What makes employees enthusiastic about work? It's not what you might initially guess.
Ask leaders what they think makes employees enthusiastic about work, and they’ll tell you in no uncertain terms. In a recent survey we invited more than 600 managers from dozens of companies to rank the impact on employee motivation and emotions of five workplace factors commonly considered significant: recognition, incentives, interpersonal support, support for making progress, and clear goals. “Recognition for good work (either public or private)” came out number one.
Unfortunately, those managers are wrong.
Having just completed a multiyear study tracking the day-to-day activities, emotions, and motivation levels of hundreds of knowledge workers in a wide variety of settings, we now know what the top motivator of performance is—and, amazingly, it’s the factor those survey participants ranked dead last. It’s progress. On days when workers have the sense they’re making headway in their jobs, or when they receive support that helps them overcome obstacles, their emotions are most positive and their drive to succeed is at its peak. On days when they feel they are spinning their wheels or encountering roadblocks to meaningful accomplishment, their moods and motivation are lowest.
And, of course, many educators in many schools feel that they are making little to no progress...
Progress is the result of a process, not a process in itself.
Herzberg put achievement at the top of the job satisfaction list a long time ago.
For me, achievement is a more appropriate word than progress as it has a stronger association with success. Progress can be automated.
As to what capohanka says, it might apply to students, or it might not. It depends whether the motivating factors for students are the same as those for workers. It could be argued that these are two very different environments. If however, you believe that the environment for workers and students is the same, then you shouldn't really have any argument with standardised testing - it is, rightly, accepted in the workplace.