I really hate behavioural event interviewing. That's when an interviewer asks, "Tell us about a time you encountered conflict at work…" or something like that. They can be so hard to answer well. At one interview a few years back, I was asked, "Tell us about a time a roadblock appeared in the way of your project. How did you get past it to get to project completion?" Ugh, what a question. And, ugh, roadblocks.
I am someone who is strongly driven to finish things. In one work personality test I took, I received the label 'concluder-producer', which was right on the money. I don't like things that slow down my progress at work and I don't like roadblocks. They stand between me and that super-satisfying feeling of producing a result, a tangible output, something that might help someone.
And it's not just me that gets a buzz from making progress.
Why is making progress at work important?
It's really important to make progress in your work, day-to-day and week-to-week, and not just for 'concluder-producer' types. Research has shown that it's strongly linked to job satisfaction - more so than tangible things like a good salary, recognition for work well done, or anything else.
Teresa Amabile, a business administration professor at Harvard Business School, and her colleague Steven Kramer, carried out a study in which they analysed 12,000 diary entries of over 200 knowledge workers. What they found was that the best days at work - and the positive feelings, motivation, and positive perceptions of colleagues that came with them – were preceded by making progress, either as an individual or as part of a team.
And if you don't make progress in your work?
On the other hand, Amabile and Kramer found through workers' diary entries that suffering a work setback, having their work stymied in some way, or losing momentum, led to workers' worst days, when they experienced fear, frustration, feeling down about work, and work-related apathy. (I have definitely been there!)
Amabile and Kramer also found that just making progress on its own wasn't enough. It's progress that's made in meaningful work - work that's in some way important to you - that leads to positive feelings about your work. Stuffing envelopes for all 50 names on a list is progress, but if that's not a task that's meaningful to you, it won't give you much of a mood boost where your job's concerned.
Things that get in the way of making progress at work
When I was a teacher, the time-consuming task of marking used to delay other important work, like lesson planning and development. Then, when I was working in the public service, it was more often waiting for approvals from senior management that would get in the way of moving a project forward, or the most up-to-date data not being ready.
There are other kinds of roadblocks, too. A lack of clarity around goals and expectations for the work can really create a drag on forward momentum, as can having insufficient bodies or expertise in your project team. Not being given the autonomy to move the work forward without close oversight or even interference is equally hampering.
All of these types of roadblocks (and others you'll be able to think of) can make you disinvest emotionally in your work, become less enthusiastic about your job and disinclined to put so much effort in.
Certain catalysts and nourishers support making progress
Amabile and Kramer found in their research that workers and teams who were provided the appropriate type and level of resourcing (human or otherwise), who had autonomy, clear goals to work towards, help from their manager when needed, and who were freely able to share ideas, were best able to make daily progress and gain the resulting satisfaction from their jobs. They called these things 'catalysts'.
But even more than the catalysts, workers were able to make the most progress when certain 'nourishers' were used to bolster good feelings and positive relationships - such as providing recognition for effort and achievement, emotional support and encouragement, and opportunities for staff to build their sense of connection to each other.
What can I do myself to make more progress?
You can fuel your momentum in your work by going after these catalysts and nourishers for yourself, even though ideally they're part of the role that managers and leaders (should) play.
A key catalyst might be to lean on your network of trusted work buddies to help you disentangle the knotty part of your project that's stopped you in your tracks. Even when others are really busy, they may be able to spare 10 minutes to think through how they'd approach it and to feed back their ideas (a favour you can pay back in the future). Or, if you can, pull three of your project team members together to do a brainwriting exercise on the particular task you're struggling with. I mentioned how brainwriting works in my recent post on being an introvert at work. Remember, most people love being asked for their opinion or expertise - it's a feel-good moment in a busy work day! And as a side-benefit, these sorts of interactions are a great way to build connection with your colleagues - one of Amabile and Kramer's nourishers.
Another catalyst for making more progress at work is getting clarity around a project goal or task. If the high-level goal you're working towards isn't clear, then you're going to want to pin down your manager or senior leader on this point. But if there's a task on your plate that you're somewhat hazy about in terms of how to get started, it's a great problem to outsource to Claude or Copilot or your AI chatbot of choice. You can write a prompt that outlines the task at hand and directly asks your AI assistant to prepare a task breakdown - a straightforward, transactional AI request. Or, consider initiating an iterative conversation to broaden your understanding of what might be required from the task, with prompts such as, What do stakeholders of [task] typically expect to see in a high-quality output? Or, what risks do I need to mitigate when completing a [task]?
Lastly, an important nourisher is seeking - and gaining! - emotional support when the going gets rough. Invite a work colleague you enjoy hanging out with to go get a quick coffee, go for a walk around the block at morning tea-time, or eat lunch together. Apart from lifting the weight of worry from your shoulders (“A problem shared is a problem halved”), your colleague may have been in your exact situation previously and will be able to share their experience, reassuring you that frustrations at work from time to time are completely normal and that things will get better.
Making meaningful progress at work and overcoming roadblocks isn’t just about how you use your calendar or get rid of distractions (though those things can definitely help). Nor is it something only people with a certain personality type are good at. It just takes simple actions like reaching out to gain new ideas when you’re stuck, recognising when you need more clarity on the task at hand, and seeking emotional support and encouragement when you need it.
To some extent, we all do these things already. But the trick to making progress at work more consistently is catching ourselves when we hit a roadblock, recognising when we're being swallowed by negative emotions or starting to procrastinate, and instead, step into action.