Enjoyment Beats Long Term Benefits

What can you do to help your team achieve its performance goals?  Researchers at the University of Chicago answered that question.  They found through multiple studies that goal achievement success is tied directly to the immediate benefit of happiness or enjoyment as opposed to a longer term benefit of better health, grades or diet. 

 

In numerous experiments, it was found that individuals would pursue their goals longer if they enjoyed the process.  Those looking to lose weight ate more vegetables if they liked the taste of vegetables than those who were eating vegetables simply to lose weight. Those who lifted more weights and lifted for longer periods of time did so because they enjoyed lifting weights.  The longer-term benefit of a fitter physique did not have an influence on the amount of weight lifting or number of times a week someone went to the gym.

 

The lessons for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms are as follows.  First, you can help you team meet personal and corporate objectives by assigning tasks that each team member enjoys.

 

Second, reward top performances as much as you can.  Immediate rewards have a more sustainable impact on goal achievement than waiting until the end of the month, quarter or year.  When you reward immediately or frequently for superior performance, it frames difficult tasks less like work and more like fun. 

 

Third, identify the positive experiences of achieving the goal.  The researchers found that people ate almost 50% more of a healthy food when they liked the taste, compared to another group that ate more for the health benefits.

 

Goal achievement will most likely increase if you offer immediate rewards on the journey to the finish line.