Changemaker Basics: Progress as a Goal
Making change is not a race. It’s not an achievement. It’s not a perfectible skill. Making change is a never-ending journey, with ups and downs, obstacles and boosts. To sustain your sanity and enthusiasm, it helps to set an overarching goal: progress.
The always insightful Daniel Kahneman notes that people tend to focus on the present and the past rather than the future, which can make it difficult to see progress. That’s a valuable clue. Every change project has goals, but often they are too long term to be relevant on a daily basis. Improving a system’s effectiveness or enhancing a community’s cohesion are admirable aspirations but, as with most visions, they are lofty. Over the long run, it’s hard to see how individual efforts make a dent. Like swimming upstream, that type of unrewarded effort can lead to exhaustion and resignation.
But, if one of your goals is “make progress,” almost any level of effort becomes notable. Daily or weekly check-ins can provide feedback and satisfaction to everyone on the team. If you note the amount of progress made, you also can learn what propels it forward and what holds it back. The non-linear nature of making change becomes apparent and more acceptable. Setbacks become mere detours — opportunities to learn and improve your approach.
Our careers included many ambitious change projects. It was not unusual to get a brief titled “Help young girls like computers,” or “Reinvent popular media.” Projects could continue for years under shifting management and reconfigured competitive environments. Often we were part of a broader team and did not have control over all aspects of a project. We couldn’t adequately judge ourselves or our teams on the overall change goals because they were aspirational dreams far in the future.
Instead we focused on each week’s accomplishments: What did we learn? Who did we influence? How have our minds changed? Which modest benchmark was reached? Progress was not just an expected outcome of effort. It was something to be noted and celebrated. It was an indication of our intent, our commitment, and our value.
Focusing on progress for all team members creates a more sustainable environment of changemaking. It creates a shift in attitude and motivation. Team members feel recognized on a more frequent basis. It allows everyone to gain a sense of accomplishment regardless of their role or responsibilities. It enhances the coalition of support every change project needs to survive and succeed. It doesn’t mean accomplishments aren’t valued or necessarily, but those end goal don’t dominate every other activity.
Change is never finished, so progress doesn’t end with you. The advancements you’ve made becomes a foundation for others to build on. Rather than stressing over what you left undone, you can take pride in how far you moved it forward.
Find more interviews and insights like these in our latest book, Changemakers: How Leaders Can Design Change in an Insanely Complex World. Available now on Amazon or Rosenfeld Media.
