Progress Principle: Post #9--Teams

Teams: When people have to work together to solve problems, performance depends on 4 factors: creativity, productivity, commitment, and collegiality. Of the four, creativity is most important in the 21st century. But all four are affected by the big 3 of inner work life—emotions, perceptions and motivation. Emotion: people performed 50% better on positive than negative days. Students who watched a comedy improved their problem solving. Incubation effect: Being more positive and creative on one day increases the likelihood that it will extend to the next day or two. Perceptions: When people saw leaders as collaborative and cooperative, they got more creative. If they perceived negativity or infighting, creativity took a hit. Motivation:  People are motivated by the intrinsic interest, enjoyment, satisfaction, and challenge of the work itself—not by threats or rewards! Just focusing on extrinsic motivations lowers creativity. Creativity actually gets worse with carrot-and-stick approaches. Individual creativity and productivity lead directly to corporate productivity (Harter, 2010). Mood and health: Mood affects the immune systems. Dissatisfied employees get sick—plain and simple. Monitor health, and you’ll get a clue about inner work life.

Progress Principle: Post #8--Good Day

Had a Good Day—Got a lot done! People mostly want to make progress at work every day. The more positive the inner work life, the greater the feeling of progress. People are working “under the influence” of their emotions. Positive inner work life produces people who are motivated by the work, not incentives.

Progress Principle: Post #7---Dynamics

Inner Work Life is Dynamic—a mixture of perceptions (making sense of events), emotions (positive, negative and mood) and motivation (desire to do the work). (See the diagram on p. 37.) Emotion areas of the brain are strongly connected to how we perceive and learn. Inner work life impacts dramatically on performance. In the “memorable event diary” response, most people described emotional events either positive or negative. Meaningful work supported by leadership enhances the lives of employees. Such managers become heroes, of the best sort, to their employees.