What Makes People Work Joyfully and Productively

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Harvard Business School professor Teresa Amabile and researcher Steven J. Kramer, after long-term work, were able to draw conclusions about what helps to maintain high levels of productivity and employee motivation in the company. Lifehacker publishes a translation of an article about their results.

In his autobiographical book The Double Helix, James Watson talks about the discovery of the structure of DNA and describes the emotions he and colleague Francis Crick experienced as they made their way through setbacks and progress towards the Nobel Prize. This is like a roller coaster: on their first attempt at building a DNA model, they discovered serious flaws and were extremely depressed, but that same evening, the form began to manifest, and this restored their spirits.

When they showed the model to their colleagues, they found it to be wrong. This grief marked the beginning of dark days of doubt and loss of motivation. But when the duo of scientists really made a breakthrough, and their colleagues confirmed it, Watson and Crick were so inspired by the success that they literally lived in the laboratory, eager to complete the work.

In all of these episodes, Watson and Crick's emotions were driven by progress or lack thereof. This principle - the principle of progress - manifests itself in any work related to any kind of creativity.

Our research has proven that making progress in meaningful work improves mood and motivation, and improves the perception of the company and colleagues.

And the more often a person experiences a sense of progress, the more likely it is that he will remain productive for a long time in creativity. Whether he is trying to solve a scientific secret, producing a high-end product or service, daily progress, even a small victory, affects his feelings and productivity.

The power of progress is fundamental to human nature, but the vast majority of leaders do not understand this, or do not know how to use the principle of progress to increase motivation.

But for managers, knowledge of the principles of progress gives a clear idea of what to focus their efforts on. There are far more opportunities to influence employee morale, motivation and creativity than is usually done.

Next, let's break down how leaders can use knowledge of the power of progress in their day-to-day work.

Indoor climate at work and productivity

For almost 15 years, we have studied the psychological experiences and performance of people doing difficult jobs. From the very beginning, it became clear that a person's creativity and productivity depend on the socio-psychological climate at work - on a mixture of emotions, motivation and perception. How happy the employee is, how motivated he is by his interest in his work, whether he sees in a positive light his company, leadership, team, work and himself - all this merges together and either pushes the person towards new labor achievements, or pulls him back.

In order to better understand the internal processes, we conducted a study. Its participants were members of project teams that required a creative approach: inventing kitchen equipment, managing a product line of cleaning equipment, solving complex IT problems of a hotel chain.

We asked employees to keep diaries in which they told how the working day went, what work they did and what was outstanding, talked about emotions, mood, level of motivation, perception of the work environment.

The study involved 26 project teams (238 people) who sent us 12,000 of these records. The challenge was to find out what kind of internal work climate and what events correlate with high levels of creative productivity.

We concluded that achievements, at least in the area where mental activity is required, are stimulated not by pressure from management and fear, but by a comfortable work climate, when employees are happy, motivated by their work, and positively perceive colleagues and the company. While in this positive state, employees are more involved in their work. The socio-psychological working climate changes on different days, and after it the level of productivity changes.

What events generate positive emotions and increase motivation? The answers were hidden in the diary entries.

The power of progress

There are predictable triggers that improve or worsen the working climate. And even taking into account the differences between people, they are generally the same. We asked the participants in the experiment to tell in their diaries about their general mood, emotions, level of motivation, and identify the best and worst days. And when we compared the best and worst days of the participants in the experiment, it turned out that on the best days there was necessarily some progress in the work of an employee or a team. The worst days were generally called the days when a step back in work was taken.

76% of the days with great mood corresponded to the days when work progress was made, and only 13% of the days with good mood coincided with the days of regression. 67% of the worst days were associated with regression and only 25% of the worst days were associated with progress at work.

Two other triggers often accompanied good days: catalysts (actions that directly supported the workflow, including help from colleagues) and recharge (words of respect and encouragement).

In contrast, inhibitors (actions that interfere with work) and toxins (upsetting statements about a person, a team) act.

