It seems like our society is almost designed around the concept of "now."
We want the newest smartphone now, on its first day on the market.
We want to binge watch a TV show now, instead of working on our projects.
We want to eat that high-calorie treat now, instead of waiting for after dinner.
We want to hit snooze 5 times now, instead of getting up early to work on other goals.
Whatever flavor, instant gratification comes easy to many people, and it's not hard to see why. Everyday life in our modern world is geared towards giving us quick access to our creature comforts with minimal delay, and no matter how much self control we think we have, the temptation for instant gratification is ever present. That's why the idea of using delayed gratification for long term success is often overlooked, in my opinion. After all, why should I wait for a reward when I can have it now?
But in today's blog post, I'm here to shed light on how practicing delayed gratification can be a powerful tool to build stronger, resilient, and cohesive teams in your organization.
Employees are the backbone of any corporation, and it's important that leaders take steps to put the day-to-day tasks they perform in perspective. Creating a workplace environment that allows employees to focus on long-term goals and collective success, rather than immediate rewards or tasks, can improve teamwork, employee engagement, morale, and overall performance in ways that may surprise you.
What is Delayed Gratification?
Delayed gratification is the ability to resist an immediate pleasure or reward in order to achieve a more important and lasting goal. To delay gratification is to make a conscious choice to eschew an immediate pleasure or immediate gratification because our eyes are fixated on the bigger, long-term reward down the road.
It is a key component of self-regulation, which is the ability of a person to adapt their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors to their circumstances, similar to self control. Unlike self control, self regulation is very internal, where we control our emotions and importantly, our impulses, through conscious choice. Mastering self control is dependent on mastering self regulation.
Choosing to delay gratification is part of this self-regulation process, because we make an effort to resist our natural impulses to get an immediate reward.
This may sound simple, but trust me, it's no easy task -- in fact, our entire biology is hardwired to seek an immediate reward in the face of delay. Mastering self control and self regulation means to gain a grip on these evolutionary drives, say "no" to ourselves, and keep working towards the delayed gratification just beyond the horizon.
Importance of Delayed Gratification in Team Building
When applied to team dynamics, delayed gratification is about teaching the group to focus on shared, long-term objectives rather than immediate, individual rewards. This is incredibly important since the overall goals of a company are often things that take time to achieve, and a team may not feel that their individual, day-to-day work contributes to these initiatives.
This shift in mindset encourages teams to work together toward collective success. When we take the time to refocus from the immediate to the long-term, we create a company culture committed to fostering collaboration, persistence, and trust among team members.
Benefits of Delayed Gratification in Team Building
Boosts Collaboration and Productivity
Teams that center their mission on delayed gratification and success from their future selves are more likely to persevere through momentary hiccups and lean on one another to overcome obstacles. It requires patience, trust, and cooperation in order to see a larger goal through to the end, emphasizing team bonding.
The new fixation on delayed rewards rather than immediate differences keeps group members on the same page, fostering a more cohesive team that can collaborate and execute daily tasks efficiently.
Encourages Creativity and Innovation
Delayed gratification encourages team members to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions. When teams learn to delay gratification, they cultivate a mindset of strategic thinking, which encourages innovation and subsequent creative thinking. Teams adept at delaying gratification are able to grow and develop quickly, because their everyday tasks are now part of a larger picture that requires creative thinking in order to achieve the big goal ahead.
Improves Communication and Trust
When the company culture prioritizes delayed gratification, it has the effect of encouraging team members to become more invested in long-term collective gains, which naturally fosters better communication skills. Team members are more transparent and open about their progress, ideas, and roadblocks because they know everyone is working towards the same bigger goals rather than getting hung up on short term wins and losses.
Teams that can delay gratification are also better collaborators because they trust each other. Knowing that everyone is focused on collective success allows employees to trust that any feedback, criticism, and suggestions for new ways of thinking, are part of a process they're all engaged in, and they not reflective of any personal disagreements or biases. This focus reduces isolated, instant gratification thinking and encourages collaborative dialogue where the team's success is forefront.
Boosts Morale
Morale, at least how I view it, is simply another way of operationalizing employee engagement, which should be everyone's concern no matter how long you have been working in your industry. Low morale comes at a high cost, so high even that Gallup's2023 State of the Global Workplace Report estimated that disengaged employees cost the world a whopping $8.8 trillion in lost productivity!
