Click here to download your seminar notes

Tip of the Month

Where effort meets result

Every four years, an international group of educators administer a comprehensive mathematics and science test to elementary and junior high students around the world. It is called TIMSS and the purpose of this test is to compare the educational achievements of different countries.

The TIMSS exam starts with 120 non-trivial questions. It is tedious and demanding, but above all it tests the students' patience. Most students leave as many as ten to twenty questions blank, and this number varies from country to country!

The second part of the test is dedicated to mathematics. And here is the crux: When you compare the questionnaire rankings with the math rankings, you find that they are exactly the same. In other words, countries whose students make extra effort and answer more questions in the first and endless part of the test are the same countries whose students achieve the best results in the math questions.

Erling Boe, researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who discovered the above, has helped us identify precisely that the countries that are best at math are also the cultures that place the highest emphasis on effort, hard work and above all concentration. They are the students who don't give up within the average 2 minutes mentioned above, but try harder for longer.

I would like to congratulate Foley's private school for recognizing the importance of rewarding effort. In fact, the business world could learn from this example. By acknowledging effort alongside an objective assessment of performance, managers will naturally motivate their team to continue trying until all difficulties become easy.