The #1 Driver of High Performance (Backed by 12,000 Work Diaries). Innovation Cultures. Leader's Playbook.

12,000 daily work diaries, 238 people, 26 project teams, 7 companies, 3 industries — the key to sustained high performance, innovation, and motivation uncovered.

What truly drives people to do their best work?

The #1 Factor: Making meaningful progress in work is the single most powerful driver of productivity, creativity, and commitment.

For leaders, this raises a critical question: Are you making progress visible? Do your people feel their work matters? How do you ensure meaningful progress?

Just like a recipe, break it down into components and step-by-steps to make it work.

The 6 Catalysts for Meaningful Progress:

1?? Clear Goals & Purpose – Are people aligned on the bigger picture? Do they understand why their work matters? Do YOU communicate the purpose and meaning daily?

2?? Autonomy – Do you trust your teams to own their work and make decisions?

3?? Resources – Are people getting the systems, the tools, the green lights they need to proceed to succeed?

4?? Time Pressure – Is urgency balanced? High-pressure environments kill creativity. Urgency has to be low to moderate - nobody did their best work while putting out the fire, rushing to the escape.

5?? Help - can people ask for help? Or is it frowned upon and you act like everyone has to have it all figured out themselves?

6?? Ability to Learn From Mistakes - Are mistakes punished? Frowned upon? Linked to incentives and performance reviews? You can’t learn if you are punished to fail.

7??Flow of Ideas - Is communication clear, honest, free-flowing and respectful? Can people bring the bad news, question authority, are people’s ideas valued, heard, implemented?

Creating cultures where smart people do their best work is the only way to win in 2025, with AI and more technologies coming.

Do you nourish the soil where this culture can grow???

P.S. If you want to build a culture where smart people do their best work, this is exactly what we help companies do at Your Best Coaching with Change Leadership Consulting.

Great book, Amabile, Teresa; Kramer, Steven. "The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work"