I could (and in fact, did) write entire blog posts dedicated to strategies for improving employee engagement, but within the scope of delayed gratification, refocusing a team's efforts on collective long-term success helps boost morale.
It encourages everyone to keep their eyes on the prize, and consequently, the momentary lulls or lapses in momentum are not perceived as being quite so problematic. A team that knows their immediate tasks are part of a long-term investment towards the future are better situated to seek out more responsibilities, assist teammates, and put in the work today for the reward tomorrow.
How to Implement Delayed Gratification as a Team-Building Strategy
Implementing delayed gratification principles requires intentional effort and efficient communication skills if you want to change the status quo -- leaders are tasked with setting the stage for long-term successes by aligning each employee's individual tasks with larger organizational goals. There is no perfect way to shift perspective on to the delayed rewards, as every team is made up of individuals with different personality traits, development goals, and unique skills.
However, I've found that these 4 simple changes are consistently effective at getting leaders comfortable with the idea of delayed gratification for team building.
1. Set and communicate long-term goals to the team
Setting a clear foundation is critical, especially when you are expecting your team to share in your vision of an ultimate, long-term reward. Delaying gratification depends on solidifying what that reward looks like, and giving your team something tangible and achievable to work toward.
In short, you can ask the team to delay gratification, but what exactly are they delaying gratification for?
These don't have to be goals that require years of investment, but things like:
- I envision our sales doubling by the next fiscal year.
- I am committed to launching our new product by the end of this year.
Notice the emphasis on "our" language -- reassuring your team that you are in this together helps instill a sense of trust, and it makes all the difference in engaging the entire team.
2. Make collective success a core value of the company culture
Delaying gratification, at its core, is about prioritizing future group success over individual gains or losses. The company culture is integral to communicating this fact, and instituting future success as a core value encourages team members to delay gratification and being their first day on the same page as everyone else.
Making delayed gratification a core value can come in different forms, but some good starting points include:
- In onboarding materials and training, highlight the importance of collaboration and outline the long-term goals of your company clearly.
- Shift towards team-based rewards rather than individual bonuses or recognition.
- Regularly and specifically acknowledge team building and team bonding as cornerstones of your company culture, emphasizing how collaboration and collective actions are driving the journey to long-term successes.
3. Lead by example
Leaders play the most important role in modeling delayed gratification, such as by practicing self control, patience, optimism, self discipline, and a focus on long-term results. This sets a tone for the entire group to follow because they see you modeling the team values you wish to see in them. This means resisting the temptation to celebrate short-term rewards or unduly criticize individual mistakes.
Leading by example can most often be achieved by:
- Avoiding decisions that prioritize quick wins or minimize short-term losses, even if it is tempting to do so.
- Recognizing efforts that align with long-term goals, such as giving praise during a team meeting, or rewarding a group for its work.
- Participating in team bonding exercises or events alongside all of your team members.
4. Encourage team members to participate in a team building event
Effective teams that practice delayed gratification trust one another, and generally, trust is earned through familiarity and reliability. A great way of encouraging team members to get to know one another outside of work and create shared memorable moments is to design team building activities and events.
If you read this last section with a groan, I promise that I do not advocate for an ineffective or outright boring team building event (there are only so many times you can play "2 truths and a lie" before it gets mind numbing). I encourage leaders to think outside of the box: if you wanted to get to know someone better in a fun way, what activity would you decide to do? The same things you may try in your personal relationships may also work for building strong team relationships.
Team building activities that I'm a personal fan of include:
- Company socials and dinners for smaller teams, celebrating a milestone and allowing everyone to chat outside of a work environment.
- Local meetups for remote teams.
- Welcome luncheons or welcome events for new team members.
- Icebreaker games like a company scavenger hunt, escape room or trivia night.
Conclusion
Delayed gratification does not come easy to most people, but as a team building tool, I implore you to try incorporating its sentiment into your company culture. Practicing delayed gratification can revolutionize the way your team approaches challenges, executes collaborative initiatives, and achieves long-term goals.
No matter if you work with smaller teams or large groups, a collective focus on long term goals instead of instant gratification can instill self discipline among team members, equip them with a greater sense of self direction, and foster teamwork that encourages strategic thinking and collective responsibility.
