“Understanding ourselves, navigating the world around us, making sense of others, and recognising the impact we have on them. Because who are we, really, if not shaped by one another?“
Happy Wednesday, everyone. I’m Shaida Darian, a Business and Organisational Psychologist. I’m fascinated by three questions: Why does this happen? What can we do about it? And when should we act? Join me down the rabbit hole. With any luck, we’ll find Wonderland.
This week in workplace whiplash 🌀
AI Enthusiasm Has Yet to Become Daily Habit. PwC's 2025 global workforce survey found that 54% of employees had used AI at work, yet only 14% used generative AI daily. The gap highlights the challenge of translating technological adoption into consistent workplace behaviour.
👉Read: PwC — Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025.The Performance Paradox: Ambition Is Not Execution. McKinsey's State of Organizations 2026 highlights a growing shift from short-term resilience towards sustained productivity and long-term performance. The challenge is no longer simply setting ambitious goals, but building the organisational capabilities and structures required to deliver them consistently.
👉Read the story: The State of Organizations 2026.Performance Management Has a Trust Problem. Deloitte reports that 61% of managers and 72% of workers do not trust their organisation's performance management processes. Setting targets and evaluating results are not the same as developing the practices required for consistent execution.
👉Read: Deloitte — Reimagining Performance Management (2025).
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Wednesday reflections
“I’ll start on Monday.”
“That’s my New Year’s resolution.”
“I just don’t have the motivation today.”
We have all used these phrases. Familiar ways of postponing action, shifting the goalposts or waiting for the right moment to begin. And often, the common denominator is motivation.
I'm Shaida Darian, an Organisational & Business Psychologist, and I hear the word motivation repeatedly in management discussions. How can we increase employee motivation? How can we measure it? How can we keep employees motivated?
I'm guilty of it myself. Some days I tell myself I'm motivated to tackle a particular task. Other days, I justify putting it off because I simply don't feel motivated.
But this raises an uncomfortable question:
What risk are we taking when we make our responsibilities so dependent on how motivated we happen to feel?
After all, our enthusiasm can change overnight. A poor night's sleep, a stressful morning or an unexpected setback can alter our willingness to act. Yet the responsibilities, deadlines and commitments remain unchanged.
The same tension exists within organisations. Employees may genuinely want to deliver, and leaders may establish ambitious goals, but good intentions do not automatically translate into consistent execution.
Between ambition and achievement lies the reality of everyday work: competing priorities, endless meetings, distractions and tasks that are not always particularly enjoyable.
If execution depends on feeling motivated, having uninterrupted focus or repeatedly summoning personal willpower, how sustainable can performance really be?
Which brings me to this week's question:
Have organisations become so focused on generating motivation that we've neglected to develop the discipline, habits and behavioural systems that sustain performance when enthusiasm fades?
Where does your organisation struggle most to turn motivation into consistent performance?
The organisational psychology lens
Organisations often operate on the assumption that greater employee motivation leads to better performance. Yet psychological research reveals a fundamental distinction: wanting to achieve something does not guarantee following through.
In a review of 422 studies, intentions explained approximately 28% of the variance in subsequent behaviour. The finding highlights a significant distinction between intending to act and actually following through.
This is where discipline becomes essential not as sheer willpower, but as the ability to maintain consistent behaviour despite fluctuating enthusiasm.
Further research found that implementation intentions specific plans linking situations to actions significantly improve goal attainment. Similarly, other research demonstrate how repeated behaviours develop into habits, reducing reliance on conscious deliberation.
Importantly, discipline does not replace motivation. Self-Determination Theory demonstrates that individuals can remain committed to tasks they do not particularly enjoy because they recognise their value.
Motivation gives us a reason to act. Discipline helps us follow through when we don't feel like acting.
For organisations, the question is no longer simply how to motivate employees, but how to develop the behavioural consistency that sustains performance when enthusiasm fades.
What this means for leaders
Motivation establishes the desire to achieve a goal. SMART objectives and implementation intentions translate that ambition into actionable commitments. Repeated execution helps develop habits, while personal responsibility supports sustained behavioural consistency.
The objective is not to eliminate motivation, but to develop employees' capacity to perform consistently without depending on feeling motivated every day.
Turn SMART Goals into Consistent Daily Action
Practice to Examine: Strategic goals and OKRs that establish ambitious outcomes without defining the daily behaviours required to achieve them.
Concrete Action: Apply the SMART framework, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound to translate strategic objectives into manageable commitments. Complement these with implementation intentions: explicit “if–then” plans that establish when and how employees will act, particularly when obstacles arise.
Assessing Progress: Monitor planned versus completed actions, milestone achievement and consistency of execution not simply whether final targets are met.
Build Routines That Reduce Dependence on Motivation
Practice to Examine: Fragmented workflows, shifting priorities and inconsistent working practices that require employees to repeatedly decide when and how to act.
Concrete Action: Establish predictable routines, clear task ownership and consistent environmental cues. Research demonstrates how repeated behaviours in stable contexts develop into habits that can operate with less conscious deliberation.
Assessing Progress: Monitor task completion consistency, avoidable delays and employee-reported workflow friction.
Replace Enforced Compliance with Personal Responsibility
Practice to Examine: Performance management systems that rely heavily on surveillance, external pressure or constant managerial intervention.
Concrete Action: Encourage employees to take ownership of their SMART commitments through self-monitoring, meaningful feedback and autonomy-supportive leadership. Self-Determination Theory distinguishes externally controlled behaviour from autonomous motivation, in which employees recognise and internalise the value of their work.
Assessing Progress: Evaluate follow-through on commitments, employee autonomy, quality of performance and sustained delivery without excessive managerial intervention.
Final thoughts
Organisations rarely lack ambition or the desire to perform. What they often lack are the behavioural structures that turn good intentions into consistent action.
Motivation may ignite performance, but discipline, habits and personal responsibility sustain it when enthusiasm fades.
The real challenge for leaders is not to keep employees constantly motivated, but to build an environment where consistency no longer depends on motivation.
How's the depth of today's edition?
If something here speaks to you, I’d love to hear it.
Until next time,
Shaida
P.S. Where do your pre-hire criteria stop matching what your team surely values and rewards? Reply to this email and let me know.
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