After analyzing 12,000 entries in the diaries of participants in the experiment, we realized that progress and regression affect motivation. On progress days, subjects were more motivated by interest and pleasure in their work. On bad days, they were not motivated internally and were not motivated by recognizing success. Regression leads to deep apathy and unwillingness to do work at all.

And the perception is different on different days. Progress - Employees saw their work as a joyful competition, felt that team members complemented each other well, and reported good interactions with peers and managers. Bad day - the work was perceived less positively, employees felt less freedom, lack of resources, noted poor team and management interaction.

The analysis carried out establishes the relationship, but does not explain the cause-and-effect relationship. Are changes in the internal working climate leading to progress or regression, or, on the contrary, are progress and regression changing the socio-psychological climate?

Causality can be traced in both directions, and managers can use this loop in their work.

Even minor successes are important

When we talk about progress, we envision reaching some big goal or major breakthrough. Big wins are wonderful, but rare. The good news is that small victories also have an extremely positive effect on the socio-psychological climate. Many study participants noted that they took only small steps forward, but this caused significant positive reactions.

A fairly mediocre event can increase employee engagement and happiness. Of all the events that the study participants reported to us, 28% of the events had little impact on the project, but a noticeable effect on people's feelings. And since the socio-psychological climate has a significant impact on creativity and productivity, and small incremental steps can be taken by many employees, small events are critical to the effective operation of the company.

Unfortunately, there is also a downside to the coin: small setbacks can have a huge negative impact on the working climate. In fact, our research shows that negative events are even more powerful than positive ones.

A person is only influenced by making progress in meaningful work

Remember what we said earlier: motivation is only influenced by making progress in meaningful work.

For example, in the work of a dishwasher or cloakroom attendant, it is difficult to apply the principle of progress, since there is no room for growth and creativity. And only the end of the working day or the day of receiving the salary will reward you with a sense of accomplishment.

Even the completion of tasks on time and with high quality does not guarantee a good socio-psychological climate, although this is progress. You may have experienced this for yourself when you felt frustrated and lack of motivation, even if you worked hard and completed the tasks. This is probably because you perceived these tasks as unimportant and unnecessary. For the principle of progress to work, work must be meaningful to a person.

In 1983, Steve Jobs, while persuading John Sculley to leave a very successful career at PepsiCo and become the new CEO of Apple, asked: "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sweet water, or do you want a chance to change the world?" … In his speech, Steve Jobs harnessed a powerful psychological force - a deep-seated human desire to do meaningful work.

Fortunately, you don't have to build the first personal computer, reduce poverty, or find a cure for cancer to feel significant.

A job with a lesser value to society can be meaningful to a person if it is valuable to something or someone important to him. Significance can manifest itself in creating a useful and high quality product for customers and in providing excellent service. Or to support colleagues and benefit the company.

Whether the goals are lofty or modest, as long as they make sense to the person and understand how their efforts are contributing to their achievement, it will maintain a positive working attitude.

The manager must help employees see how their work contributes to a serious cause. And the most important thing is to avoid actions that devalue a person's work. All of the study participants did work that needed to be meaningful, but often we saw how potentially important promising work was losing its inspiring power.

Supporting progress: catalysts and fueling

What can leaders do to keep employees motivated and happy? How can they support daily progress? Using catalysts and makeup.

Catalysts- actions that support work: setting understandable goals, providing sufficient freedom of action, sufficient time and resources, open study of problems and successes, free exchange of ideas.

Make-upare acts of interpersonal support: respect, recognition, encouragement, emotional comfort.

Inhibitorshindering work progress: lack of support and active intervention in work.

Toxins- irreverence, neglect of emotions, interpersonal conflicts.

Catalysts and replenishment can change the way people think about work and its value, as well as how people think about themselves and what they do. When a manager asks if employees have everything they need to work, they understand that their business is important and valuable. When a leader recognizes employees for what they do, they understand what matters to the company. In this way, catalysts and replenishment give the work more meaning and reinforce the principle of progress.

These actions do not represent something supernatural, you can guess that it is worth taking them, based on simple rules of common sense and decency. But the diaries of the study participants showed that often leaders forget or ignore simple techniques. Even the most attentive executives in the companies we studied don't always use catalysts and replenishment.

