking coats at a museum. In jobs like those, the power of progress seems elusive. No matter how hard you work, there are always more pots to wash and coats to check; only punching the time clock at the end of the day or getting the paycheck at the end of the week yields a sense of accomplishment”………..

……”In jobs with much more challenge and room for creativity, like the ones our research participants had, simply “making progress”—getting tasks done—doesn’t guarantee a good inner work life, either”…..”What can managers do to ensure that people are motivated, committed, and happy? How can they support workers’ daily progress? They can use catalysts……..

[Employees] “if you facilitate their steady progress in meaningful work, make that progress salient to them, and treat them well, they will experience the emotions, motivations, and perceptions necessary for great performance. Their superior work will contribute to organizational success. And here’s the beauty of it: They will love their jobs”.