Ch. 8 Summary: Focus on small wins, not big risks.

 

I have discovered that people who are high in achievement motivation usually look for small or moderate strategic challenges and risks that are “neither very easy nor very hard.” Thus, the chapter describes self-motivation by means of an emphasis on small wins, those limited, results-focused strategies that are low-cost, yet provide the opportunity for success. The process makes it possible for you to continue your development without alarming potential opposition. Small wins is a cascading process that not only makes immediate tangible progress by itself, but helps set a context for larger gains. It builds the confidence in oneself to successfully face the inevitable obstacles and adversity of the volatile workplace.

 

This section introduces the reader to two important characters that reveal the immense practicality of the small wins approach: Warren Haskett, with big ideas and Sheryl Dehler who chugs along quietly. One has great ideas, but they are too large to implement in one fell swoop. The other methodically moves a mountain over the long term. As a result of a major study, a leading consultancy concluded that the marketing group of their agribusiness client needed to better reflect the diverse customer market. Warren wanted to make a number of personnel adjustments immediately, to reflect the customer picture the consultant recommended. No surprise: senior management rejected his ideas. Sheryl, in contrast, started hiring women and people of color for open positions. Over four years, she was able to achieve the needed diversity by means of her strategic small wins approach while Warren got nothing but rejection.

 

A critical insight regarding the complexity of today’s business problems—difficult problems embedded in huge systems--is that situations are progressively clarified, and not in a few major interventions. In other words, the prospect of small wins helps people to learn that organizations do not usually win decisive battles or the Super Bowl—an insight desperately lacking in the major political and military battles of today.

 

I will explain how small wins works when applied to a single skill through the process of “chunking.” At a micro level, I urge small wins by chunking: taking a skill apart and breaking it into small, digestible pieces. In contrast to many workers who spin their wheels reflecting on what might be, the incrementalism of small wins is far and away the best approach for career success.

 

David Solkow, an ostensibly aggressive finance manager at a leading tech firm, takes on a new opportunity. To accelerate his role transition, I recommended that he engage his new boss in a conversation to understand how the executive sees the company and the business, find out his expectations, how he, himself, will be measured, and how his boss prefers to interact. Gripped by performance nerves, Solkow keeps putting off the conversation wanting to understand everything and be ready for any questions before sitting down with his boss—an untenable approach. By chunking the objectives into several conversations, he is able, finally, to successfully engage his boss. His learning enabled him to escalate his growth.

 

I also believe that workers need to face up to the negative consequences of demotivating environments. Such environments have numerous causes. Sometimes it is an organization that supports bad behavior, such as bullying, pompous, table pounders, attackers, blamers, or people who constantly demean others. Sometimes it’s the boss’s failures: unwillingness to share credit, playing favorites, or lack of support. Finally, some companies are demotivating simply because of their lack of strategic success: financial difficulties, failures with clients, lack of focus, or a history of neglected promises. Demotivating environments challenge the growth of one’s intelligence. Successfully intelligent people take sensible risks. In the final analysis, employees must adapt to a situation, involve themselves in changing the setting, or find a new job and a new work setting. It’s important, however, to become knowledgeable about demotivating environments, and so I present two cases which put flesh on the difficulties they pose, and analyze the impact on the development of gray matter.

 

It’s not just our financial and emotional welfare that we need to consider, but extensive research on enriched environments has shown that the brain cortex can increase or decrease brain cells. In other words, stress, gutting it out, and lack of stimulation take a heavy toll on learning and motivation. And so it’s exceptionally important that employees seek out firms that reinvest in training opportunities, and in which the employee will not need to repeat work experiences more than a couple times. This segment includes several riveting anecdotes that surface the fears of employees, walks through the risk issues, and depicts the steps employees take toward work enrichment and success. Motivation, the research tells us, is the indispensable intelligence needed for work effectiveness. Without it, employees can never add the remaining brainware tools that make for survival in the talent age.

 

<< Previous     Next >>

 

Want to know more about Brainware or Dan's Management Development?

 

Ask Dan!

 

 

Stay informed about the latest Neuroscience research with Dan's Email List!

 

 

Read neuroscience book reviews written by Dan.