An example is Michael, who is generally a great manager. When a supplier missed a delivery date, causing the company to lose profit, Michael angrily lashed out at employees, belittling a job they had done well that had nothing to do with the failure of the supplier.

Long-term prospects and launching new initiatives often seem more important to managers than caring for the feelings of employees. However, as our research shows, any strategy will fail if leaders ignore the people working in the trenches.

The ideal leader model

Let's look at a specific example of a leader who has consistently applied the steps above to stimulate productivity. In fact, this is a step-by-step guide for any manager.

So our leader is Graham and he runs a small team of chemical engineers in a multinational European company. The team is engaged in a significant project: developing a safe biodegradable polymer to replace polymers used in petrochemical products in the cosmetics and other industries.

However, as in many large firms, the project was in question due to the changing priorities of senior management. Resources were problematic, and an uncertain future put pressure on every member of the project team. To make matters worse, an important client didn't like one of the first samples submitted by the team, which made everyone upset. Nevertheless, Graham was able to maintain a good socio-psychological climate in the team. Here are four major milestones in his management approach.

1. He created a favorable climate, once correctly responding to an event and thereby establishing norms of behavior for the team. When a client complaint stalled the project, Graham immediately began analyzing the problems with the team, without blaming anyone. By this act, he modeled the behavior of employees in crisis work situations: do not panic, do not point the finger, but identify causes and problems and develop an agreed plan of action. It is a hands-on approach that gives subordinates a sense of moving forward despite the blunders and setbacks that are inherent in any project.

2. Graham was aware of the day-to-day activities of the team. The climate that he created contributed to this. Subordinates reported to him about successes, failures and plans, although he did not require this. When one of the most hardworking employees had to interrupt the testing of a new material because he could not get the correct parameters on the equipment, he immediately informed Graham about it, although he knew it would greatly upset him. That evening, a co-worker wrote in his diary: "Graham doesn't like wasted weeks, but I thought he would understand me."

3. Graham behaved in accordance with recent developments in the team and the project. Every day, he used different tactics: the introduction of a catalyst or getting rid of the inhibitor, the use of replenishment or antidotes to toxins. He foresaw that at the moment he would have the best effect on the internal working climate.

For example, even on his day off, having received good news from senior management about support for the project, he immediately called the team members and informed them about it, since he knew that they were worried about the reorganization and this support would come in handy.

4. Finally, Graham was not a micromanager.

• Micromanagers do not give freedom to employees, dictating every step, but you need to set a clear strategic goal, but allow employees to independently decide how to move towards this goal.
• Micromanagers find someone to blame for any problem, encouraging employees to hide failures instead of honestly discussing the situation.
• Micromanagers are hoarding information to use as a secret weapon, not realizing how destructive it is to the working climate. When subordinates feel that the leader is hiding information, they feel immature, infantile, and their motivation weakens. Graham immediately communicates senior management's views on the project, client needs, and possible sources of help or resistance to the project, both internally and externally.

Graham constantly maintained positive emotions, a high level of motivation and a favorable perception in the team. His actions are a great example of how a leader of all levels can contribute to progress every day.

Loop of progress

A good working climate leads to good productivity. And she, in turn, depends on constant progress, which leads to a favorable working climate.

Thus, the most important consequence of the principle of progress is this: By supporting people and their daily progress in meaningful work, the leader not only improves the internal work climate, but also stimulates the company's productivity in the long term, which leads to an even more favorable work climate.

Loopback: Leaders are unable to support people and daily progress, which affects the work climate and productivity, and deteriorating productivity spoils the socio-psychological climate.

To become an effective leader, you need to learn how to start a cycle of progress. This may require effort and internal change on your part. However, you do not need to be a strong psychologist, read the minds of employees and apply complex psychological schemes. It is enough to show respect and attention and otherwise focus on supporting the work process. Then employees will experience the positive emotions and motivation necessary for high levels of productivity and company success. And best of all, they will love their job!