Harvard Study Concludes 22.8% better performance from employees keeping a work journal

According to a recent paper from Harvard Business School, setting aside 15 minutes to reflect at the end of the workday can significantly improve employees performance, productivity and impact.

The findings come from a series of field and laboratory experiments. In one study at Wipro, three groups of employees were put through training for a particular customer account. In one group, employees were asked to spend the last 15 minutes of their workday writing and reflecting on the lessons they’d learned that day. They did this for 10 consecutive days. In another group, the participants did the same reflective exercise but also spent an additional five minutes discussing their notes with a fellow trainee. Those in the last group, or the control group, simply kept working at the end of the day–no reflection, and no sharing. Harvard Business School Professor Francesca Gino explains:

“When people have the opportunity to reflect, they experience a boost in self-efficacy. They feel more confident that they can achieve things. As a result, they put more effort into what they’re doing and what they learn.”

The result of the study? The journaling employees performed significantly better than those who simply kept working until the end of their shift. The reflection group performed 22.8% better on the test, and the sharing group performed 25% better than the control group. This in spite of the fact that the control group had been working 15 minutes longer per day. The reason this works, is because the brain needs that extra time to reflect to “codify” the things we’ve gone through during the day. Gino further explains:

“Rather than following the conventional wisdom to ‘get busy,’ our research suggests that performance is enhanced when we follow former IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson’s advice to simply ‘think,”

But simply thinking isn’t enough. We also need to note it down. Putting our thoughts to words helps us visualize what’s important.

Do you want your company or know someone at your company that would like to benefit from this? Go to: https://work.reflectly.app/