“Once this project is done…” “After we hit our Q4 targets…” “When we get through this restructuring…” Sound familiar? Leaders often fall into the trap of postponing satisfaction and engagement until after the next milestone. This pattern, known as the arrival fallacy, isn’t just a personal productivity challenge—it’s a significant barrier to organizational performance and team wellbeing.
The Real Impact on Business Performance
Recent Gallup research examining 456 studies across 276 organizations reveals an eye-opening correlation between employee engagement and business outcomes. Their 10th meta-analysis shows that organizations with high employee engagement significantly outperform their peers across 11 key performance indicators, including customer loyalty, profitability, and productivity.
But here’s the challenge: When leaders operate in a constant state of “things will get better when,” they create a ripple effect throughout their organizations. Dr. Gillian Maddick’s research shows that 40% of our happiness is determined by our everyday thoughts and behaviors—not by achieving future milestones.
The Four Essential Elements of Working Relationships
Anthropologist Aaron Delgaty, author of “Working Relationships: Crisis and Resilience at the Heart of Employee Experience,” identifies four critical elements that determine the health of working relationships:
- Continuity: The sense that your working relationships will remain stable over time
- Reciprocity: A fair exchange of effort and reward
- Purpose: Clear alignment between daily work and meaningful outcomes
- Hope: Belief in positive future change
When leaders become trapped in the arrival fallacy, they often sacrifice these elements in pursuit of the next milestone. Marcus Buckingham’s research suggests that when just 20% of an employee’s work aligns with their natural strengths and interests, engagement increases significantly. Yet the arrival fallacy often pushes leaders to postpone addressing these fundamental needs.
Breaking the Cycle: Practical Strategies
1. Breaking the Cycle: Practical Strategies
- Document your “I’ll be happy when” statements
- Consider what you’re postponing in pursuit of future milestones
- Assess the impact on your team’s current engagement
2. Implement the “Yes, and” Framework
- Instead of automatic agreement, communicate capacity clearly
- Set and maintain boundaries proactively
- Balance current needs with future goals
3. Create Sustainable Practices
- Schedule regular relationship check-ins
- Monitor the four essential elements in your team
- Address misalignments before they become critical
The Business Case for Breaking Free
According to Gallup’s research, low engagement teams experience turnover rates 18-43% higher than highly engaged teams. With managers accounting for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores, breaking free from the arrival fallacy becomes a critical leadership skill.
Breaking the Pattern Through Executive Leadership Development
While recognizing these patterns is important, transforming ingrained leadership behaviors requires structured support and accountability. At SparkEffect, we’ve found that leaders who work with executive coaches are better equipped to:
- Identify their own arrival fallacy patterns and their impact on team performance
- Develop sustainable leadership practices that balance current engagement with future goals
- Create action plans for strengthening all four elements of working relationships
- Build accountability systems for maintaining new behaviors
Through our leadership development programs, executives learn to recognize when they’re sacrificing present engagement for future promises. “What we often discover is that leaders realize change is constant,” says Kim Bohr, President and COO of SparkEffect, ” yet leaders don’t realize how their ‘things will get better when’ mindset impacts their team’s current performance and retention.”
Taking the Next Step
Start by examining your own patterns. Are you postponing important conversations or team development until after the next big milestone? Are you delaying recognition or celebration until the very end of a project when in reality, that may not come anytime soon? Consider how this might be affecting your team’s engagement, morale, and performance today.
Ready to Transform Your Leadership Approach?
SparkEffect offers several ways to help you, and your leadership team liberate yourselves from the arrival fallacy:
- Executive Coaching Programs: One-on-one coaching focused on developing sustainable leadership practices
- Team Alignment Workshops: Group sessions that help leadership teams identify and address pattern behaviors
- Organizational Assessment: Comprehensive evaluation of working relationships across your organization
Ready for a deeper conversation? Schedule a consultation to discuss how our executive coaching programs can help you build stronger working relationships and drive better business outcomes.
Contact us at success@sparkeffect.com or 877-755-5504 to learn more about our executive coaching and leadership development programs.
