We tested our impressions more rigorously in two ways. Small wins often had a surprisingly strong positive effect, and small losses a surprisingly strong negative one. People’s inner work lives seemed to lift or drag depending on whether or not their projects moved forward, even by small increments. This pattern became increasingly obvious as the diaries came in from all the teams in our study. Even when progress happens in small steps, a person’s sense of steady forward movement toward an important goal can make all the difference between a great day and a terrible one. We consider this to be a fundamental management principle: facilitating progress is the most effective way for managers to influence inner work life. “This pattern is what we call the progress principle: of all the positive events that influence inner work life, the single most powerful is progress in meaningful work of all the negative events, the single most powerful is the opposite of progress-setbacks in the work. In an analysis of 12,000 daily diaries, the authors found that of all the events that occur on best days, one stood out well above the rest – simply making progress on meaningful work. Having a positive inner work life is key to making progress. They were also asked to describe one event that stood out in their mind from the day – any event that was relevant to their work. The diary form asked participants to provide ratings on their inner work life - the constant stream of emotions, perceptions and motivations that people experience as they go through their work days. They asked 238 people working on creative teams to send a confidential electronic “diary” at the end of each work day for the entire length of a project. The Progress Principle describes the findings of a multi-year research project that Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer conducted to discover what makes people happy, motivated, creative and productive at work.
What is the best way to motivate employees to do creative work? Help them take a step forward every day.
0 kommentar(er)
