The power of small wins: the progress principle according to Teresa Amabile
Nearly 12,000 diary entries from 238 employees, the finding that progress in meaningful work is the strongest driver of daily motivation and how to make progress visible
Translated from the Albanian original by the editors. Shqip
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The Harvard professor Teresa Amabile and the psychologist Steven Kramer wanted to understand what happens inside people during an ordinary working day: how they feel, how motivated they are and how they perceive their work. They called this "inner work life".
The diary study
They asked 238 employees in 26 project teams, in seven companies, to fill in a short electronic diary every day for the full length of their projects. Participants rated their emotions and motivation, and described one event that had stuck in their minds that day. In total the researchers analysed nearly 12,000 entries.
The finding
Of all the events that could improve an employee's day, the most important was progress in meaningful work, even when the progress was small. The days when people felt they had moved forward were the days with the most positive emotions and the highest motivation. Days with setbacks, when work stalled or went backwards, were the worst. The researchers noticed that the negative effect of a setback was usually stronger than the positive effect of a similar step forward.
They called this "the progress principle". Interestingly, when Amabile and Kramer asked hundreds of managers what motivates employees most, very few put progress first.
Motivation does not always come before work. Often it comes after, when we see that something has moved.
The limits
The study involved employees in creative and knowledge work, and it relies on self-report. Also, the link between progress and feelings may run both ways: when we feel good, perhaps we work better too. But the idea fits much other research on the importance of a sense of competence.
How to make progress visible
- Break projects into small steps that can be finished within a day.
- Keep a progress diary: at the end of the day, write down one thing that moved forward, however small.
- Remove small obstacles that slow work down, such as unnecessary approvals or tools that do not work.
- If you lead a team, ask not only "is it done?" but "what is getting in your way?".
- Remember the meaning. Progress motivates more when we know why the work matters.
